Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education: Highlights of FY2010 Budget and Appropriations
Released: 2010-02-12T00:00:00

Most Recent Developments

President's Budget Submitted

On May 7, 2009, President Obama submitted his FY2010 budget to Congress, including a request for $163.8 billion in discretionary funds for programs covered in the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies (L-HHS-ED) appropriations bill.

House Bill H.R. 3293 Reported and Passed

On July 22, 2009, the House Committee on Appropriations reported H.R. 3293 ( H.Rept. 111-220 ), its proposal for FY2010 L-HHS-ED appropriations. The bill was debated in the House on July 24 and was passed, with several amendments, by a vote of 264-153. The bill would have provided $165.6 billion in discretionary funds for L-HHS-ED.

Senate Version of H.R. 3293 Reported

On August 4, 2009, the Senate Committee on Appropriations reported its version of H.R. 3293 ( S.Rept. 111-66 ). The committee recommended $165.4 billion in discretionary L-HHS-ED funds.

Continuing Appropriations Resolution (CR) Enacted (P.L. 111-68, Division B)

On October 1, 2009, the President signed into law H.R. 2918 , the FY2010 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act ( P.L. 111-68 ), which also, in Division B, provided temporary funding at the FY2009 rate of operations for most government agencies for the period October 1 through October 31, 2009, unless regular FY2010 appropriations measures were enacted sooner.

FY2010 Continuing Resolution Extended (P.L. 111-88, Division B)

On October 30, 2009, the President signed into law a second CR, Division B of P.L. 111-88 , which amended P.L. 111-68 to extend the temporary funding to December 18, 2009. Division B had been added on October 28 to the conference report on Interior-Environment appropriations ( H.R. 2996 , H.Rept. 111-316 ).

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 Enacted (P.L. 111-117, H.R. 3288)

On December 8, 2009, a conference report was filed for a consolidated FY2010 appropriations act, covering six of the seven regular appropriations measures that had not yet been enacted (Defense appropriations were enacted separately). H.R. 3288 , the Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010, was used as the vehicle for the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010. The conference agreement and explanatory statement ( H.Rept. 111-366 ) had a division for each of the six appropriations measures. Division D of the agreement provided the FY2010 L-HHS-ED appropriations, including $165.8 billion in discretionary funding. The conference report was adopted by the House on December 10 and by the Senate on December 13, and was signed by the President on December 16, 2009, as P.L. 111-117 .

Table 1 summarizes the legislative status of FY2010 L-HHS-ED appropriations.

Note on Most Recent Data

In this report, unless stated otherwise, data on FY2009 and FY2010 appropriations are based on the December 9, 2009, table from the House Committee on Appropriations. The data for FY2009 appropriations primarily reflect enactment of P.L. 111-8 (FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations, enacted March 11, 2009) and P.L. 111-5 (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, ARRA, enacted February 17, 2009). In addition, amounts for certain HHS programs reflect FY2009 funding provided by either the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2009 ( P.L. 110-329 , enacted September 30, 2008) or the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009, ( P.L. 111-32 , enacted June 24, 2009). The data for FY2010 reflect the President's budget request, House passage of H.R. 3293 , the Senate committee recommendations on H.R. 3293 , and enactment of P.L. 111-117 , the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010.

In most cases, data represent net funding for specific programs and activities, and take into account current and forward funding and advance appropriations; however, all data are subject to additional budgetary scorekeeping. Except where noted, data refer only to those programs within the purview of L-HHS-ED appropriations, and not to all programs within the jurisdiction of the relevant departments and agencies. Funding from other appropriations bills, and entitlements funded outside of the annual appropriations process, are excluded.

Overview

This report describes the highlights of President Obama's proposals for FY2010 appropriations for L-HHS-ED programs, as submitted to Congress on May 7, 2009, and the congressional response to those proposals. Discussions focus primarily on discretionary programs. The report does not follow specific funding issues related to mandatory L-HHS-ED programs—such as Medicare or Social Security—nor does it follow any authorizing legislation related to the President's budget initiatives. For a glossary of budget terms and relevant websites, see the Appendix , "Terminology and Web Resources."

The L-HHS-ED bill typically is one of the more controversial of the regular appropriations bills, not only because of the size of its funding total and the scope of its programs, but also because of the continuing importance of various related issues, such as restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion, human embryonic stem cell research, and needle exchange programs. This bill provides discretionary and mandatory funds to three federal departments and 13 related agencies, including the Social Security Administration (SSA). Discretionary funding represents less than one-quarter of the total in the bill. Among the various appropriations bills, L-HHS-ED is the largest single source of discretionary funds for domestic (non-defense) federal programs (the Department of Defense bill is the largest source of discretionary funds among all federal programs).

