House Approves FY 2007 Spending
Bill; Most Programs Would Receive Level
Funding
On Wednesday, January 31st, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a
$463.5 billion omnibus spending bill for the 2007 fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2006 and will run until September 30, 2007. The
spending bill includes programs in the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Justice. Under the House-approved
legislation, most programs, including those that fund alcohol and drug prevention, treatment, and education services, would receive funding level to
fiscal year 2006 amounts.
The measure passed through the House with a 286 to 140 vote; 229 of the
body’s 233 Democrats voted for passage, along with 57 of the 202 House Republicans. Certain federal programs deemed high priority by
Congressional leadership would receive funding increases totaling approximately $16 billion under the House-approved spending bill. Programs
that would receive increases include: community health centers, veterans’ medical health services and Pell Grants for higher education.
The National Institutes on Health and programs that fight HIV/AIDS and other diseases overseas would also receive increased funding under this
spending bill.
Funding for programs in the nine FY 2007 spending bills that Congress did
not approve in the 109th Congress has been maintained at FY 2006 levels through a Continuing Resolution (CR) Congress approved in December. The
CR is set to expire on February 15th. The Senate is expected to take up legislation identical to the House-approved legislation in early
February and it has been reported that President Bush is expected to sign the measure into law once the Senate approves passage of the
legislation.
The FY 2008 budget and appropriations process is expected to begin when the President releases his annual budget on Monday, February 5th. Additional information about the FY 2007 funding process can be found at:http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app07.html.
