151 
(1) augments existing programs, projects (in-
cluding construction projects), or activities; 
(2) reduces by 10 percent funding for any exist-
ing program, project, or activity, or numbers of per-
sonnel by 10 percent as approved by Congress; or 
(3) results from any general savings from a re-
duction in personnel which would result in a change 
in existing programs, activities, or projects as ap-
proved by Congress; 
unless the Committees on Appropriations of the House of 
Representatives and the Senate are consulted 15 days in 
advance of such reprogramming or of an announcement 
of intent relating to such reprogramming, whichever oc-
curs earlier, and are notified in writing 10 days in advance 
of such reprogramming. 
SEC. 515. (a) None of the funds made available in 
this Act may be used to request that a candidate for ap-
pointment to a Federal scientific advisory committee dis-
close the political affiliation or voting history of the can-
didate or the position that the candidate holds with re-
spect to political issues not directly related to and nec-
essary for the work of the committee involved. 
(b) None of the funds made available in this Act may 
be used to disseminate information that is deliberately 
false or misleading. 
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SEC. 516. Within 45 days of enactment of this Act, 
each department and related agency funded through this 
Act shall submit an operating plan that details at the pro-
gram, project, and activity level any funding allocations 
for fiscal year 2017 that are different than those specified 
in this Act, the accompanying detailed table in the com-
mittee report accompanying this Act, or the fiscal year 
2017 budget request. 
SEC. 517. The Secretaries of Labor, Health and 
Human Services, and Education shall each prepare and 
submit to the Committees on Appropriations of the House 
of Representatives and the Senate a report on the number 
and amount of contracts, grants, and cooperative agree-
ments exceeding $500,000 in value and awarded by the 
Department on a non-competitive basis during each quar-
ter of fiscal year 2017, but not to include grants awarded 
on a formula basis or directed by law. Such report shall 
include the name of the contractor or grantee, the amount 
of funding, the governmental purpose, including a jus-
tification for issuing the award on a non-competitive basis. 
Such report shall be transmitted to the Committees within 
30 days after the end of the quarter for which the report 
is submitted. 
SEC. 518. None of the funds appropriated in this Act 
shall be expended or obligated by the Commissioner of So-
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cial Security, for purposes of administering Social Security 
benefit payments under title II of the Social Security Act, 
to process any claim for credit for a quarter of coverage 
based on work performed under a social security account 
number that is not the claimant’s number and the per-
formance of such work under such number has formed the 
basis for a conviction of the claimant of a violation of sec-
tion 208(a)(6) or (7) of the Social Security Act. 
SEC. 519. None of the funds appropriated by this Act 
may be used by the Commissioner of Social Security or 
the Social Security Administration to pay the compensa-
tion of employees of the Social Security Administration 
to administer Social Security benefit payments, under any 
agreement between the United States and Mexico estab-
lishing totalization arrangements between the social secu-
rity system established by title II of the Social Security 
Act and the social security system of Mexico, which would 
not otherwise be payable but for such agreement. 
SEC. 520. Notwithstanding any other provision of 
this Act, no funds appropriated in this Act shall be used 
to purchase sterile needles or syringes for the hypodermic 
injection of any illegal drug: Provided, That such limita-
tion does not apply to the use of funds for elements of 
a program other than making such purchases if the rel-
evant State or local health department, in consultation 
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with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, de-
termines that the State or local jurisdiction, as applicable, 
is experiencing, or is at risk for, a significant increase in 
hepatitis infections or an HIV outbreak due to injection 
drug use, and such program is operating in accordance 
with State and local law. 
SEC. 521. (a) None of the funds made available in 
this Act may be used to maintain or establish a computer 
network unless such network blocks the viewing, 
downloading, and exchanging of pornography. 
(b) Nothing in subsection (a) shall limit the use of 
funds necessary for any Federal, State, tribal, or local law 
enforcement agency or any other entity carrying out crimi-
nal investigations, prosecution, or adjudication activities. 
SEC. 522. None of the funds made available under 
this or any other Act, or any prior Appropriations Act, 
may be provided to the Association of Community Organi-
zations for Reform Now (ACORN), or any of its affiliates, 
subsidiaries, allied organizations, or successors. 