This section presents several overview tables on funding in the bill, particularly discretionary funding, and discusses related issues such as 302(b) allocations and advance appropriations. Later sections provide details on individual L-HHS-ED departments and agencies.

Discretionary and Mandatory Funding: Program Level Appropriations and Current Year Appropriations

Table 2 summarizes the L-HHS-ED appropriations enacted for FY2009 and FY2010, including both discretionary and mandatory appropriations. The table shows various aggregate measures of L-HHS-ED appropriations, including the discretionary program level, current year level, and advance appropriations, as well as scorekeeping adjustments.

Program level discretionary appropriations reflect the total discretionary appropriations in a given bill, regardless of the year in which they will be spent, and therefore include advance funding for future years. Unless otherwise specified, appropriations levels in this report refer to program level amounts . Current year discretionary appropriations represent discretionary appropriations in a given bill for the current year, plus discretionary appropriations for the current year that were enacted in prior years—for example, FY2010 appropriations that were enacted in the FY2009 act. As the annual congressional appropriations process unfolds, current year discretionary appropriations, including scorekeeping adjustments (see below), are measured against the 302(b) allocation ceilings (discussed later in this report). Note that media reports and comments from the Administration about appropriations activities typically cite figures representing the current year discretionary totals rather than the program levels in the bill. Advance appropriations are funds that will not become available until after the fiscal year for which the appropriations are enacted (for example, funds for certain education programs like Title I Part A Grants to Local Educational Agencies for the Education of the Disadvantaged that were included in the FY2009 act that could not be spent before FY2010 at the earliest). Scorekeeping adjustments are made to account for special funding situations, as monitored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Because appropriations may consist of mixtures of budget authority enacted in various years, both of the summary measures mentioned above are frequently used: program level appropriations and current year appropriations. How are these measures related? For an "operational definition," program level funding equals (a) current year, plus (b) advances for future years, minus (c) advances from prior years, and minus (d) scorekeeping adjustments. Alternatively, current year funding is derived by taking the program level (total in the bill), subtracting the advances for future years, adding in the advances from prior years, and applying the scorekeeping adjustments. Table 2 shows each of these amounts for discretionary funding, along with current year funding and program level funding for mandatory programs, and the grand total for L-HHS-ED.

Discretionary Funding Trends, FY2002-FY2010

The L-HHS-ED appropriations bills include both mandatory and discretionary funds; however, the Appropriations Committees fully control only the discretionary funds. Mandatory funding levels for programs included in the annual appropriations bills are modified through changes in the authorizing legislation. Typically, these changes are accomplished through authorizing committees by means of reconciliation legislation, and not through appropriations committees in annual appropriations bills.

Table 3 shows the trend in discretionary budget authority enacted in the regular L-HHS-ED appropriations for FY2002 through FY2010. During the past nine years, L-HHS-ED discretionary funds have grown from $127.2 billion in FY2002 to $165.8 billion in FY2010, an increase of $38.6 billion, or 30.3%.

Discretionary Appropriations by Bill Title, FY2009-FY2010

The annual L-HHS-ED appropriations act typically includes five titles. The first three provide appropriations and program direction for the Department of Labor (Title I), the Department of Health and Human Services (Title II), and the Department of Education (Title III). Each of the three titles includes some sections of "General Provisions" for the department; they provide specific program directions, modifications, or restrictions that the appropriators wish to convey in bill language, not just in report language. Title IV covers funding for 13 related agencies, the largest of which is the Social Security Administration. Title V contains general provisions with broader policy application than those in the department titles. Occasionally, the act has one or more additional titles, which may be legislative (authorizing) language rather than appropriations provisions. The FY2008 L-HHS-ED appropriations act (Division G of P.L. 110-161 ) included a Title VI that provided for establishment of a National Commission on Children and Disasters, while the FY2009 L-HHS-ED appropriations act (Division F of P.L. 111-8 ) included the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 (relating to special immigrant status of certain persons) as Title VI. The FY2010 act included only five titles.

Table 4 summarizes by title the program level discretionary spending that was provided for FY2009 and FY2010 L-HHS-ED appropriations and compares the program level totals with the current year discretionary totals.

302(a) and 302(b) Allocation Ceilings

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Titles I-IX of P.L. 93-344 ), as amended, provided for a two-stage process through which the maximum budget authority for annual appropriations acts is determined (the two stages are named after sections of the Budget Act). In the first stage, Congress establishes the 302(a) allocations —the maximum spending totals for a given fiscal year that are allowed for each House and Senate committee with jurisdiction over spending legislation, including both authorizations and appropriations. This task is typically accomplished through the annual concurrent resolution on the budget, where spending totals are specified through the statement of managers in the conference report. In years when the House and Senate do not reach a budget agreement, these totals may be set through leadership arrangements in each chamber. The 302(a) allocations determine the spending totals for each of the various committees, including the total discretionary budget authority available for enactment in annual appropriations through the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.

