As this is being written, Congress is about to break for the August recess and the presidential conventions. In the last few days a flurry of activity surrounding welfare reform, health care legislation and the minimum wage bill has put FY97 appropriations on the back burner. With only the month of September left before all thirteen appropriations bills must be completed, appropriators have yet to conference a single measure, let alone send any to the President for his signature. The House has passed all thirteen appropriations bills. The Senate has passed only five. There is already talk of passing a Continuing Resolution to fund any government activities for which regular appropriations have not been approved by the start of the fiscal year (October 1, 1996). Here is the current status of funding for the programs of greatest interest to PAA.
National Science Foundation: Funding for a number of programs continues to be cut. The VA, HUD and Independent Agencies FY97 appropriations bill (HR 3666), which funds the NSF, passed the House on June 26 by a vote of 269147. The bill contains $3.34 billion for the NSF, an increase of $20 million, or less than one percent over last year. The legislation also contains an amendment offered by Rep. Robert Walker (RPA) which increases funding for the NSF research account by $9.1 million and reduces funding for the salaries and expenses account by the same amount. The administration opposes the measure and has made its feelings known in a letter submitted to House leaders. On the Senate side, the Appropriations Subcommittee recommended a total appropriation of $3.27 billion for the NSF, $55 million below the President's request and $50 million less than the FY96 level. The bill passed committee by a voice vote on July 11. Floor action is still pending. If the substantial cuts in the AmeriCorps Program aren't reversed in conference the President may well veto the legislation.
Census Bureau: Prior to slashing $21 million in funding from the $105 million requested for preplanning for the decennial census, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary criticized the Bureau for not having in place a plan that accurately predicts and budgets for the costs of the Year 2000 Census. Also included in the House measure is flat funding for the economic census. The White House responded by sending a letter to Committee Chair Bob Livingston criticizing the inadequate level of funds for census operations ($84.1 million). The Senate version of the legislation adds back $11 million, however, only $6 million of that amount is designated for Census 2000. In conference, the Senate may well designate most of the $6 million addback for an increase in the economic census. The other $5 million increase is designated for salaries and expenses. The cuts in Census Bureau funding and the drastic cuts in funding for the Legal Services Corporation may draw a presidential veto.
Foreign Aid: The House version of the FY97 Foreign Aid appropriations (HR 3540) reduces foreign aid programs from the FY96 level of $12.1 billion to $11.9 billion. Also included in the House version is a provision limiting family planning aid to 65% of the FY95 level, or $356 million. The Senate version provides about $300 million more than the House ($12.2 billion), but is still $700 million below the President's request. The legislation, which passed full Senate Committee on June 27 does not contain the controversial language regarding reproductive health included in the House bill. It does, however, contain language calling for a $410 million line item amount which replaces the House language calling for no more than a 65% increase over FY95 funds for foreign operations. House insistence on its vision of what the international population programs should look like could easily tie up final passage as it did last year.
National Institutes of Health: On a brighter note, the news for NIH is good. Thanks once again to the work of Rep. John Porter (RIL), the final Labor/HHS&E measure coming out of the House provides a 6.9% increase over 1996 (nearly $820 million) for NIH. NICHD is funded at $631.9 million, $37.4 million over the FY96 appropriation. For NIA, the bill includes $484.5 million, an increase of $30.8 million over last year. The committee report accompanying the bill urged continued support for both NICHD's recent demographic research initiatives and NIA's demographic research program. Senate markup for the Labor/HHS&E FY97 appropriations bill is scheduled for after the August recess. In the event that the Senate does not complete action on its version of the Labor/HHS&E appropriations, it is hoped that the House increase for NIH will prevail in the Continuing Resolution.
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