House, Senate Committees
Approve HHS Spending Bills
June 27, 2003 - In a marked departure from the pattern
of the last several years, both the House and Senate Appropriations
Committees approved their FY 2004 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations
bills before end of June. The full House
Appropriations Committee June 25 adopted essentially unchanged
the bill approved by the Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee
on June 19. The Senate Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee approved
its bill on June 25, with the full committee passing the bill
the following day. At press time, only a few details have
emerged on the Senate bill. Both the House and Senate are
expected to take up their respective bills on the House and
Senate floors when they return from the July 4 recess.
While not unexpected given the tight spending caps imposed
on the House and Senate versions, the results for academic
medicine are disappointing. The most serious news relates
to the Title VII health professions education programs. The
House bill cuts these programs by about 10 percent. As it
has done in the past, the Senate Committee consolidates funding
for Titles VII and VIII (nursing) and for children's hospitals
graduate medical education into one account, which it funds
at $423.8 million -- $287.5 million (40 percent) below the
FY 2003 level. However, if funding for Title VIII ($112.7
million) and children's hospitals GME ($290.1 million) is
retained at FY 2003 levels, only $20.9 million would be available
for Title VII programs, a 93 percent cut.
As expected, Senate Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee Chair
Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) made good on his pledge to increase
NIH funding by a $1 billion (3.7 percent) to $27.982 billion
- $318 million more than the House bill. The NIH total includes
$119.2 million for extramural research facilities construction,
the same level as in FY 2003. The House bill contains no funds
for extramural construction. The House committee report accompanying
the bill notes "more than $68 million was provided in
fiscal year 2003 through the Health Resources and Services
Administration for biomedical research facilities construction
and renovation." Both the House and Senate bill retain
the extramural salary cap for NIH, AHRQ, and SAMHSA at Executive
Level I.
The Senate bill follows the House in freezing funding for
the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality ($304 million).
Both bills funds the agency exclusively with money transferred
through the Secretary's evaluation transfer authority.
Information:
Dave Moore, Senior Associate Vice President
AAMC Government Relations
dbmoore@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
Erica Froyd, Director, Public Health and Research Legislative Affairs
AAMC Office of Governmental Relations
efroyd@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
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