Congress reached agreement on the FY2010 budget resolution on April 29, 2009, when the Senate and the House agreed to the conference report ( H.Rept. 111-89 ) accompanying S.Con.Res. 13 . The resolution established 302(a) discretionary budget allocations to the Appropriations Committees of $1,082.5 billion for the House and $1,082.3 billion for the Senate. The resolution allowed the Budget Committees to increase those amounts if certain conditions relating to funding of specific programs were met. On June 3, 2009, the Budget Committees increased their 302(a) allocations by $3,766 million to $1,086.3 billion (House) and $1,086.0 billion (Senate). Subsequent additional adjustments have been made by both committees. For the purpose of comparison, the 302(a) discretionary allocation originally agreed to for FY2009 was $1,011.7 billion.

In the second stage of the annual congressional budget process, the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations separately establish the 302(b) allocations —the maximum discretionary budget authority available to each of the 12 subcommittees for each annual appropriations bill. The total of these allocations must not exceed the 302(a) discretionary total. This process creates the basis for enforcing discretionary budget discipline, since any appropriations bill reported with a total above the ceiling is subject to a point of order. The 302(b) allocations can and often do get adjusted during the year as the various appropriations bills progress toward final enactment. Table 5 shows the 302(b) discretionary allocations for the FY2010 L-HHS-ED appropriations determined by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, together with the comparable amount for the FY2009 appropriations. Both the 302(a) and 302(b) allocations regularly become contested issues in their own right.

Advance Appropriations

Advance appropriations occur when funds enacted in one fiscal year are not available for obligation until a subsequent fiscal year. For example, P.L. 110-161 , which enacted FY2008 L-HHS-ED appropriations, provided $420 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for use in FY2010. Advance appropriations may be used to meet several objectives. These might include the provision of long-term budget information to recipients, such as state and local educational systems, to enable better planning of future program activities and personnel levels. The more contentious aspect of advance appropriations, however, involves how they are counted in budget ceilings.

Advance appropriations avoid the 302(a) and 302(b) allocation ceilings for the current year, but must be counted in the year in which they first become available for obligation. This procedure uses up ahead of time part of what will be counted against the allocation ceiling in future years. For FY2002, President George W. Bush's budget proposed eliminating advance appropriations for federal discretionary programs, including those for L-HHS-ED programs. Congress rejected that idea, and the proposal has not been repeated. For more information, see CRS Report RS20441, Advance Appropriations, Forward Funding, and Advance Funding , by [author name scrubbed].

Department of Labor

FY2009 discretionary appropriations for the Department of Labor (DOL) were $12,411 million. For FY2010, the Obama Administration requested $13,280 million, $869 million (7.0%) more than the FY2009 amount, as shown in Table 6 . H.R. 3293 , as approved by the House, included $13,256 million in discretionary funding, an increase of $845 million (6.8%) over FY2009. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $13,268 million in discretionary funding, $12 million more than approved by the House and an increase of $857 million (6.9%) over FY2009. The FY2010 conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 , provided discretionary appropriations of $13,534 million, an increase of $1,123 million (9.0%) over FY2009.

Mandatory DOL programs were funded at $2.7 billion for FY2010 and consist of Federal Unemployment Benefits and Allowances ($1,818 million), the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund ($300 million), Special Benefits for Disabled Coal Miners ($214 million), Employment Standards Administration (ESA) Special Benefits ($187 million), Advances to the Unemployment Insurance and Other Trust Funds ($120 million), and administrative expenses for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Fund ($52 million).

Highlights

The following are some highlights for DOL of President Obama's FY2010 budget request, the House bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee's recommendations, and the conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 . See Table 7 for details. All comparisons of funding levels with FY2009 appropriations are based on FY2009 regular appropriations only.

