House Appropriations Committee Approves Spending Bill for Programs in the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education

From the Legal Action Center:

On June 13th, the full House Appropriations Committee approved the FY 07 spending bill for programs in the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS). Programs providing drug and alcohol education, prevention, and treatment services and conducting scientific research on alcoholism and drug addiction, would receive the following appropriations under the House Appropriations Committee-approved bill, which are unchanged from the House Labor HHS Subcommittee-approved spending bill:

• The Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant would receive $1.834 billion, a $75.4 million increase over both FY 2006 funding and the President's budget request.
• The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment would receive $326.7 million, representing a $72.2 million cut from last year's funding and nearly $48 million less than the President's budget request.
• The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention would receive $195.8 million, a $3 million increase over FY 2006 funding, but $15.2 million more than the President's budget request.
• The Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities State Grants program would receive $310 million, despite being slated for elimination in the President's budget; this represents a $36.5 million cut from last year's funding.
• The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) would receive $995 million, a $5 million cut from last year, which is equal to the President's budget request.
• The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) would receive $433 million, also equivalent to the President's budget request, a $2.6 million cut from last year's funding.

Additionally, funding through the Department of Labor for the President's Prisoner Reentry Initiative would be completely eliminated under the House Appropriations Committee-approved Labor HHS spending bill. The Department of Labor had received $19.6 million last year, the same amount the President requested for the program to receive in his FY 2007 budget. The House Labor HHS spending bill did not include any funding for this program through the Department of Labor. The Department of Justice, which received $5 million for the President's Prisoner Reentry Initiative last year, is a part of a different spending bill that has not yet been approved by the Appropriations Committee.

Under the House Appropriations Committee-approved Labor HHS spending bill, the Ryan White Care Act, which funds health and supportive services for people living with HIV/AIDS, would receive a $70 million increase over last year's funding. The additional funding is intended to help States provide medications to individuals with HIV/AIDS. In addition, the House Labor HHS spending bill would also provide $63 million for a new HIV testing initiative at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It is unclear when the Full House will consider the Labor-HHS spending bill. Although a vote in the House was scheduled for the week of June 19th, the vote was delayed and it has been reported that the vote may not occur until after the November mid-term elections. Additional information about funding amounts in the Labor HHS spending bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee can be found here.