The September 30 funding deadline that health agencies had been preparing for all summer is no longer the deadline. A stopgap bill signed into law on September 2 pushed the government's funding date to December 11, 2026, and with it the immediate risk of a lapse at federal health agencies.
What the stopgap did not do was move the separate deadline that determines how community clinics are paid. The mandatory Community Health Center Fund, which supplies about 70% of federal grant dollars for the nation's health centers, is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2026, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers.