The President requested $3,257 million to administer the Unemployment Compensation program, an increase of $424 million (14.9%) above the $2,833 million provided for FY2009. The House, the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the conference agreement approved the President's request and provided the additional funding. The President requested $5,544 million for Workforce Investment Act (WIA) programs, an increase of $230 million over the $5,314 provided for FY2009. The House approved an increase of $203 million, while the Senate Committee approved an increase of $201 million. The conference agreement provided $5,545 million, an increase of $232 million (4.4%). The President requested an additional $51 million for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which would have increased funding from $513 million for FY2009 to $564 million for FY2010. The House approved a $42 million increase; the Senate Committee agreed to a $49 million increase. The law provided $559 million, a $46 million (8.9%) increase over FY2009. The Administration requested $228 million for the Wage and Hour Division, an increase of $35 million above the $193 million approved for FY2009. The House approved $220 million, while the Senate Committee recommended $226 million. The conference agreement provided $225 million, an increase of $32 million (16.7%). The President requested a $3 million increase, from $572 million to $575 million, for Community Service Employment for Older Americans programs. The House approved a $43 million increase. The Senate Committee agreed to the President's request of $575 million. The law provides $825 million, an increase of $254 million (44.3%). The Administration proposed replacing the Community-Based Job Training Grants (CBJTG) program with a Career Pathways Innovation Fund. The Career Pathways program would continue support for community college education, but fund programs with a sequence of coursework leading to a career in a particular field. For FY2009, CBJTG was funded at $125 million. The President requested $135 million for the Career Pathways program. The House agreed to the President's request. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $125 million. The conference agreement provided $125 million for the Career Pathways Innovation Fund.

ARRA provided an additional $4.8 billion in discretionary funding for FY2009, some of which will be obligated in FY2010. DOL developed program-specific plans for spending the money, indicating how much it expected to obligate in FY2009 and FY2010. The plans are available at http://www.dol.gov/recovery , together with other DOL Recovery Act reports.

DOL budget materials may be found at http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/main.htm#budget .

Detailed Appropriations Table

Table 7 shows the appropriations details for offices and major programs of DOL.

Department of Health and Human Services

FY2009 discretionary appropriations for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) were $71,385 million. For FY2010, the Obama Administration requested $71,758 million, $373 million (0.5%) more than the FY2009 amount, as shown in Table 8 . As passed by the House, H.R. 3293 included $73,722 million in discretionary funding, an increase of $2,337 million (3.3%) over FY2009. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $74,054 million in discretionary funding, $332 million more than approved by the House, and an increase of $2,669 million (3.7%) over FY2009. The FY2010 conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 , provided discretionary appropriations of $73,958 million, an increase of $2,573 million (3.6%) over FY2009.

Mandatory HHS programs included in the L-HHS-ED act were funded at $529.8 billion in FY2010, and consist primarily of Medicaid Grants to States ($307.8 billion), Payments to Health Care Trust Funds ($207.3 billion, including Medicare Part B and Part D), Foster Care and Adoption Assistance State Payments ($7.4 billion), Family Support Payments to States ($4.7 billion), and the Social Services Block Grant ($1.7 billion). Note that some other large mandatory HHS programs are not funded through the L-HHS-ED act. The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program receive their funding directly in authorizing statutes, while Medicare Part A is funded primarily through payroll taxes.

Highlights

The following are some highlights for HHS of President Obama's FY2010 budget request, the House bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee's recommendations, and the conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 . See Table 9 for details. All comparisons of funding levels with FY2009 appropriations are based on FY2009 regular appropriations only.

