Financial Services Spending Bill Passes House Committee

On June 20, the House Appropriations Committee approved, by voice vote, the FY2013 Financial Services and General Government spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered); the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and Government approved the legislation on June 6 (see The Source, 6/8/12). On June 14, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the bill (S. 3301) (see The Source, 6/15/12).

The measure would provide a total of $21.15 billion in discretionary funding for the Small Business Administration (SBA), the District of Columbia, the Treasury Department, and other related agencies for FY2013. The funding level is $376 million less than FY2012 and $2.041 billion below President Obama’s FY2013 budget request.

The legislation contains provisions that would ban the use of federal and local funds for abortions in the District of Columbia and would prohibit federal funds from being used to cover abortions in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP).

During consideration of the measure, the panel approved, 28-20, an amendment by Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-MS) to extend the ban on the use of federal funds to pay for abortion and associated administrative costs in the FEHBP to any health insurance plan that covers abortions, including federally administered plans in the health insurance exchanges outlined in the health care reform legislation (P.L. 111-148, P.L. 111-152).

The chart below compares FY2013 spending levels for programs in the House and Senate bills to FY2012 levels and the president’s request.