Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Spending Bill for Programs in the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education 

On July 20^th, the full Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY 07 spending bill for programs in the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS). Programs providing drug and alcohol education, prevention, and treatment services and conducting scientific research on alcoholism and drug addiction, would receive the following appropriations under the Senate Appropriations Committee-approved bill: 

• The Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant would receive $1.7886, a $30 million increase over last year's funding and the President's budget request.  The House Appropriations Committee-approved spending bill recommended that the Block Grant receive $1.834 billion, a $75.4 million increase over both FY 2006 funding and the President's budget request.
• The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) would receive $342.7 million, a cut of $56.2 million from last year's funding.  The House Appropriations Committee recommended that CSAT receive $326.7 million, representing a $72.2 million cut from last year's funding and nearly $48 million less than the President's budget request.   Both Committees recommended $25 million for treatment of addiction to methamphetamine but did not require that vouchers be used.  Neither Committee recommended funding for the President's proposed voucher incentive program.
• The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) would receive $196.7 million, a $3.8 million increase over last year's funding and over $16 million more than the President's budget request.  The House Appropriations Committee recommended that CSAP receive $195.8 million, a $3 million increase over FY 2006 funding, but $15.2 million more than the President's budget request. 
• The Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities State Grants program would receive $310 million under both the Senate and House Appropriations Committee bills, despite being slated for elimination in the President's budget; the recommended amount represents a $36.5 million cut from last year's funding. 
    
• The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) would receive just over $1 billion, level to last year's funding, under the Senate Appropriations Committee-approved bill.  Under the House Appropriations Committee-approved spending bill, NIDA would receive $995 million, a $5 million cut from last year, which is equal to the President's budget request. 
• The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) would receive $436.6 million, a small increase over last year's funding.  Under the House Appropriations Committee-approved spending bill, NIAAA would receive $433 million, also equivalent to the President's budget request, a $2.6 million cut from last year's funding.

Additionally, funding through the Department of Labor for the President's Prisoner Reentry Initiative would receive $60 million under the Senate Appropriations Committee-approved Labor HHS spending bill, an increase of over $40 million over both last year's funding and the President's budget request.  Under the House Appropriations Committee-approved spending bill, funding for this program would be completely eliminated. 

Under the Senate Appropriations Committee-approved Labor HHS spending bill, the Ryan White Care Act, which funds health and supportive services for people living with HIV/AIDS, would receive $2.139 billion, $78 million more than last year's funding; this amount would include $55 million in additional funds for the AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP).  The spending bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee recommends a $70 million increase over last year's funding for the CARE Act; the additional funding is directed to ADAP.

It is unclear when the full Senate and House will consider their Labor-HHS spending bills. Although a vote in the House was scheduled for the week of June 19^th, the vote was delayed and it has been reported that the vote may not occur until September or following the November mid-term elections.  The House is scheduled to adjourn for the August recess at the end of next week; the Senate is scheduled to remain in session until the first week of August before adjourning for the month.  Both chambers are scheduled to return on September 5^th and remain in session until September 29^th when Congress is scheduled to recess for the November mid-term elections.

Additional information about both of the Labor HHS spending bills can be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app07.html

Overview of Drug and Alcohol Treatment, Prevention, Education and Research Funding

Spending Bill for Programs in the Department of Justice Approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee

On July 13^th, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY 2007 spending bill that includes programs in the Department of Justice (DOJ) serving people with histories of alcohol and drug use and addiction, and people with criminal records. Under the Senate Appropriations Committee-approved spending bill, programs providing services to people with addiction histories and/or criminal records would receive the following funding levels:

• The President's Prisoner Reentry Initiative (PRI) would receive $5 million for the DOJ portion of the President's PRI, level to last year's funding and $10 million less than the President's budget request.  The DOJ spending bill previously approved by the full House recommended $7 million for the reentry program, $2 million more than last year's funding and $8 million less than the President's FY 2007 budget request.  
• 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 $1 million under the Senate Appropriations Committee-approved spending bill, a $9 million cut from last year's funding.  Under the House-approved bill, RSAT 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 $15 million, $5 million more than last year's funding and $55 million less than the President's budget request. Under the House-approved spending bill, Drug Courts would receive $40 million, 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 $558.1 million according to both the Senate Appropriations Committee- and House-approved spending bills; this represents a $141.6 million increase over 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 according to both the Senate Appropriations Committee- and House-approved bills, funding level to FY 2006.  This program was also slated for elimination in the President's budget.

Timing for full Senate consideration of the DOJ spending bill is uncertain; once the Senate completes its work on the appropriations bill, members of the House and Senate will likely meet in a conference committee to reconcile the funding differences between the two pieces of legislation. Additional information about the House- and Senate Appropriations Committee-approved DOJ spending bills can be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app07.html. 

House Judiciary Committee Begins Consideration of the Second Chance Act

On July 19^th, the House Judiciary Committee met to mark up or review H.R. 1704, the Second Chance Act.  The Second Chance Act seeks to help communities begin to address the need for alcohol and drug addiction and mental health treatment, job training and education opportunities, housing and a range of other services for individuals and their families following a period of incarceration and upon their return to the community.  Despite strong statements of support for the legislation by a number of Republican and Democratic Committee members, the final vote on the bill was temporarily postponed. 

Several non-controversial amendments to the Second Chance Act were approved by the Committee during the mark-up session.  In addition, an amendment offered at the end of the session by Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) to add faith-based language to the bill caused considerable concern to both Republican and Democratic Committee members.  In response, a number of Committee members expressed that faith-based organizations have been very supportive of the legislation as it has been crafted and urged Congressman Gohmert to reconsider his amendment.  However, due to timing constraints the Committee adjourned before a vote on Congressman Gohmert's amendment, and on the full bill, occurred.

Prior to the mark-up session, a number of changes were made to the Second Chance Act in order to streamline and reduce the cost of the bill.  Several provisions aimed at analyzing and planning for the removal of legal and policy barriers formerly incarcerated people face were removed from the legislation.  In addition, funding authorization levels for a number of H.R. 1704's proposed grant programs were reduced.

The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to resume consideration of H.R. 1704 next Wednesday, July 26^th.  Additional information about the Committee's work on the Second Chance Act can be found on the Committee's website, http://judiciary.house.gov/.