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Labor, HHS Spending Bill Clears Senate Committee

On June 14, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved, 16-14, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies FY2013 spending bill (S. 3295). The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies advanced the legislation on June 12.

The measure would provide a total of $158.8 billion in discretionary funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education, and related agencies for FY2013, $2.5 billion above FY2012. The bill would provide $12.342 billion for the Department of Labor, $71 billion for HHS, $68.52 billion for the Department of Education, and $14.15 billion for related agencies.

According to the committee summary, highlights of the bill include “helping struggling families by increasing funding for child care and Head Start, nearly doubling the funding to crack down on health care fraud, increasing the maximum Pell Grant award, assisting young people with disabilities find employment, and promoting the prevention of costly chronic diseases like diabetes.”

The spending bill would aim to promote prevention efforts, as “nearly three-quarters of all health care costs are attributable to chronic diseases, the majority of which are preventable.” The legislation would increase the funding level for the Office of Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; allocate $1 billion in mandatory funding to the Prevention and Public Health Fund; and include $558 million for childhood immunizations, enough for an estimated 3.5 million doses of vaccine.

According to the committee report, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) would receive $6.542 billion in FY2012, $32 million more than FY2012 and $160 million more than President Obama’s FY2013 budget request. HRSA supports programs that “provide health care services for mothers and infants; the underserved, elderly, and homeless; rural residents; and disadvantaged minorities” (p. 41).

The measure would provide $1.567 billion in discretionary funding for the community health centers program. When combined with mandatory funding, the program would receive a total of $3.067 billion in FY2013, $300 million more than FY2012 and $100 million above the president’s request.

The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Bureau (p. 48-49) would receive $854.807 million for FY2013, $1.452 million more than FY2012 and equal to the president’s request. The legislation would include $640.098 million for the MCH block grant program, $1.452 million above FY2012 and equal to the president’s request.

The bill would provide $103.532 million for the Healthy Start infant mortality initiative (p. 51), equal to FY2012 and the president’s request.

The Title X Family Planning program (p. 57) would receive $293.870 million, equal to FY2012 and $2.513 million less than the president’s request.

The legislation would provide $6.998 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), $61 million more than FY2012 and $283 million above the president’s request. Within the CDC, the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion would receive $798.445 million, $42.068 million above FY2012 and $165.426 million more than the president’s request. The Center funds several activities important for women’s health, including the WISEWOMAN program, maternal mortality reviews, and breast cancer awareness for young women. Additionally, the committee recognizes the importance of the gynecological cancer awareness campaign authorized by Johanna’s Law (P.L. 111-324), and “encourages CDC to explore ways in which the risk of ovarian cancer can be integrated into the larger public health system in cancer prevention and treatment, particularly in public health programs aimed at women at risk for breast cancer” (p. 67).

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would receive $30.731 billion in FY2013, an increase of $100 million above FY2012 and the president’s request. As studies show that a woman’s health during pregnancy is associated with her health after pregnancy, the committee encourages NIH to “more closely study these epidemiologic findings in an effort to identify predictive markers during pregnancy for subsequent heart disease and diabetes; develop tests to evaluate health after pregnancy; and test interventions both during and after pregnancy that may mitigate risk” (p. 106). Additionally, the committee encourages the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH to “continue coordination with USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development], the State Department, and others to advance antiretroviral [ARV]-based microbicide development efforts, with the goals of enabling regulatory approval of the first safe and effective microbicide for women and supporting product development and efficacy trials of alternative ARV-based microbicides” (p. 85).

The Administration for Children and Families would receive $29.509 billion in FY2013, $280 million more than FY2012 and $590 million above the president’s request (p. 125). The Head Start program, which provides early childhood education and development services for low-income children and families, would be funded at $8.039 billion in FY2013, $70 million above FY2012 and $15 million below the president’s request. The legislation also would include $133.547 million for family violence prevention, $4 million more than FY2012 and $1.453 million less than the president’s request (p. 137).

The legislation would include $2.438 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, $160 million more than FY2012 and $165 million less than the president’s request (p. 11). Of the total, $90 million would be used to improve the quality of the early childhood care and education workforce. Additionally, $70 million would be used to “improve low-income families’ access to quality child care by increasing the number of families served, subsidy rates, and reimbursement rates to providers” (p. 11).

The Race to the Top program would receive $549 million for FY2013, equal to FY2012 and $301 million less than the president’s request. The Race to the Top—Early Learning Challenge, which offers opportunities for states to enhance early care and education efforts, would receive a significant portion of the FY2013 funding. The bill also would increase the total maximum Pell Grant award level to $5,635, an increase of $65 over the 2012-2013 school year maximum.

