National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C.      Vol. 33, No. 20 * October 29, 2001

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Labor, Health, Education, Human
Services funding bills move forward

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With unusual speed, the House of Representatives and Senate moved their versions of the FY02 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bills to near completion. The House adopted its version, and the Senate Appropriations Committee sent its bill to the full Senate for a vote. Normally, this bill is the last appropriations bill considered and is often wrapped up in a larger omnibus appropriations bill. But the emerging concerns around bio-terrorism and the faltering economy motivated members to move this appropriations bill forward.

The respective subcommittee chairs in each chamber made note of this. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Ind.) said “Our nation’s health and the strength of our tomorrow are shaped by the critical health, education and labor investments made by this bill.” And Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) said, “The bill is balanced and bi-partisan … we have also made efforts to strengthen our nation’s defenses in the area of bio-terrorism. The safety of our people is of utmost importance, and we have made it a high priority in the bill.”

Labor Funding
On the Labor front, the House and Senate committees adopted similar proposals. Both would provide about $1.5 billion for dislocated worker services, about $950 million for adult services, and about $1.35 billion for youth programs (excluding Job Corps). The House and Senate recommendations would bring Workforce Investment Act funds back to pre-rescission levels, and $500 million above the level first requested by the president as part of his FY02 proposal.

Health funding
Health programs generally fared well in both the House and Senate committee bills, with the House bill being a little more generous on average. The Community Health Centers received increases in both bills, as did the Centers for Disease Control, the National Health Service Corps, Ryan White CARE Act, many Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration programs (although more generous in the House bill), and the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant.

The major difference between the two is in the House, which funded the Community Access Program (CAP) at $120 million for FY02, with $15 million set aside for state grants. The Senate bill provides $15 million for state grants only and does not provide funds for community CAP grants.

Meanwhile, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee suggested a funding level of $125 million when it recommended legislation to authorize the program back on Aug.1. Last year the program received $125 million.

NACo strongly supports funding for this program, which provides grants to communities to develop integrated systems of care for the uninsured and underinsured. NACo continues to lobby to support funding of this program which had been targeted for elimination in President George W. Bush’s budget.

Funding for CAP will ultimately be determined in the conference committee negotiations between the House and the Senate.

In the meantime, NACo is advising its members to contact their senators and representatives and urge them to support funding for CAP at least at the level in the House bill.

Human services
Overall, human services programs did quite well. The House, for example, voted to fund Title XX, the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), at $ 1.7 billion. The House Appropriations committee also restored the authority to transfer 10 percent of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Block Grant (TANF) to SSBG.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted to fund SSBG at the same level as the House, but only increased the TANF transfer authority to 6.9 percent.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted to fund Head Start at $6.6 billion, an increase of $400 million over last year while the House voted for $6.48 billion, an increase of nearly $300 million over last year. The House voted to fund the Older Americans Act at $440 million, while the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to fund the program at $450 million, an $80 million increase over last year’s funding.

Once the Senate acts on its version of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill, the House and Senate will conference and produce a final version of the bill that is likely to be adopted and go into effect by mid-November.

(This article was compiled by Neil Bomberg, Sally McElroy and Marilina Sanz, associate legislative directors.)