In a rush to complete all 13 appropriations bills before the August recess, the full Senate considered the following spending bills: Military Construction, Legislative Branch, and FY2003 supplemental appropriations. The Senate Appropriations Committee considered the Defense spending bill. The full House considered the following spending bills: Defense, Legislative Branch, and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. The House Appropriations Committee considered the following bills: Commerce, Justice, and State, District of Columbia, Foreign Operations, and Transportation/Treasury.
Senate Floor Action
Military Construction
On July 11, the Senate approved, 91-0, the FY2004 Military Construction appropriations bill (S. 1357). The measure would allocate $9.2 billion, a $1.5 billion decrease from the FY2003 appropriations bill (P.L. 107-249) and $79 million more than the President’s request.
Under the measure, $4 billion would be allocated for military family housing, of which $1.2 billion would be allocated for new family housing units and improvements to existing units, and $2.8 billion would be used for the operation and maintenance of existing units. Congress allocated $4.23 billion in FY2003 for military family housing.
In addition, the measure would allocate $16.1 million for child development centers. In FY2003, Congress provided $18 million for child development centers.
Senate Committee Action
Defense
On July 9, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved, 29-0, its version of the FY2004 Defense spending bill (S. 1382). The Defense Appropriations Subcommittee approved the bill on July 8.
As in the House version, the bill would allocate $368.7 billion in FY2004, a $13.6 billion increase over the FY2003 appropriations bill (P.L. 107-248). The total is $3 billon less than the President’s request as a result of a deal struck between Congress and the Administration to shift that money towards domestic spending bills.
Several women’s health research programs would be funded under the bill: $150 million for breast cancer research and $10 million for ovarian cancer research. Both breast cancer research and ovarian cancer research would be level-funded.
S. 1382 would provide $6.733 million for military HIV research. In the report accompanying the bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee commends the Center of Excellence for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance for its participation in “HIV/AIDS advocacy, awareness and prevention activities with foreign militaries and international peacekeepers in the Asia Pacific region, and encourages its continued participation as a means of promoting national security interests.”
The bill also would provide $50 million for a Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program. Osteoporosis and bone-related disease research is one of many projects that could be included in the program. In addition, the committee recommends that the Department of Defense “support research which will lead to improved bone health and enhance military readiness by reducing the incidence of stress fractures during physically intensive duty. Findings that will emanate from DOD research efforts will not only assist our active duty forces, but also will help prevent, diagnose and treat those with debilitating bone disease.”
Finally, the committee notes that there “is a lack of communications available to family members of active duty military personnel who are deployed out of the United States.” For this reason, the committee encourages the Department of the Army to initiate a program known as Project HomeLink that would improve “the morale and welfare of deployed military personnel by providing a portable and easy to use e-mail system to the family members of those on active duty.”
The Senate is scheduled to consider S. 1382 on July 14.
House Floor Action
Defense
On July 8, the House approved, 399-19, the FY2004 defense appropriations bill (H.R. 2658). The measure would allocate $368.7 billion in FY2004, a $13.6 billion increase over the FY2003 appropriations bill (P.L. 107-248) and $3 billion less than the President’s request.
Several women’s health research programs would be funded under the bill: $150 million for the Army’s Peer-Reviewed Breast Cancer Research Program and $10 million for the Ovarian Cancer Research Program. Both breast cancer research and ovarian cancer research would be level-funded.
The bill also would provide $5 million for the establishment of a Gynecologic Disease Program and $16 million for the Comprehensive Reproductive System Care Program.
In addition, funding for global HIV/AIDS prevention would be earmarked at $5 million. H.R. 2658 also would provide $17 million for HIV/AIDS research programs, $10 million more than the President’s request.
The committee report states that, “unfortunately, domestic violence occurs within all groups and levels of society, and that military life presents families with even greater challenges. The committee is concerned that the department has provided insufficient funds to address the potential for increased violence stemming from long deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.” For this reason, H.R. 2658 would provide an additional $27 million for the family advocacy program to be used to enhance the victim advocate program, and provide additional family counseling and shelter services.