The President requested an additional $92 million (54.0%) for nursing workforce programs, which would have increased funding from $171 million for FY2009 to $263 million for FY2010. The House agreed to the President's request. The Senate committee recommendation was $217 million, $47 million less than the House. The law appropriated $244 million, $73 million (42.6%) more than in FY2009. No funding was requested for the Health Care-Related Facilities and Activities account, which supported $310 million in non-competitive grants in FY2009. The House provided $179 million, the Senate committee recommended $157 million, and the law appropriated $338 million, $28 million (8.9%) more than in FY2009. For the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the President requested an additional $72 million (3.7%) for the Infectious Diseases programs, which would have increased funding from $1,935 million for FY2009 to $2,007 million for FY2010. The House approved an increase of $82 million; the Senate committee recommended $1,969 million, $48 million less than the House. The law appropriated $1,996 million, $61 million (3.2%) more than in FY2009. The President requested a decrease in funding for CDC Buildings and Facilities of $122 million (80.2%), from $152 million to $30 million. The House agreed with the proposed decrease. The Senate committee recommended $108 million (a decrease of 28.5%), $78 million more than the House and the request. The law appropriated $69 million, $82 million (54.4%) less than in FY2009. The President requested a $442 million increase (1.5%) for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which was funded at $30.3 billion in FY2009. The House approved an increase of $942 million (3.1%), $500 million above the request, for a total of $31.3 billion in FY2010. The Senate committee recommended the same level as the request, $30.8 billion. The law appropriated $31.0 billion, $692 million (2.3%) more than in FY2009. NIH had also received $10.4 billion in stimulus funding through ARRA, about half of which remained to be obligated in FY2010. At the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a Fraud and Abuse Control Initiative, first funded in FY2009, was proposed for a $113 million increase (57.1%), from $198 million to $311 million. The House bill, the Senate committee, and the conferees agreed to that amount. The President also requested a $160 million increase (4.8%) for CMS Program Management, from $3.3 billion in FY2009 to $3.5 billion. The House substantially agreed, providing an increase of $158 million, while the Senate committee recommended an increase of $126 million, $32 million less than the House. The law appropriated $3.5 billion, $165 million (5.0%) more than in FY2009. The President requested a decrease of $1.9 billion (37.3%) in discretionary funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which was funded at $5.1 billion in FY2009. A legislative proposal was offered to provide additional mandatory LIHEAP funding if energy prices increased significantly. Both the House bill and the Senate committee disapproved the decrease to $3.2 billion and recommended that discretionary funding be maintained at $5.1 billion. The law provided $5.1 billion, the same as in FY2009. The House, the Senate committee, and the conferees agreed with the President's request to increase funding for Head Start by $122 million (1.7%), from $7.1 billion in regular FY2009 appropriations to $7.2 billion. The program had also received $2.1 billion in stimulus funding through ARRA. No funding was requested for the Community-based Abstinence Education program in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF); the program received $95 million in FY2009. Instead, $110 million was requested in ACF for a new Teenage Pregnancy Prevention initiative. The House approved the proposal as requested. The Senate committee agreed to elimination of the ACF abstinence education program, but placed a new $100 million Teen Pregnancy Prevention program in the Office of the Secretary, to be administered by a newly established Office of Adolescent Health The conference agreement adopted the Senate approach, providing $110 million to the Office of the Secretary for the new initiative. Both committee reports, as well as the conferees' explanatory statement, discussed an emphasis on funding evidence-based programs. Within the Office of the HHS Secretary, the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (PHSSEF) supports a number of preparedness, response, and related public health security functions. Overall funding for the PHSSEF account, which received $1.4 billion in FY2009, was increased in the President's request by $1.3 billion to $2.7 billion. The House approved $2.1 billion, $578 million below the request. The Senate committee recommended a total of $2.6 billion for the Fund, $57 million less than the request. The law appropriated $2.3 billion for the PHSSEF, $909 million (65.0%) more than in FY2009. Among its activities funded within the PHSSEF, HHS has responsibility for procuring and stockpiling emergency medical countermeasures. To better align programmatic and financial responsibilities, the President and Congress agreed to transfer all of the remaining balances in the Project BioShield Special Reserve Fund (SRF) from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to HHS. The funds were originally appropriated as multi-year money to DHS in FY2004, to remain available until FY2013. According to the FY2010 L-HHS-ED conference report, "As of October 31, 2009, data from HHS indicate that $3,033 million remains unobligated and available in the Project BioShield SRF" ( H.Rept. 111-366 , p. 1045). As one portion of countermeasures funding, the President requested availability in FY2010 of $1,264 million of the SRF money. The House approved $764 million, choosing to transfer $500 million of the BioShield money to NIH. The Senate committee agreed with the request for $1,264 million. The law provided $960 million for the activities, and transferred $304 million to NIH. Also within the PHSSEF, pandemic influenza preparedness was funded at $585 million in regular FY2009 appropriations. The President and Congress agreed to decrease the amount by $231 million, to $354 million for FY2010. HHS also has $7.7 billion in supplemental FY2009 funds for pandemic influenza contingencies, available until expended, that were provided in P.L. 111-32 in June 2009. L-HHS-ED acts since FY1998 have barred federal funding for needle and syringe exchange programs set up to prevent HIV infection in intravenous drug users. The House bill as passed replaced the ban with a restriction on such programs being located within 1,000 feet of facilities used by children. The Senate bill as reported retained the prior ban. The conference agreement prohibited funding for such programs in any location that local public health or law enforcement agencies determine to be inappropriate (§505 of P.L. 111-117 , Division D).

ARRA provided HHS with an additional $21.9 billion in discretionary funding for FY2009, including $10.4 billion for NIH. Unlike most regular appropriations, ARRA made the stimulus funds available for obligation for two years, until the end of FY2010. HHS agencies developed implementation plans for spending the money, including expected obligations in FY2009 and FY2010. The plans are available at http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/reports/index.html , together with subsequent HHS Recovery Act reports on the funding.

HHS budget materials may be found at http://www.hhs.gov/asrt/ob/docbudget/ .