SEC. 523. For purposes of carrying out Executive 
Order 13589, Office of Management and Budget Memo-
randum M–12–12 dated May 11, 2012, and requirements 
contained in the annual appropriations bills relating to 
conference attendance and expenditures: 
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(1) the operating divisions of HHS shall be con-
sidered independent agencies; and 
(2) attendance at and support for scientific con-
ferences shall be tabulated separately from and not 
included in agency totals. 
SEC. 524. Federal agencies funded under this Act 
shall clearly state within the text, audio, or video used for 
advertising or educational purposes, including emails or 
Internet postings, that the communication is printed, pub-
lished, or produced and disseminated at U.S. taxpayer ex-
pense. The funds used by a Federal agency to carry out 
this requirement shall be derived from amounts made 
available to the agency for advertising or other commu-
nications regarding the programs and activities of the 
agency. 
SEC. 525. Not later than 30 days after the end of 
each calendar quarter, beginning with the first quarter of 
fiscal year 2013, the Departments of Labor, Health and 
Human Services and Education and the Social Security 
Administration shall provide the Committees on Appro-
priations of the House of Representatives and Senate a 
quarterly report on the status of balances of appropria-
tions: Provided, That for balances that are unobligated 
and uncommitted, committed, and obligated but unex-
pended, the quarterly reports shall separately identify the 
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(RESCISSION) 
SEC. 532. Of the funds made available for purposes 
of carrying out section 2105(a)(3) of the Social Security 
Act, $195,640,000 are hereby rescinded. 
SEC. 533. (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be 
cited as the ‘‘Health Care Conscience Rights Act’’. 
(b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) As Thomas Jefferson declared to New Lon-
don Methodists in 1809, ‘‘[n]o provision in our Con-
stitution ought to be dearer to man than that which 
protects the rights of conscience against the enter-
prises of the civil authority’’. 
(2) Jefferson’s conviction on respect for con-
science is deeply embedded in the history and tradi-
tions of our Nation, and codified in numerous Fed-
eral laws approved by congressional majorities and 
Presidents of both parties, including in the Public 
Health Service Act; the United States Leadership 
Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act; 
the Religious Freedom Restoration Act; long-
standing provisions on respect for conscience rights 
in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program 
and District of Columbia appropriations; and laws to 
protect individuals from being forced to participate 
in Federal executions or prosecutions. 
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(3) Following enactment of the Patient Protec-
tion and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111–148, 
in this section referred to as ‘‘PPACA’’), the Fed-
eral Government has sought to impose specific re-
quirements that infringe on the rights of conscience 
of those who offer or purchase health coverage. 
(4) While PPACA provides an exemption for 
some religious groups that object to participation in 
health insurance generally, and exempts millions of 
Americans from most of the Act’s provisions, includ-
ing the preventive services mandate, it fails to pro-
vide statutory protection for those seeking to offer 
and purchase health coverage who have a religious 
or moral objection only to specific items or services. 
(5) Nurses and other health care providers have 
increasingly been subjected to discrimination for 
abiding by their conscience rather than providing, 
paying for, or referring for abortion. 
(6) Conscience rights protections for health care 
providers are an important part of civil rights pro-
tections in Federal law and are indispensable to the 
continued viability of the health care system in the 
United States. The increasingly significant discrimi-
nation suffered by faith-based nonprofit health care 
providers risks undermining access to high-quality 
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compassionate care for some of the most vulnerable 
populations in our country. 
