On July 10, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved en bloc, 29-0, FY2009 spending bills for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, as well as Financial Services and General Government.
More information on programs relevant to women and their families will be available when the committee reports accompanying the bills are printed.
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee approved its FY2009 spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered), by voice vote, on July 9. According to a subcommittee press release, the bill allocates $42.4 billion to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, $4.73 billion over the FY2008 level and $3.3 billion over the president’s request. The bill also includes $66.8 billion for the Department of Transportation, $2.1 billion above the FY2008 level and $3.3 billion above the president’s request.
Financial Services and General Government
On July 9, the Senate Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee approved, 9-0, its FY2009 spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered), which provides $44.8 billion in overall funding, $2.2 billion over FY2008 and $502.7 million over the president’s request.
According to the subcommittee press release, 75 percent of the $722 million federal payment to the District of Columbia would be allocated to the D.C. court system, which includes public defender services and pre-trial and post-conviction offender supervision programs.
The bill would provide $766 million for the Small Business Administration. This amount would represent a $198.5 million increase over FY2008 and $107 million increase over the president’s request, and includes $22.5 million for the Microloan program and $110 million for Small Business Development Centers.
The measure also would provide $747.6 million for the Executive Office of the President. Of that amount, $1.4 million would be to coordinate a future administration’s government-wide HIV/AIDS strategy.
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Report Language
On July 8, the Senate Appropriations Committee released its report on the FY2009 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education spending bill (S. 3230). The 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 to appropriators.
In addition to the programs detailed in the chart below, the report highlights funding for home visitation programs, which can help reduce incidents of child abuse and neglect, lower rates of substance abuse and mental health problems, and delay the “initiation of sexual activity” and funding for family treatment programs for pregnant and postpartum women (p. 9).
The committee expresses concern regarding the Department of Labor’s proposed February 11 changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act (P.L. 103-3) and requests that the Department conduct a “comprehensive survey” of employers and employees regarding the need for changes to the law (p. 25).
Citing the disparity rates of folic acid intake among Hispanic women, the committee “encourages CDC to inform as many women as possible, particularly nonpregnant Hispanic women and women between the ages of 18 and 24, as well as health care providers about the benefits of folic acid” (p. 80).
The committee “urges the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to establish a center for research and education on urologic/urogenital chronic pelvic pain syndromes that will focus specifically on interstitial cystitis and vulvodynia, and related comorbid disorders, and will establish collaborative initiatives among the Office of Research on Women’s Health (see p. 122), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and National Institutes on Child and Human Development” (p. 98). In addition, the committee expresses its frustration with the lack of research on vulvodynia and “strongly urges” NICHD to increase the number of awards for vulvodynia research in FY2009. (pp. 105-106).
The committee requests that the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute give higher priority to the study of women and heart disease (p. 95), urges the Office of Research on Women’s Health to conduct additional research on stroke in women (p. 121), and urges the National Institute of Child and Human Development to conduct further research on first pregnancy complications (p. 104) and pre-term and late-term births (p. 105).
The committee also requests a progress report from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases regarding the new microbicides branch within the Division of AIDS (p. 101).
Included in the report language are several funding set-asides for programs under the Child Care and Development Block Grant (p. 149-150). According to the committee, the set-asides “provide targeted resources to specific policy priorities, including…before and after-school services, as well as resource and referral programs. This represents the federal commitment to the activities previously funded under the dependent care block grant.”
The committee includes language for the Public Health Service Office of Minority Health and the Public Health Service Office on Women’s Health (OWH) regarding the need to improve lupus diagnosis and treatment (p. 170, 171) and encourages OWH to support community-based programs to address the problem of female genital mutilation (p. 171).
“The committee recommendation includes $5,789,000 for the secretary’s Afghanistan health initiative, the same as the request. Funds will be used in partnership with the Department of Defense for medical training activities at the Rabia Balkhi Women’s Hospital in Kabul, and for support of maternal and child health throughout Afghanistan” (p. 171).
