Republicans Reach Tentative
Agreement on 2003 Spending Allocations
January 10, 2003 - The 108th Congress convened Jan.
7 amid renewed efforts to finish the FY 2003 spending bills.
House and Senate Republican leaders have tentatively agreed
on subcommittee allocations as part of a $385 billion omnibus
legislative package to complete work on the 11 appropriations
bills not yet enacted.
To comply with the President's demands that overall discretionary
spending be held to $750.5 billion in FY 2003, Republican
appropriators had to cut more than $9 billion from the appropriations
bills approved last year by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
As expected, the Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee is slated
for the hardest hit, a $2.7 billion cut from the $131.4 billion
approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee last July.
The tentative allocation for the VA-HUD subcommittee is $90.4
billion, which is $1 billion less than the previous Senate
allocation and about $600 million less than the previous House
allocation. At press time, no details were available regarding
individual programs in the Senate proposal.
Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), chair of the House Labor-HHS-Education
Appropriations Subcommittee, introduced a Labor-HHS-Education
appropriations bill (H.R.
246) on Jan. 8 designed to give the House some standing
in the negotiations with the Senate over the final FY 2003
bill. The bill totals $130.9 billion, which is equal to the
President's budget request. The bill provides $26.6 billion
for NIH, an increase of $3.357 billion (14.4 percent) over
FY 2002. For health professions, the bill provides $392.6
million, which is $4.8 million (1.2 percent) over FY 2002.
The bill also provides $299 million for the Agency for Healthcare
Policy and Research, the same as in FY 2002.
The House has set in motion the first stage of a process
designed to move the 11 bills through Congress as quickly
as possible. The House Jan. 8 passed two continuing resolutions
(CRs) by voice vote. The first (H.J.Res.
1) continues funding for federal programs at FY 2002 levels
through Jan. 31. The Senate is expected to vote on this measure
on Jan. 9. The current CR expires Jan. 11.
The plan calls for the second CR (H.J.Res.
2) to be used as a vehicle for Senate passage of the 11
appropriations bills. Incoming Senate Appropriations Chair
Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) remains hopeful the issues surrounding
the organization of the Senate will be resolved in time for
his committee to mark up an omnibus spending package Jan.
10 that combines revised versions of the 11 unfinished appropriations
bills. This package would be added to the second CR, which
would go to a House-Senate conference committee.
GOP leaders are still hopeful that the FY 2003 bills can
be cleared for the President by his State of the Union address
Jan. 28. However, Senate debate on the spending bills may
take up much of the week of Jan. 13, and neither the House
nor Senate is scheduled to be in session the following week.
Information:
Dave Moore, Senior Associate Vice President
AAMC Government Relations
dbmoore@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
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