(c) APPLYING LONGSTANDING POLICY
ON CON-
SCIENCE RIGHTS TO THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Patient Pro-
tection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111– 
148) is amended— 
(A) by redesignating the second section 
1563 (relating to conforming amendments and 
as redesignated by section 10107(b)(1) of the 
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) as 
section 1564; 
(B) by redesignating the third section 
1563 (relating to the Sense of the Senate pro-
moting fiscal responsibility) as section 1565; 
and 
(C) by adding at the end the following new 
section: 
‘‘SEC. 1566. RESPECTING CONSCIENCE RIGHTS IN HEALTH 
CARE COVERAGE. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro-
vision of this title, no provision of this title (and no amend-
ment made by any such provision) shall— 
‘‘(1) require an individual to purchase indi-
vidual health insurance coverage that includes cov-
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erage of an abortion or other item or service to 
which such individual has a moral or religious objec-
tion, or prevent an issuer from offering or issuing, 
to such individual, individual health insurance cov-
erage that excludes such item or service; 
‘‘(2) require a sponsor (or, in the case of health 
insurance coverage offered to students through an 
institution of higher education, the institution of 
higher education offering such coverage) to sponsor, 
purchase, or provide any health benefits coverage or 
group health plan that includes coverage of an abor-
tion or other item or service to which such sponsor 
or institution, respectively, has a moral or religious 
objection, or prevent an issuer from offering or 
issuing to such sponsor or institution, respectively, 
health insurance coverage that excludes such item or 
service; 
‘‘(3) require an issuer of health insurance cov-
erage or the sponsor of a group health plan to in-
clude, in any such coverage or plan, coverage of an 
abortion or other item or service to which such 
issuer or sponsor has a moral or religious objection; 
or 
‘‘(4) authorize the imposition of a tax, penalty, 
fee, fine, or other sanction, or the imposition of cov-
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erage of the item or service to which there is a moral 
or religious objection, in relation to health insurance 
coverage or a group health plan that excludes an 
item or service pursuant to this section. 
‘‘(b) RESTRICTION ON CONTRARY GOVERNMENTAL 
ACTION.—No provision in this title (or amendment made 
by such provision) or law, regulation, guideline or other 
governmental action that implements such provision or 
amendment, or derives its authority therefrom, shall be 
given legal effect to the extent that it violates this section. 
‘‘(c) NO EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in this 
section shall be construed to preempt, modify, or otherwise 
have any effect on— 
‘‘(1) the Civil Rights Act of 1964; 
‘‘(2) the Americans with Disabilities Act of 
1990; 
‘‘(3) the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978; 
‘‘(4) the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996; or 
‘‘(5) any other State or Federal law, other than 
a provision in this title (or an amendment made by 
such provision) or a law, regulation, guideline or 
other governmental action that implements such pro-
vision or amendment or derives its authority there-
from. 
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‘‘(d) AGGREGATE ACTUARIAL VALUE.—Nothing in 
this section shall be construed to prohibit the Secretary 
from issuing regulations or other guidance to ensure that 
health insurance coverage or group health plans excluding 
abortion or other items or services under this section shall 
have an aggregate actuarial value at least equivalent to 
that of health insurance coverage or group health plans 
at the same level of coverage that do not exclude such 
items or services. 
‘‘(e) CONTINUED APPLICATION OF NONDISCRIMINA-
TION RULES.—Nothing in this section shall be construed 
to permit a health insurance issuer, group health plan, or 
other health care provider to act in a manner inconsistent 
with subparagraph (B) or (D) of section 1302(b)(4).’’. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con-
tents of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
Act (Public Law 111–148) is amended— 
(A) by striking the following items: 
‘‘1563. Conforming amendments. 
‘‘1563. Sense of the Senate promoting fiscal responsibility.’’; 
and 
(B) by inserting after the item relating to 
the section 1563 relating to small business pro-
curement the following items: 
‘‘1564. Conforming amendments. 
‘‘1565. Sense of the Senate promoting fiscal responsibility. 
‘‘1566. Respecting conscience rights in health coverage.’’. 