Among the report’s general provisions, the committee:
|
Agency/Program |
FY2008 |
President’s Request |
FY2009 Senate Subcommitte Mark |
|
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR |
|||
|
Dislocated Worker’s Assistance (p. 13) |
$1.184 billion |
$942.956 million |
$1.2 billion |
|
Women in Apprenticeship (p. 14) |
$983,000 |
$0 |
$983,000 |
|
Reintegration of Ex-Offenders (p. 17) |
$73.493 million |
$39.6 million |
$103.493 million |
|
Women’s Bureau (p. 35) |
$9.66 million |
$10.237 million |
$10.237 million |
|
International Labor Affairs Bureau (p. 35-36) |
$81.074 million |
$14.822 million |
$86.074 million |
|
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES |
|||
|
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) (total program level) (p. 41) |
$7.009 billion |
$6.155 billion |
$7.237 billion |
|
Community Health Centers (p. 41) |
$2.065 billion |
$2.092 billion |
$2.215 billion |
|
Maternal and Child Health Bureau (p. 49) |
$664.268 million |
$664.268 million |
$664.268 million |
|
Maternal and Child Health Block Grant |
$666.268 million |
$666.268 million |
$664.268 million |
|
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (P. 50) |
$972,705 |
$973,000 |
$973,000 |
|
First-time Motherhood (p. 50) |
$4.913 million |
$4.913 million |
$4.913 million |
|
Doula program (p. 50) |
$1.509 million |
$1.509 million |
$1.509 million |
|
Newborn Screening (p. 51) |
$1.887 million |
$1.887 million |
$1.887 million |
|
Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (p. 52) |
$11.79 million |
$0 |
$11.79 million |
|
Healthy Start (p. 52) |
$99.744 million |
$99.744 million |
$99.744 million |
|
Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act (total (p. 53) |
$2.167 billion |
$2.168 billion |
$2.173 billion |
|
Ryan White Part D (funding for women, children, and families infected with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS) (p. 54) |
$73.69 million |
$73.69 million |
$73.69 million |
|
National Cord Blood Inventory (p. 56) |
$8.843 million |
$11.966 million |
$12 million |
|
Family Planning (p. 59) |
$299.981 million |
$299.981 million |
$299.981 million |
|
Centers for Disease Control (total program level) (CDC) (p. 69) |
$6.431 billion |
$5.956 billion |
$6.508 billion |
|
Birth Defects, Developmental Disabilities, Disability and Health (p. 78) |
$127.366 million |
$126.752 million |
$133.905 million |
|
Global Health (p. 86-87) |
$302.371 million |
$302.025 million |
$312.301 million |
|
National Institutes of Health (NIH) (total program level) (p. 90) |
$28.942 billion |
$28.938 billion |
$29.963 billion |
|
National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (p. 117) |
$199.569 million |
$199.762 million |
$205.322 million |
|
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (total program level) (p. 139) |
$334.564 million |
$325.664 million |
$334.564 million |
|
Administration for Children and Families (total program level) (p. 147) |
$27.218 billion |
$25.956 billion |
$27.31 billion |
|
Child Support Enforcement (p. 147) |
$3.998 billion |
$3.759 billion |
$3.759 billion |
|
Refugee and Entrant Assistance (aid to victims of trafficking) (p. 148) |
$9.814 million |
$9.814 million |
$9.814 million |
|
Refugee and Entrant Assistance (unaccompanied minors) (p. 148) |
$132.6 million |
$114.07 million |
$120.07 million |
|
Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) (p. 149) |
$2.062 billion |
$2.062 billion |
$2.137 billion |
|
Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) (p. 150) |
$1.7 billion |
