On March 29, the House approved, 228-191, H. Con. Res. 112, the FY2013 budget resolution, which provides a nonbinding blueprint for federal spending in the coming fiscal year. The Budget Committee approved the measure on March 21, by a vote of 19-18.
Sponsored by Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI), the measure would provide $1.028 trillion in discretionary spending in FY2013. This amount is $19 billion below the amount provided for in the Budget Control Act (P.L. 112-25), upon which Congress based and passed the FY2012 appropriations “megabus” (P.L. 112-74) (see FY2012 Appropriations Summary), and is $188.357 billion below President Obama’s FY2013 budget request (seeFY2013 Budget Summary).
According to the committee report, the resolution would provide $91.498 billion in discretionary funds for education, training, employment, and social services; $56.621 billion in discretionary funds for health; $40.905 billion in discretionary funds for international affairs; $5.872 billion in discretionary funds for agriculture; and $6.676 billion in discretionary funds for Medicare. Income security would receive $59.901 billion in discretionary funds in FY2013, while defense and justice would receive $554.24 billion and $51.836 billion, respectively.
The resolution would consolidate the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Development Assistance (DA) with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC): “America’s experience with having two development assistance programs has shown that MCC’s model better reflects this principle [of keeping the U.S. safe and strengthening the economy by establishing new trading partners and markets] when compared to DA. MCC’s emphasis on outputs rather than inputs needs to be the foundation of all U.S. foreign assistance programs. (p. 54)” Citing overlap with the existing Food for Peace and McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, the budget resolution also would eliminate the Feed the Future program administered by USAID (p. 56); the president’s budget would provide $1 billion in FY2013 for the program.
Within the education, training, employment, and social services function, the budget would terminate the “duplicative” Social Services Block Grant program, which provides funding for child care, health care, and employment services (p. 89).
The federal share of Medicaid funding would be transformed into a state block grant program that would be “tailored to meet each state’s needs” and “indexed for inflation and population growth (p. 92). Several provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-48) would be repealed under the budget resolution (p. 93).
The resolution also calls for several changes to income security programs, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP – formerly known as the Food Stamp program), the Food and Nutrition Services, and the School Lunch program. For example, SNAP would be converted into a block grant program “tailored for each state’s low-income population, indexed for inflation and eligibility” (p. 100). However, “[t]his option would make no changes to SNAP until 2016 – after employment has recovered – providing states with time to structure their own programs.” Categorical eligibility, which permits families to become eligible for SNAP benefits if they receive TANF benefits, would be eliminated.
The resolution includes instructions to six House committees – Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform, and Ways and Means – to produce additional savings of $18 billion by April 27.
During the committee’s consideration of the resolution on March 21, the committee adopted, by voice vote, an amendment expressing the sense of the House that more legislative action is required to ensure that states have the resources to collect child support.
