Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Subcommittee
Allocations and Begins Annual Funding Process; Work on the House Labor HHS Spending Bill Has Been
Stalled
On June 22nd, the Senate Appropriations
Committee approved subcommittee funding allocations which provide the funding levels that each of the 12 Senate Appropriations Subcommittees can
spend on the federal programs within their jurisdiction. Under the approved subcommittee allocations, the Labor, Health and Human
Services, and Education (Labor HHS) Subcommittee will be given $142.8 billion for programs in those federal agencies, $5 billion over the President's
FY 2007 budget request and $1.6 billion over last year's enacted amount. In May, the House Appropriations Committee approved their
subcommittee allocations at levels slightly lower than the Senate, $141.93 billion for programs in the Labor HHS spending bill which is $4.136
billion over the President's FY 2007 budget request and $.843 billion over last year's enacted amount.
The Senate appropriations bill that includes funding for programs
in the Department of Justice would also receive a small increase over last year's funding levels. Under the Senate Appropriations
Committee-approved allocations, the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee will receive $51 billion, $1.4 billion over the President's budget
request and $1.6 billion over last year's allocation.
Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS), who sought to stay within
the discretionary spending cap proposed by President Bush in his 2007 budget as he formulated the subcommittee allocations, also expressed his
intention of shifting funding among the various subcommittees to ensure adequate funding for legislative priorities; the Senate Appropriations
Committee-approved allocations shift $11.4 billion of proposed defense and foreign aid spending to other subcommittee appropriations bills, including
$5 billion to the Labor HHS spending bill. However, it has been reported that the President has threatened to veto any
appropriations legislation that contains significant cuts to defense funding, and that increased funding in other spending bills may not survive
negotiations between the appropriators in Congress and the White House later in the process.
In addition, work on the Labor HHS spending bill in the House has
been put on hold; although the full House was scheduled to vote on the Labor HHS funding bill the week of June 19th, a vote on the
legislation may not occur until after the November mid-term Congressional elections are over. It has been reported that an
amendment to raise the minimum wage that was added to the Labor HHS funding bill during House Appropriations Committee consideration is a reason for
the delay.
Additional information on the status on the FY 2007 funding bills
can be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app07.html.
Further information on the Senate Appropriations Committee subcommittee allocations can be found at: http://appropriations.senate.gov/.
House Appropriations Committee Approves Funding for Programs in the Department of Justice and the President's Prisoner Reentry
Initiative
On June 20th, the House Appropriations Committee
approved the FY 2007 spending bill that includes programs in the Department of Justice serving people with histories of alcohol and drug use and
addiction and people with criminal records. Under the House Appropriations Committee-approved spending bill, these programs would receive the
following funding levels:
- The President's Prisoner Reentry
Initiative (PRI) would receive $5 million through the Department of Justice, the same amount of funding as last year and $10 million less
than the President's FY 2007 budget request. The PRI would not receive any funding through the Department of Labor (DOL), a $20
million cut from last year's funding, or through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) despite the President's budget request that
the PRI receive $20 million through DOL and $25 million through HUD.
- The Residential Substance Abuse
Treatment (RSAT) program, which helps states and localities to develop and implement residential substance abuse treatment programs in state
and local correctional and detention facilities, would receive $5 million, $5 million less than last year. The President had not
requested any funding for the RSAT program in his FY 2007 budget.
- The Drug Court program,
which provides financial and technical assistance to state and local governments and courts to develop and implement treatment drug courts,
would receive $40 million under the Appropriations Committee-approved spending bill, a $30 million increase over last year's funding amount and
nearly $30 million less than the President's budget request.
- The Byrne Justice Assistance Grant
(JAG) program, which funds programs providing a number of different prevention, education, community corrections and drug treatment
services, would receive $368 million, a $48.5 million decrease from last year's funding. The President had slated this program for
elimination in his FY 2007 budget.
- The Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws
program, which supports and enhances efforts by states and localities to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors, and the
purchase and consumption of alcoholic beverages by minors, would receive $25 million, funding level to FY 2006. This program was
also slated for elimination in the President's budget.
Additional information about the House Appropriations
Committee-approved Science/State/Justice/Commerce spending bill can be found in House Report 109-520, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/T?&report=hr520&dbname=109&.