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
On July 10, the House approved, 215-208, the FY2004 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill (H.R. 2660). The measure would allocate $138.04 billion in FY2004, a $5.68 billion increase over the FY2003 appropriations bill (P.L. 108-7) and $50 million more than the President’s request. The House Appropriations Committee report accompanying the bill includes language detailing a number of programs affecting women and their families (see The Source, 7/2/03).
No Democrats supported H.R. 2660, and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) argued that we “have failed our nation. The Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill leaves our health care system, our schools, our children, and our communities at risk.” Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL) disagreed. “I think this is a very, very good bill in the context of where we are today. We have a recession. We have a war on terror going on. We have problems in Iraq still. Yet we have a fairly good bill that increases funding for most of these critical needs areas slightly.”
During consideration of the bill, the House approved the following amendments by voice vote:
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The House rejected the following amendments:
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Rep. Patrick Toomey (R-PA) offered an amendment that would have prohibited any continued use of federal funds by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support a number of sex-related research grants. In his opening statement, he pointed out that his amendment “does not cut a dime of funding for NIH. What it does is it would require the NIH to reprogram the money that is going to a few grants which we think are just much less worthy of taxpayer funding than the kind of research the NIH is generally doing to cure these devastating diseases.” Urging his colleagues to oppose the amendment, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Chair Ralph Regula (R-OH) argued that, “it would set a dangerous precedent and put a chill on medical research if we start to micromanage individual NIH grants.” Rep. Obey agreed, stating “I would rather trust the judgment of 10 doctors sitting around a table than I would 10 politicians sitting around a table when we decided how to allocate taxpayer money for those grants.” The amendment was rejected, 210-212.
Rep. Obey offered a controversial amendment that would block the use of federal funds by the Department of Labor to implement a March 31, 2003 proposal to change regulations concerning overtime pay. Under the proposal, the salary threshold below which workers would automatically qualify for overtime pay would be raised from $155 to $425 per week. Most workers with an annual salary of $65,000 or more would no longer be eligible for overtime pay. He voiced his concern that, “if the administration gets its way, an estimated 8 million workers will become ineligible for overtime because of changes in the rules.” Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) countered that, “these regulations would guarantee overtime to an additional 1.3 million low-wage workers, mostly women and minorities, and strengthen the protections for an additional 10.7 million workers. And for the first time in decades, 20 percent of the lowest-paid workers would be guaranteed to get overtime pay.” The amendment was rejected, 210-213.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved, 26-3, its version of the FY2004 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill (S. 1356) on June 25 (see The Source, 6/27/03).
House Committee Action
Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary
On July 9, the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary Subcommittee approved, by voice vote, its FY2004 appropriations bill (as-yet-unnumbered). The measure would provide $37.9 billion in FY2004, $700 million more than FY2003 appropriations bill (P.L. 108-7) and $200 million more than the President’s request.
While all of the funding levels for programs of particular interest to women and their families were not available as of press time, some highlights from the bill include:
Department of Justice
Under the bill, the Department of Justice would receive $20.3 billion, an increase of $527 million over the FY2003 allocation and $1.5 billion more than the President’s request.
The Local Law Enforcement Block Grant would be level-funded at $400 million.
Programs under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) would receive $388 million in FY2004, a $2.2 million increase over FY2003 and $14.7 million above the level requested by the President.
The bill also would provide $174 million to reduce the DNA sample backlog. This amount is $133 million over the FY2003 funding level.
The State Department
Under the bill, the State Department would receive $8.4 billion in FY2004, an increase of $570 million over FY2003 and $223 million less than the President’s request.
The full committee is scheduled to consider the bill on July 16.
District of Columbia
The same day, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the District of Columbia approved, by voice vote, its FY2004 appropriations bill (as-yet-unnumbered). The bill would provide $466 million to the District of Columbia in FY2004, $43 million less than the FY2003 appropriations bill (P.L. 108-7) and $45 million more than the President’s request.
The bill would provide $163.8 million for the operation of the D.C. Courts, a $2.9 million increase over FY2003, as requested by the President. This total would include funding for the Family Court, which handles all cases in the District pertaining to child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, adoption, and foster care.
The measure would maintain current law prohibiting the use of federal and local funds to implement needle exchange programs.
Also included in the bill is a provision that would prohibit the use of federal funds to implement a D.C. law that permits municipal employees to purchase health insurance benefits for their domestic partners, regardless of gender or marital status.