Abortion: Funding Restrictions

Annual L-HHS-ED appropriations regularly contain restrictions that limit—for one year at a time—the circumstances under which federal funds can be used to pay for abortions. Restrictions on appropriated funds, popularly referred to as the "Hyde Amendments," generally apply to all L-HHS-ED funds. Medicaid is the largest program affected. As evidence of the perennial volatility of this issue, these provisions have been subject to periodic revision during the annual consideration of L-HHS-ED appropriations. From FY1977 to FY1993, abortions could be funded only when the life of the mother was endangered. The 103 rd Congress modified the provisions to permit federal funding of abortions in cases of rape or incest. The FY1998 L-HHS-ED appropriations, P.L. 105-78 , extended the Hyde provisions to prohibit the use of federal funds to buy managed care packages that include abortion coverage, except in the cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment. The FY1999 L-HHS-ED appropriations, P.L. 105-277 , continued the FY1998 Hyde Amendments with two added provisions: (1) a clarification to ensure that the restrictions apply to all trust fund programs (namely, Medicare), and (2) an assurance that Medicare + Choice plans (now Medicare Advantage) cannot require the provision of abortion services. No changes were made from FY2000 through FY2004.

The FY2005 L-HHS-ED appropriations, P.L. 108-447 ( H.Rept. 108-792 , p. 1271), added a restriction, popularly referred to as the "Weldon Amendment," that prevents federal programs or state or local governments that receive L-HHS-ED funds from discriminating against health care entities that do not provide or pay for abortions or abortion services. The FY2006 through FY2010 L-HHS-ED appropriations retained the Weldon amendment language and the Hyde restrictions. The current provisions can be found in §507 and §508 of P.L. 111-117 , Division D. For additional information, please see CRS Report RL33467, Abortion: Legislative Response , by [author name scrubbed].

Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Funding Restrictions

On March 9, 2009, President Barack Obama signed an executive order that reversed the nearly eight-year-old Bush Administration restriction on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. Research using human embryonic stem cells raises ethical issues for some because embryos are destroyed in order to obtain embryonic stem cells. The Obama decision directed NIH to issue new guidelines for the conduct of embryonic stem cell research. Draft guidelines were released on April 23, 2009, and final guidelines were issued on July 6, 2009. In December 2009, NIH created a new registry of human embryonic stem cell lines that are eligible for use in research supported by federal funds under the 2009 guidelines. As of February 1, 2010, a total of 43 stem cell lines were listed in the new registry. Under the Bush Administration, only 21 cell lines were available for use in federally funded research.

In 1996, Congress prohibited NIH from using appropriated funds to create human embryos for research purposes or for research in which human embryos are destroyed ( P.L. 104-99 , §128). Since FY1997, annual appropriations acts have extended the prohibition to all L-HHS-ED funds, with NIH as the agency primarily affected. The restriction, popularly referred to as the "Dickey Amendment," has not changed significantly since it was first enacted. The current provision is found in §509 of P.L. 111-117 , Division D. For additional information, please see CRS Report RL33540, Stem Cell Research: Federal Research Funding and Oversight , by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed].

Detailed Appropriations Table

Table 9 shows the appropriations details for offices and major programs of HHS.

Department of Education

FY2009 discretionary appropriations for the Department of Education (ED) equaled $63,533 million. For FY2010, the Obama Administration requested $64,692 million, $1,159 million (1.8%) more than the FY2009 amount, as shown in Table 10 . As passed by the House, H.R. 3293 included $64,674 million in discretionary funding, an increase of $1,141 million (1.8%) over FY2009. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $63,962 million in discretionary funding, $713 million less than approved by the House, and an increase of $428 million (0.7%) over FY2009. The FY2010 conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 , provided discretionary funding of $64,278 million, an increase of $744 million (1.2%) over FY2009.

A single mandatory ED program is included in the L-HHS-ED bill, the Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants program. It was provided funding of $3.1 billion in FY2010.

Highlights

The following are some highlights for ED of President Obama's FY2010 budget request, the House bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee's recommendations, and the conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 . See Table 11 for details. All comparisons of funding levels with FY2009 appropriations are based on FY2009 regular appropriations only.

The President's FY2010 budget requested increased funding for several programs, and several new education programs were proposed. While President Obama's budget requested an increase in discretionary funding for education of $1.1 billion over the FY2009 funding level, it proposed eliminating funding for 12 existing programs.