The bill would provide $9.081 million for the Women’s Bureau, $2.478 million less than FY2012 and equal to the president’s request. The legislation would reallocate funds from the Women’s Bureau to the Wage and Hour Division for efforts on Family and Medical Leave Act (P.L. 103-3) issues. The funding in the legislation for the Women’s Bureau would “enable it to undertake critical work, including in collaboration with other Federal agencies, in addressing the pay gap” (p. 38).

The chart below compares FY2013 spending levels for programs important to women and their families in the spending bill to FY2012 levels and the president’s request.

Program/Agency

FY2012

President’s Request

Senate bill

Department of Labor

Dislocated Worker’s Assistance $1.008 billion $1.007 billion $1.008 billion
Women in Apprenticeships $996,000 $0 $996,000
Reintegration of Ex-Offenders $80.238 million $85.238 million $80.238 million
Women’s Bureau $11.559 million $9.081 million $9.081 million
International Labor Affairs Bureau $92.484 million $94.984 million $94.984 million

Department of Health and Human Services

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) $6.51 billion $6.382 billion $6.542 billion
Community Health Centers $1.567 billion $1.562 billion $1.567 billion
Maternal and Child Health Bureau $853.355 million $854.807 million $854.807 million
Maternal and Child Health Block Grant $638.646 million $640.098 million $640.098 million
Heritable Disorders $9.834 million $9.834 million $9.834 million
Universal Newborn Hearing Screening $18.66 million $18.66 million $18.66 million
Healthy Start $103.532 million $103.532 million $103.532 million
Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act $2.392 billion $2.472 billion $2.422 billion
Ryan White Part D – Children, Youth, Women, and Families Programs $77.167 million $69.582 million $77.167 million
National Cord Blood Inventory $11.887 million $11.887 million $11.887 million
Family Planning $293.87 million $296.838 million $293.87 million
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention $6.937 billion $6.715 billion $6.998 billion
Global Health $347.594 million $362.889 million $362.594 million
HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STDs, and TB Prevention $1.1 billion $1.146 billion $1.102 billion
National Institutes of Health (NIH) $30.631 billion $30.631 billion $30.731 billion
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities $276.179 million $279.389 million $280.236 million
Administration for Children and Families $29.229 billion $28.919 billion $29.509 billion
Child Support Enforcement $2.848 billion $2.756 billion $2.756 billion
Refugee and Entrant Assistance (aid to victims of trafficking) $9.775 million $9.775 million $9.775 million
Refugee and Entrant Assistance (unaccompanied minors) $284.281 million $175 million $235 million
Child Care Development Block Grant $2.278 billion $2.603 billion $2.438 billion
Children and Families Services Programs $9.735 billion $9.516 billion $9.819 billion
Head Start $7.969 billion $8.054 billion $8.039 billion
Consolidated Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs $97.355 million $97.355 million $97.355 million
Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention and Treatment Activities $93.703 million $93.703 million $93.703 million
Abandoned Infants Assistance $11.553 million $11.553 million $11.553 million
Child Welfare Training and Services $306.742 million $311.742 million $311.742 million
Adoption $78.525 million $78.525 million $78.525 million
Family Violence/Battered Women’s Shelters $129.547 million $135 million $133.547 million
National Domestic Violence Hotline $3.197 million $4.5 million $4.197 million
Promoting Safe and Stable Families $408.065 million $408.065 million $408.065 million
Administration for Community Living* $1.697 billion $2.153 billion $1.708 billion
National Family Caregiver Support $153.621 million $153.621 million $153.621 million
Office of the Secretary $542.197 million $421.895 million $535.639 million
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Community Grants $113.047 million $109.022 million $113.047 million
Office for Civil Rights $40.938 million $38.966 million $38.966 million
Office of Minority Health $55.782 million $41.1 million $55.782 million
Office on Women’s Health $33.682 million $29.12 million $29.12 million
Minority HIV/AIDS $53.681 million $53.891 million $53.681 million

Department of Education

Title I grants to LEAs $14.516 billion $14.516 billion $14.616 billion
Special Education Grants for Infants and Families $442.71 million $462.71 million $462.71 million
21st Century Community Learning Centers $1.152 billion $1.152 billion $1.152 billion
Education for Homeless Children and Youth $65.173 million $65.173 million $65.173 million
Adult Education $606.295 million $606.295 million $606.295 million
Pell Grants (discretionary) $22.824 billion $22.824 billion $22.824 billion
maximum student award $4,860 $4,860 $5,635
Child Care Access Means Students in School (CCAMPIS) $15.97 million $15.97 million $15.97 million
Office for Civil Rights $102.624 million $105.318 million $102.624 million

* This new agency was created by combining the organizational components of Administration on Aging, the HHS Office on Disability, and the Administration on Developmental Disabilities.