The bill also would maintain current law with respect to the prohibition on the use of local and federal funds for abortion coverage for low-income women on Medicaid and implementation of a voter referendum approving the medical use of marijuana. Exceptions for abortion coverage would be made in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment.
The full committee is scheduled to consider the bill on July 15.
Agriculture
On July 9, the House Appropriations Committee filed the report to accompany the FY2004 Agriculture appropriations bill (H.R. 2673), which the committee approved on June 25 (see The Source, 6/27/03). The measure would allocate $17.005 billion, an $872 million decrease from the FY2003 appropriations bill (P.L. 108-7). The House Appropriations Committee report accompanying the bill includes 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.
The measure would provide $4.588 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), a $107.7 million decrease below FY2003 and $180.9 million less than the President’s request. The recommendation includes a $150 million reserve should program costs or participation exceed estimates. Reductions in this program are based on new information from the Agriculture Department detailing declining program participation and lower food costs than originally estimated in the President’s FY04 budget request.
The recommended funding level for WIC would include $20 million for a breastfeeding peer counselor program and $4 million for pilot projects to combat obesity in children.
Child nutrition programs would receive $11.418 billion in FY2004, an $838 million increase over FY2003, as requested by the President. The committee recommendation includes $6 million for an assessment of the National School Lunch and School Breakfast program. In addition, the report notes that “nutrition-related illnesses are at an all-time high, and the poor nutrition status of American youth presents a potential health crisis.” For this reason, the bill fully funds the School Meals Initiative program at $10 million.
$1.389 billion would be allocated to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in FY2004, $15.5 million above last year and $5.4 million below the President’s request. The committee recommends a $600,000 increase for the Office of Women’s Health (OWH), bringing the total to $3.675 million. The committee report notes that, “of this amount, no less than $500,000 should be dedicated to supporting and implementing important women’s health outreach activities, including the hormone replacement education initiative that was started in fiscal year 2003.” Further, “it is critical that the Office of Women’s Health have the resources to partner with medical professional and women’s health groups, as well as other Federal agencies, to conduct a comprehensive public awareness outreach campaign about the appropriate use of hormone therapy, including the treatment of menopausal symptoms.”
Finally, $1.192 billion would be provided for the Food for Peace Program, $7 million more than the level requested by the President.
The House is scheduled to consider H.R. 2673 on July 14.
Foreign Operations
On July 10, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations approved, by voice vote, its FY2004 spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered). The bill would allocate $17.1 billion in FY2004, $900 million more than the FY2003 appropriations bill (P.L. 108-7) and $1.8 billion less than the President’s request.
Under the measure, $1.27 billion would be included for HIV/AIDS activities, including $400 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and $840 million in bilateral HIV/AIDS funding within the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund. During the mark-up, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) said that she planned to offer an amendment to add $1 billion in emergency spending for HIV/AIDS during full committee consideration.
In addition, the bill would provide $2.2 billion for the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund, an increase of $411 million over FY2003 and $621 million more than the President’s request. Of that amount, $120 million would be provided for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The FY2004 foreign operations spending bill also would allocate $1.3 billion in development assistance for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Last year, Congress funded development assistance at $1.363 billion. The total funding for USAID in FY2004 would be $4.7 billion, $166 million above FY2003 and $46 million below the President’s request.
As requested by the President, international family planning programs would receive $425 million, $22 million less than FY2003.
The full committee is scheduled to consider the bill on July 16.
Transportation, Treasury, and Independent Agencies
On July 11, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, and Independent Agencies approved, by voice vote, its FY2004 appropriations bill (as-yet-unnumbered). The Transportation, Treasury, and Independent Agencies appropriations bill includes funding for job access and reverse commute grants, which are used to aid welfare-to-work recipients who live in “urbanized areas with populations greater than 200,000” and have transportation costs associated with their jobs. In addition, the appropriations bill provides funding for the Minority Business Resource Center, funding for minority business outreach, and funding for the Occupant Protection Incentive Grants.
A more detailed summary of the Transportation, Treasury, and Independent Agencies appropriations bill will be available next week.
The full committee is scheduled to consider the bill next week.