The President's budget proposed adopting two new early childhood initiatives. Funding of $500 million was requested for Early Childhood Grants, intended to encourage local educational agencies (LEAs) to use Title I-A funding to implement or expand high-quality early childhood education programs. An additional $300 million was requested for The Early Learning Challenge Fund, intended to provide competitive grants to states to improve the standards and quality of early learning programs serving children from birth to age five. Neither the House nor the Senate Committee on Appropriations recommended funding for Early Childhood Grants or for the Early Learning Challenge Fund. No funding was provided for these programs in the conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 . The Administration also recommended funding for four new smaller programs in FY2010—a Promise Neighborhoods Initiative at $10 million, a Teach for America Initiative at $15 million, a High School Graduation Initiative at $50 million, and a Gulf Coast Recovery Initiative at $30 million. Both the House and the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended funding the Promise Neighborhoods Initiative at $10 million in FY2010. The House recommended providing up to $15 million for the proposed Teach for America Initiative; the Senate Committee on Appropriations recommended $20 million for the initiative. Both the House and the Senate Committee on Appropriations supported funding the High School Graduation Initiative at the Administration's proposed funding level of $50 million. The Senate Committee recommended $30 million for the Gulf Coast Recovery Initiative; the House did not recommend funding for the initiative. The conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 , provided $18 million for Teach for America and $50 million for the High School Graduation Initiative. Within the Fund for the Improvement of Education account, it included $10 million for Promise Neighborhoods and $12 million for competitive grants to Gulf Coast schools. The budget proposal recommended funding Title I-A grants at $13.0 billion for FY2010, a decrease of $1.5 billion from FY2009 appropriations. The House recommended level funding of $14.5 billion and the Senate Committee on Appropriations recommended funding of $13.8 billion. The conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 , provided $14.5 billion for Title I-A grants. The budget request for Title I School Improvement Grants was for $1.5 billion for FY2010, an increase of $1 billion over FY2009. Both the House and the Senate Committee on Appropriations recommended FY2010 funding for the program at $546 million. The conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 , provided $546 million for School Improvement Grants in FY2010. The budget proposal requested funding for an expanded Striving Readers program of $370 million for FY2010, $335 million more than FY2009 funding. The House recommended funding the Striving Readers program at $146 million for FY2010. The Senate Committee on Appropriations recommended funding of $263 million; its Striving Readers proposal would have eliminated the Early Reading First Program as a separate program, instead incorporating it into the Striving Readers Program. The conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 , eliminated Early Reading First as a separate program; it increased the funding for the Striving Readers program to $250 million and expanded it to cover children from birth through high school. The budget proposal requested $487 million in FY2010 funding for the Teacher Incentive Fund, an increase of $390 million over FY2009. The House recommended funding the Teacher Incentive Fund at $446 million for FY2010; the Senate Committee on Appropriations recommended funding of $300 million. The conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 , provided $400 million for the program in FY2010. The Administration proposed making all Pell Grant funding mandatory in FY2010, with a maximum award of $5,550. For FY2009, the maximum total grant award was $5,350, consisting of a maximum award from discretionary funds of $4,860 and a maximum award from mandatory funds of $490. The FY2010 House bill and the Senate Appropriations Committee recommendation did not accept the proposal to make all Pell Grant funding mandatory. Under both versions of H.R. 3293 , the maximum Pell Grant would have equaled $4,860 in discretionary funding plus a maximum of $690 in mandatory funding for a maximum total award of $5,550. Using the congressional assumption that the Pell Grant program would continue to have discretionary funding, the budget proposal would have supported discretionary funding of $17.5 billion in FY2010, an increase of $207 million over FY2009. (If the program were to have become mandatory, discretionary funding would have equaled zero.) The House would have provided $17.8 billion in discretionary funding for FY2010; the Senate committee would have funded the program at $17.5 billion. The conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 , continued the Pell Grant program as a discretionary program with funding of $17.5 billion for FY2010. A number of programs were proposed for elimination. The largest program proposed for elimination was the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act State Grants program, funded at $295 million in FY2009. Both the House and the Senate Committee on Appropriations concurred with the recommendation to eliminate this program. The Even Start program was among the other programs proposed for elimination in the budget request. The House recommended continuing the program in FY2010 at level funding of $66 million; the Senate committee recommended no funding for the program in FY2010. As in FY2009, no funding was requested for the Reading First Program; the House and the Senate Appropriations Committee concurred. The conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 , provided FY2010 funding of $66 million for the Even Start program, but no funding for either the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act State Grants program or for the Reading First program.

ARRA provided an additional $98.2 billion in discretionary funding for FY2009. The Department has established an ARRA website that provides detailed guidance. See http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/index.html .

Department of Education budget materials may be found at http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html .

Detailed Appropriations Table

Table 11 shows the appropriations details for offices and major programs of ED.

Related Agencies

FY2009 discretionary appropriations for Related Agencies were $12,748 million. For FY2010, the Obama Administration requested $14,028 million, $1,280 million (10.0%) more than the FY2009 amount, as shown in Table 12 . H.R. 3293 , as passed by the House, included $13,989 million in discretionary funding, an increase of $1,240 million (9.7%) over FY2009. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $14,067 million in discretionary funding, $79 million more than approved by the House, and an increase of $1,319 million (10.3%) over FY2009. The FY2010 conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 , provided discretionary appropriations of $14,076 million, an increase of $1,328 million (10.4%) over FY2009.

