{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415209", "CatholicVote article on PLC statement on CMS Section 1303 guidance'Pro-life caucus praises CMS guidance barring states from redirecting unused abortion funds'", "2025-12-19", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "By Elise Winland\n\nPublished on December 19, 2025\n\nLawmakers in the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus welcomed new guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Dec. 18 that clarifies that leftover abortion-related funds collected under Obamacare cannot be redirected to support state-level abortion programs.\n\nThe statement was released by the caucus\u2019 co-chairs: Republican Reps. Chris Smith of New Jersey, Andy Harris of Maryland, Bob Onder of Missouri, Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota, and Kat Cammack of Florida.\n\nThe CMS guidance, released Dec. 9, centers on Section 1303 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as Obamacare, which requires qualified health plans that cover elective abortions to collect a separate payment from enrollees for abortion-related services. The law mandates that those funds be kept segregated from federal subsidies.\n\nAccording to the caucus\u2019 statement, the new CMS guidance clarifies that any unused money from the segregated account must be returned to the health plan issuers at year\u2019s end, rather than being reallocated by states for broader abortion programs.\n\n\u201cWe applaud CMS\u2019s clear guidance that leftover money collected by qualified health plans (QHPs) to fund on-demand abortions, in compliance with Section 1303 of the PPACA, are returned to the QHP issuers,\u201d the lawmakers said. \u201cLeftover funds do not become available to states seeking to bankroll extreme abortion agendas.\u201d\n\nThe guidance addresses previous concerns that some state legislatures could seize unspent funds for state-run grant programs, effectively \u201cblurring the line between federal taxpayer dollars and individual contributions,\u201d according to the statement.\n\nThe caucus also credited CMS leadership under Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz for \u201cpreventing violations of Section 1303\u201d and reiterated their commitment to upholding the Hyde Amendment\u2019s longstanding prohibition on using federal taxpayer dollars for elective abortions.\n\nIn the statement, lawmakers argued that the PPACA conflicted with the Hyde Amendment by allowing plans that cover elective abortions to receive federal subsidies. They noted that while former President Barack Obama issued an executive order stating the law would comply with Hyde, it instead required health plans covering elective abortions to keep those funds completely separate from federal dollars.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415209"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7809313721954823, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}