Bipartisan H.R. 8629 Would Build the FQHC Workforce Pipeline — NHSC Priority, Loan Repayment, CHW & Behavioral-Health Hiring

Reps. Raul Ruiz (D-CA-25) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) introduced the 'Developing the Community Health Workforce Act of 2026' (H.R. 8629) on April 30, referred to House Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means. It is the federal supply-side counterpart to H.R. 1's demand-side Medicaid cuts: it gives FQHCs and RHCs priority for National Health Service Corps assignments, expands loan repayment, funds health-center workforce pipelines and CHC–hospital GME partnerships, and grows the interdisciplinary behavioral-health workforce (physicians, nurses, social workers, community health workers, pharmacists). It is early-stage (committee referral), so it is a watch item — not law — but it signals bipartisan federal intent to shore up the FQHC labor supply just as California's CHW Medi-Cal benefit (AB 403) and the December 2026 funding cliff put workforce front and center. Note: this is a distinct, real Ruiz bill, not to be confused with the phantom '340B' bill that circulated earlier.