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164 
(d) NONDISCRIMINATION FOR HEALTH CARE PRO-
VIDERS.—Section 245 of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 238n) is amended— 
(1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘AND 
LICENSING OF PHYSICIANS’’ and inserting ‘‘, LI-
CENSING, AND PRACTICE OF PHYSICIANS AND 
OTHER HEALTH CARE ENTITIES’’; 
(2) in subsection (a), by amending paragraph 
(1) to read as follows: 
‘‘(1) the entity refuses— 
‘‘(A) to undergo training in the perform-
ance of induced abortions; 
‘‘(B) to require or provide such training; 
‘‘(C) to perform, participate in, provide 
coverage of, or pay for induced abortions; or 
‘‘(D) to provide referrals for such training 
or such abortions;’’; 
(3) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘stand-
ards’’ and inserting ‘‘standard’’; 
(4) in subsection (c), by amending paragraphs 
(1) and (2) to read as follows: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘financial assistance’, with re-
spect to a government program, means governmental 
payments to cover the cost of health care services or 
benefits, or other Federal payments, grants, or loans 
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to promote or otherwise facilitate health-related ac-
tivities. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘health care entity’ includes an 
individual physician or other health professional, a 
postgraduate physician training program, a partici-
pant in a program of training in the health profes-
sions, a hospital, a provider-sponsored organization 
as defined in section 1855(d) of the Social Security 
Act, a health maintenance organization, an account-
able care organization, an issuer of health insurance 
coverage, any other kind of health care facility, orga-
nization, or plan, and an entity that provides or au-
thorizes referrals for health care services.’’; 
(5) by adding at the end of subsection (c) the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(4) The term ‘State or local government that 
receives Federal financial assistance’ includes any 
agency or other governmental unit of a State or 
local government if such government receives Fed-
eral financial assistance.’’; 
(6) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-
section (d); and 
(7) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
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‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall des-
ignate the Director of the Office for Civil Rights of the 
Department of Health and Human Services— 
‘‘(1) to receive complaints alleging a violation of 
this section, section 1566 of the Patient Protection 
and Affordable Care Act, or any of subsections (b) 
through (e) of section 401 of the Health Programs 
Extension Act of 1973; and 
‘‘(2) to pursue the investigation of such com-
plaints, in coordination with the Attorney General.’’. 
(e) REMEDIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF FEDERAL CON-
SCIENCE LAWS.—Title II of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 202 et seq.) is amended by inserting after sec-
tion 245 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 245A. CIVIL ACTION FOR CERTAIN VIOLATIONS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A qualified party may, in a civil 
action, obtain appropriate relief with regard to a des-
ignated violation. 
‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘qualified party’ means— 
‘‘(A) the Attorney General; or 
‘‘(B) any person or entity adversely af-
fected by the designated violation; and 
‘‘(2) the term ‘designated violation’ means an 
actual or threatened violation of section 245 of this 
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Act, section 1566 of the Patient Protection and Af-
fordable Care Act, or any of subsections (b) through 
(e) of section 401 of the Health Programs Extension 
Act of 1973. 
‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDIES NOT REQUIRED.— 
An action under this section may be commenced, and relief 
may be granted, without regard to whether the party com-
mencing the action has sought or exhausted available ad-
ministrative remedies. 
‘‘(d) DEFENDANTS IN ACTIONS UNDER THIS SEC-
TION MAY INCLUDE GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES AS WELL 
AS OTHERS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An action under this sec-
tion may be maintained against, among others, a 
party that is a Federal or State governmental entity. 
Relief in an action under this section may include 
money damages even if the defendant is such a gov-
ernmental entity. 
‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—For the purposes of this 
subsection, the term ‘State governmental entity’ 
means a State, a local government within a State, 
or any agency or other governmental unit or author-
ity of a State or of such a local government. 
‘‘(e) NATURE OF RELIEF.—The court shall grant— 
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‘‘(1) all necessary equitable and legal relief, in-
cluding, where appropriate, declaratory relief and 
compensatory damages, to prevent the occurrence, 
continuance, or repetition of the designated violation 
and to compensate for losses resulting from the des-
ignated violation; and 
‘‘(2) to a prevailing plaintiff, reasonable attor-
neys’ fees and litigation expenses as part of the 
costs.’’. 
SEC. 534. Any funds made available by this Act or 
any other Act may be used by a health care delivery sys-
tem that furnishes services predominantly through facili-
ties of the Federal Government for payment for or delivery 
of in vitro fertilization treatments only if such treatments 
do not result in the discarding or destruction of viable 
human embryos before embryo transfer. 
SPENDING REDUCTION ACCOUNT 
SEC. 535. The amount by which the applicable alloca-
tion of new budget authority made by the Committee on 
Appropriations of the House of Representatives under sec-
tion 302(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 ex-
ceeds the amount of proposed new budget authority is $0. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Departments of Labor, 
Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related 
Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017’’. 
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Union Calendar No. 541 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5926 
[Report No. 114–699] 
A BILL 
Making appropriations for the Departments of 
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Edu-
cation, and related agencies for the fiscal year 
ending September 30, 2017, and for other pur-
poses. 
JULY 22, 2016 
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
State of the Union and ordered to be printed 
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