Senate Appropriations Moves $154 Billion Labor-HHS Bill

Thu. Jun 26, 2008


by Terry Kivlan

WASHINGTON (June 26, 2008) - The Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday approved a $154 billion FY09 spending bill boosting spending for education, health and job training programs after attaching a rider requiring the Bush administration to release $120 million in low income energy assistance.

The total spending called for in the bill (DRAFT) would be $8.7 billion more than requested by President Bush. The measure cleared the committee 26-3 [Vote 1] with three Republicans voting nay - Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., derided the White House funding requests for the programs as "anemic" and indicated he would relish another veto fight with the White House over the domestic program spending bill. "There are consequences for failing to invest in America," said Byrd. "This committee will not look the other way. We will look forward."

The battle over last year's veto of the FY09 bill ended when the House's override attempt failed by four votes.

The low-income energy assistance amendment passed on a voice vote with no audible dissent. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the sponsor of the measure, said it was needed to help people cope with the soaring cost of fuel.

Health

On voice vote, the committee approved an amendment from Leahy requiring the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to launch the regulatory process of strengthening its conflict-of-interest oversight of grants awarded to academic researchers, and an amendment from Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., delaying until April 2009 the implementation of a recent White House decision to deny State Children's Health Insurance Program (SHIP)coverage to families with incomes of more than 250 percent of the national poverty rate. Lautenberg said the order would strip tens of thousands of children of health insurance. The policy change would have its biggest impact in on high-cost-of-living states like New Jersey.

On another voice vote, the committee approved a manager's amendment offered by Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, that would add $3 billion to the overall bill to help pay for the 2009 Special Olympics, which are due to be held in Boise, Idaho in February.

The manager's amendment also called for $6.55 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab in Atlanta, Ga. The manager's amendment also called for an additional $5 million for the CDC lab in Ford Collins, Colo.

The overall bill contains funding for several new initiatives, including $25 million to subsidize rectal cancer screening for low-income citizens and $585 million to prepare for an influenza pandemic.

The biggest funding hike called for in the bill - of $1 billion - would go to NIH, raising its budget to $30.2 billion. Harkin said during this week's subcommittee markup of the legislation that the increase was needed to needed to keep up with "biomedical inflation" and staunch an exodus of promising young researchers from the agency. He noted that adjusted for inflation, NIH's budget had declined 12.3 percent since 2003.

The bill would also boost funding for community health centers by $150 million to $2.2 billion, for nursing education by $11.6 million to $167 million and for the National Cancer Institute by $153 million.

The new rectal cancer program is intended to help reduce deaths from the disease by ensuring that all low-income Americans over the age of 50 have access to screening. The bill would also increase funding for the CDC Office of Smoking and maintain funding for breast and cervical cancer screening of low-income women.

The bill was strongly backed at the markup by Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Arlen Specter, D-Pa, who is currently battling a recurrence of cancer. He received a standing ovation after Harkin praised him for "being courageous in the face of illness."

In addition, the bill would boost funding for senior nutrition services by $43 million for a total of $801 million.

Education

In education, funding for the Title I program for disadvantaged children would rise by $631 million to $14.5 billion - $225 million above the White House request - while the IDEA program for learning disabled children would be hiked by $477 million to $11.4 billion. The IDEA increase would reverse the declining share of federal funding for state "special needs" programs and raise it to 17.3 percent, still well short of the original 40 percent commitment made by Congress when it approved IDEA in 1978.

The bill includes more than $18 billion for student financial assistance and increases the maximum Pell Grant Award to $4,310. Combined with mandatory funding provided in the College Cost Reduction and Access word hike the maximum award to $4,800, for the 2008-2009 school year, the committee said. The bill also includes $70 million for Federal Perkins loan cancellations, an increase of more than $5.6 million over FY08.

Labor

The Committee provides more than $346 million for the Mine Safety and Health Administration. That provides an increase of nearly $15 million over last year and $14.8 million more than the budget request. It includes $154.5 million for coal enforcement, about $10.5 million over the FY08, for inspection of coal dust levels in mines. It also recommends $3.5 million for infrastructure improvements at the National Mine Safety and Health Academy, which is $2 million more than the budget request, the committee said.

The panel proposed $50 million for mine safety research and $641,000 for the Miner's Choice health screening program under the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

The committee mark also set aside $851 million for Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and $86 million to end abusive child labor, a $5 million increase over FY08.

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