On April 25, the House approved, 218-208, the conference report for the FY2007 Supplemental spending bill (H.R. 1591). The Senate approved, 51-46, the report on April 26. The measure provides $124.2 billion for FY2007, with the majority of funds directed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill also incorporates provisions of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 (H.R. 2) (see The Source, 2/2/07). The Senate approved the bill on March 29 (see The Source, 3/30/07); the House approved it on March 22 (see The Source, 3/23/07). The president has indicated that he will veto the measure.
Report Language
The conference report accompanying the bill included language detailing a number of programs affecting women and their families. Although report language is not binding, federal agencies give careful consideration to such language as it indicates programs or initiatives that are particularly important for appropriators.
Department of Agriculture
Humanitarian food assistance would receive $460 million for FY2007.
The Office of Women’s Health at the Food and Drug Administration would receive $4 million in FY2007.
Department of Defense
Family advocacy programs at the Department of Defense would receive $10 million, including $4 million to “bolster Guard and Reserve family pre-deployment support programs…The conferees also provide $6 million to support the child care needs of deployed Guard and Reserve members in their local communities, to include respite and emergency child care. The conferees also are aware of and concerned about the growing need for family members to have access to professional counseling to help alleviate the mental stresses associated with deployments. At select bases around the country, it has been reported that children of service members are experiencing higher truancy rates and falling grades in school. As such, the conferees urge the family advocacy programs to work with the department’s Health Affairs office, specifically the Defense Health Program, to coordinate efforts to ensure that counseling is provided to all family members of the active duty and reserve component members on deployment or preparing for deployment overseas.”
Department of Education
The Safe and Drug Free Schools program would receive $8.594 million for youth violence prevention activities.
Colleges and universities affected by Hurricane Katrina would receive $30 million.
Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: The measure would provide $650 million in FY2007 to cover the shortfall in the State Children’s Health Insurance program.
The legislation would authorize $50 million per year for FY2008-2012 to establish a small business child care grant program. The program would require the secretary of Health and Human Services to authorize grants to states to be used for: technical assistance; assistance for the start-up costs related to a child care program or training of child care providers; scholarships for low-income wage earners; services to care for sick children or to provide care to school-aged children; assistance for care for children with disabilities; and renovating child care facilities. States would be required to contribute a 50 to 75 percent match of federal dollars, depending on the program year.
Department of Justice
The bill would allocate $50 million for the Edward Byrne grant program to assist Gulf Coast states in fighting the increase in violent crime resulting from Hurricane Katrina.
Department of Housing and Urban Development
The legislation would allocate $400 million for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
Department of State
The bill would allocate $213.4 million for Sudan, including $19.4 million for embassy operations, $44 million for humanitarian assistance, and $150 million for the African Union peacekeeping force. Humanitarian assistance programs would receive $185.5 million for refugees and internally displaced persons in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, the Central African Republic, Congo, and Chad. The Democracy Fund would receive $260 million, including $10 million for women’s programs.
The Child Survival and Health Programs Fund would receive $161 million. The conference report would provide authority to the president “to use funding under the Millennium Challenge Corporation and Global HIV/AIDS Initiative accounts to combat an avian influenza pandemic, if he determines that the human-to-human transmission of the avian influenza virus is efficient and sustained, and is spreading internationally. The conferees note that this is the highest threat level of the World Health Organization’s Global Influenza Preparedness Plan.”
The bill also would extend the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) through August 31, 2011. The WOTC, authorized by the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-188), encourages employers to hire eight targeted groups of job seekers by reducing employers’ federal income tax liability by as much as $2,400 per qualified new worker. The eight targeted groups include Temporary Aid to Needy Families recipients, 18-24 year-old food stamp recipients, disabled veterans, ex-felons hired within a year of release from prison or the date of their conviction, and people receiving Supplemental Security Income. Established Women’s Business Centers would be allowed to apply for a three-year grant of $150,000 or less per year.
