Senate bill advances to fund Mississippi projects — Legislation includes $305,000 for telehealth-based mental health at Copiah-Lincoln Community College

Published 1:00 pm Monday, August 4, 2025

Funding for Copiah-Lincoln Community College for telehealth is among the recommendations approved by the Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee in the FY2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill.

U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), of Brookhaven, serves on the subcommittee that developed the FY2026 funding measure, which was approved Thursday by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The measure, approved 26-3, is now available for consideration by the full Senate.

“Mississippi is making remarkable progress in improving health outcomes, educational achievements, and job growth, but there is always room to do more.  I’ve worked to direct federal resources to projects in this bill that can help our state do better on all those fronts,” Hyde-Smith said. “Committee approval is an important step toward getting this bill and these projects over the finish line.”

As chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, Hyde-Smith has promoted legislation to support expecting families, and some of the projects she supported in the appropriations bill reflect that priority. The Senator has also demonstrated the same interest in helping the state improve educational and job training opportunities, whether they are focused on agricultural aviation, nurse training, or coding.

Among the items of interest to Mississippi in the FY2026 Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill are the following.

Labor

• $5.3 million for Advancements in Manufacturing Upskilling Program, Mississippi State University

• $700,000 for Digital Workforce Education, Mississippi Coding Academies

• $500,000 for Workforce Training Field School, Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Health and Human Services

• $4.5 million for the Cancer Research Lab, University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC)

• $2.5 million for Optimizing Maternal Outcomes, Mississippi Public Health Institute

• $1.7 million for Labor and Delivery Project, Memorial Health System, Gulfport

• $396,00 for Improving Hearing Health Care Access, University of Southern Mississippi

• $250,000 for Perinatal Training for Medical Residents, Mississippi Department of Health

• $305,000 for Telehealth-Based Mental Health, Copiah-Lincoln Community College

Education

• $5 Million for Excellence in Nursing Education, Mississippi Community College Board

• $1.75 million for Aerial Applicator Operations Career Pathway, Delta State University

• $1.5 Million for Aviation Training Expansion, Hinds Community College (HCC)

• $800,000 for Sunflower Promise, Delta Health Alliance

• $236,000 for Agriculture Instruction Technology Equipment, HCC

The Senate bill continues to provide $5.0 million for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Office of Rural Health, which was established through Hyde-Smith’s efforts during the FY2023 appropriations process.  The CDC Office of Rural Health is charged with coordinating rural health efforts across CDC programs and developing a strategic plan for rural health.

During the markup, the committee approved a Hyde-Smith amendment to require more transparency by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) before terminating Critical Access Hospital (CAH) designations.  Among other things, it would require CMS to provide congressional appropriators with a detailed justification for a termination and an analysis of the rural healthcare impacts of this action.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has now approved eight of 12 annual spending bills for the 2026 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.