Supplemental Spending Package
Stalls
April 11, 2003 - House and Senate negotiators on the
FY 2003 emergency supplemental appropriations bill (H.R.
1559) remain deadlocked over several key issues, including
the size of the overall package, how much flexibility to accord
the Administration in the allocation of defense funds, and
how much money to provide to the airline industry. Senate
conferees also are angry at the House's refusal to accept
a number of special interest items the Senate inserted into
its version of the bill. Senate conferees did not attend a
conference committee meeting scheduled for April 9.
The House version of the bill includes $165 million for bioterrorism
and public health activities, including $16 million to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for research
on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), $94 million to
assist state and local health authorities with the costs of
the civilian smallpox vaccination program, and $50 million
to compensate volunteers who experience adverse effects form
smallpox vaccinations. The Senate bill includes $16 million
for SARS and $105 to support the smallpox vaccination program,
but no compensation funds.
Both the House and Senate bills also include $2.2 billion
for grants to "First Responders" through the Office
of Domestic Preparedness (ODP) in the Department of Homeland
Security. Of this total, the House bill calls for $1.5 billion
to be awarded through ODP's basic state grant program; the
Senate version calls for $1.27 billion to go through the state
grants. The House bill also targets $700 million for high
threat, high density urban areas; the Senate bill proposes
$600 million.
Information:
Dave Moore, Senior Associate Vice President
AAMC Government Relations
dbmoore@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
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