$1.7 billion |
$1.7 billion |
|
Child and Family Services Programs (p. 150) |
$8.98 billion |
$8.503 billion |
$9.194 billion |
|
Head Start (p. 150) |
$6.878 billion |
$7.027 billion |
$7.105 billion |
|
Consolidated runaway and homeless youth programs (p. 151) |
$96.128 million |
$96.128 million |
$96.128 million |
|
Child abuse and neglect prevention and treament activities (p. 151) |
$105.359 million |
$105.359 million |
$107.799 million |
|
Abandoned infant assistance (p. 152) |
$11.628 million |
$11.628 million |
$11.628 million |
|
Child welfare training and services (p. 152-153) |
$288.951 million |
$288.951 million |
$288.951 million |
|
Adoption (p. 153) |
$43.155 million |
$58.506 million |
$53.832 million |
|
Violence Against Women (Family Violence Prevention and Services Act [P.L. 98-457]) (p. 158) |
$122.552 million |
$122.552 million |
$125 million |
|
National Domestic Violence Hotline (p. 158) |
$2.918 million |
$2.918 million |
$3.5 million |
|
Abstinence-only education (p. 159) |
$113.4 million |
$141.074 million |
$84.827 million |
|
Mentoring Children of Prisoners (p. 159) |
$48.628 million |
$50 million |
$48.628 million |
|
Promoting Safe and Stable Families (p. 160) |
$408.311 million |
$408.311 million |
$418.311 million |
|
Administration on Aging (p. 161) |
$1.413 billion |
$1.381 billion |
$1.478 billion |
|
National Family Caregiver Support Program (p. 162) |
$153.439 million |
$153.439 million |
$155 million |
|
Office of the Secretary |
|||
|
Public Health Service’s Office of Minority Health (p. 162) |
$48.738 million |
$42.686 million |
$49.988 million |
|
Adolescent Family Life (p. 169) |
$29.778 million |
$30.307 million |
$29.778 million |
|
Public Health Service’s Office on Women’s Health (p. 170) |
$31.033 million |
$28.458 million |
$31.033 million |
|
Minority HIV/AIDS (p. 171) |
$50.984 million |
$51.891 million |
$50.984 million |
|
Embryo Adoption Awareness Campaign (p. 171) |
$3.93 million |
$1.98 million |
$4.2 million |
|
Office of Civil Rights (p. 173) |
$34.299 million |
$40.099 million |
$40.099 million |
|
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION |
|||
|
No Child Left Behind (p. 179) |
$13.899 billion |
$14.305 billion |
$14.53 billion |
|
William F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy Program (p. 179) |
$66.454 million |
$0 |
$66.454 million |
|
Reading First (p. 180) |
$393.012 million |
$1 billion |
$0 |
|
Early Reading First (p. 180) |
$112.549 million |
$112.549 million |
$112.549 million |
|
Math and Science Partnerships (p. 184) |
$178.978 million |
$178.978 million |
$178.978 million |
|
21st Century Community Learning Centers (p. 185) |
$1.081 billion |
$800 million |
$1.081 billion |
|
Education for Homless Children and Youth (p. 186) |
$64.067 million |
$64.067 million |
$64.067 million |
|
Mentoring Programs (p. 199) |
$48.544 million |
$0 |
$48.544 million |
|
Vocational Education (p. 211) |
$1.272 billion |
$0 |
$1.272 billion |
|
Adult Education (p. 212) |
$567.468 million |
$574.59 million |
$567.468 million |
|
Pell Grants |
$14.215 billion |
$16.941 billion |
$16.89 billion |
|
maximum student award (p. 214) |
$4,241 |
$4,310 |
$4,310 |
|
Child Care Access Means Student In School (CCAMPIS) (p. 225) |
$15.534 million |
$15.534 million |
$15.534 million |
|
Office for Civil Rights (p. 231) |
$89.612 million |
$101.04 million |
$89.612 million |
|
Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) (state grants, program level) (p. 201) |
$11.757 billion |
$12.094 billion |
$12.242 billion |