Mandatory programs for Related Agencies included in the L-HHS-ED bill were funded at $47.3 billion for FY2010, virtually all of it for the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

Highlights

The following are some highlights for Related Agencies of President Obama's FY2010 budget request, the House bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee's recommendations, and the conference agreement, as enacted in P.L. 111-117 . See Table 13 for details. All comparisons of funding levels with FY2009 appropriations are based on FY2009 regular appropriations only.

The Administration requested $11,447 million for SSA administrative expenses for FY2010, an increase of $993 million (9.5%) over FY2009. Both the House and the Senate Appropriations Committee agreed to the President's request. The conference agreement also approved the President's request. The President requested $539 million for National and Community Service Programs (NCSP), an increase of $172 million. The request for NCSP included $373 million for AmeriCorps State and National Grants, an increase of $105 million (39.0%). The House approved an increase of $106 million for NCSP, including a $64 million increase for AmeriCorps grants. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended a $176 million increase for NCSP, including $105 million more for AmeriCorps. The conference agreement provided $537 million for NCSP, an increase of $170 million (46.4%). The agreement approved $373 million for AmeriCorps, the same as the President's request. The President asked for $196 million for the National Service Trust, an increase of $61 million over the $135 million provided for FY2009. The House agreed to increase funding by $43 million. The Senate Committee recommended an increase of $62 million. The conference agreement followed the Senate committee recommendation of $197 million, an increase of $62 million (6.0%) over FY2009. The President requested, and both the House and the Senate committee approved, a $21 million (7.9%) increase in funding for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB received $263 million for FY2009. The conference agreement approved the President's request.

The ARRA provided an additional $1.2 billion in discretionary funding for Related Agencies in FY2009, a portion of which will be obligated in FY2010. Both SSA and NCSP have developed implementation plans for spending the money. The plans for SSA and NCSP are available at http://www.ssa.gov/recovery and http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/recovery/index.asp , respectively.

Detailed Appropriations Table

Table 13 shows the appropriations details for offices and major programs of the L-HHS-ED Related Agencies.

Appendix. Terminology and Web Resources

The following items include some of the key budget terms used in this report; they are based on CRS Report 98-720, Manual on the Federal Budget Process , by [author name scrubbed] and Allen Schick (pdf). The websites provide general information on the federal budget and appropriations.

Advance appropriation is budget authority that will become available in a fiscal year beyond the fiscal year for which the appropriations act is enacted; scorekeeping counts the entire amount in the fiscal year it first becomes available for obligation.

Appropriation is budget authority that permits federal agencies to incur obligations and to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. Appropriations represent the amounts that agencies may obligate during the period of time specified in the law. Annual appropriations are provided in appropriations acts; most permanent appropriations are provided in substantive law. Major types of appropriations are regular, supplemental, and continuing.

Budget authority is legal authority to incur financial obligations that normally result in the outlay of federal government funds. Major types of budget authority are appropriations, borrowing authority, and contract authority. Budget authority also includes the subsidy cost to the federal government of direct loans and loan guarantees, estimated on a net present value basis.

Budget resolution is a concurrent resolution passed by both chambers of Congress, but not requiring the signature of the President, setting forth the congressional budget for at least five fiscal years. It includes various budget totals and functional allocations.

Discretionary spending is budget authority provided in annual appropriations acts, other than appropriated entitlements.

Entitlement authority is the authority to make payments to persons, businesses, or governments that meet the eligibility criteria established by law; as such, it represents a legally binding obligation on the part of the federal government. Entitlement authority may be funded by either annual or permanent appropriations acts.

Forward funding is budget authority that becomes available after the beginning of the fiscal year for which the appropriation is enacted and remains available into the next fiscal year; the entire amount is counted or scored in the fiscal year in which it first becomes available.

Mandatory (direct) spending is budget authority provided in laws other than annual appropriations acts, including appropriated entitlements.

Rescission is the cancellation of budget authority previously enacted.

Scorekeeping is a set of procedures for tracking and reporting on the status of congressional budgetary actions.

Supplemental appropriation is budget authority provided in an appropriations act that provides funds that are in addition to regular appropriations.

Websites

General information on budget and appropriations may be found at these websites. Specific L-HHS-ED agency sites are listed in relevant sections of this report.

House Committees http://appropriations.house.gov/ http://republicans.appropriations.house.gov/ http://budget.house.gov/ http://budget.house.gov/republicans/

Senate Committees http://appropriations.senate.gov/ http://budget.senate.gov/democratic/ http://budget.senate.gov/republican/

Congressional Budget Office (CBO) http://www.cbo.gov/

Congressional Research Service (CRS) http://www.crs.gov/Pages/clis.aspx?cliid=73

Government Accountability Office (GAO) http://www.gao.gov/

Government Printing Office (GPO) http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Overview/

Statements of Administration Policy (SAPs): http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/111/legislative_sap_date/