House Appropriations Committee Approves $607B Labor-HHS-Education Bill

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday by voice vote approved a $607 billion fiscal year 2008 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill, CQ Today reports. The bill includes $151.5 billion in discretionary funds, exceeding FY 2007 discretionary spending by $7 billion and topping President Bush's FY 2008 spending request by $10.6 billion (Wayne, CQ Today, 7/11).

The House bill would increase spending on health care for the uninsured by 9% above FY 2007 levels and Bush's request for FY 2008. Funding for the uninsured includes a 10% increase on spending for community health centers. The $2.2 billion in total funding for community health centers would be enough to expand services to one million additional low-income patients, CongressDaily reports. The bill also includes $1.1 billion to prepare for a potential avian flu pandemic. Earmarks in the bill total $565 million -- a 50% reduction from earmarked funds in the appropriations bill that was approved two years ago (Cohn, CongressDaily, 7/12).

The committee approved an amendment by Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) intended to remove a mercury-based preservative from children's vaccines. That amendment also would have reduced CDC funding by $5.5 million, but $3.5 million of the funding was restored in a subsequent amendment by Committee Chair David Obey (D-Wis.). The House is expected to debate the bill next week.

Reaction
Obey said, "On both sides of the aisle, there's a recognition that this bill is far from excessive in meeting the investment needs of agencies under its jurisdiction." Obey said there were no serious amendments offered to reduce the bill's spending (Wayne, CQ Today, 7/11). House Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee ranking member James Walsh (R-N.Y.) said, "If I was chairman and I had this allocation, I'm not sure I would have done anything different" (CongressDaily, 7/12).

Committee ranking member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) said he was concerned about the possibility that Bush would veto the bill (Wayne, CQ Today, 7/11). Lewis said, "It's important for all of us to know that all of these programs have grown by $85 billion in a little more than a decade. By anybody's evaluation, that's a sizable adjustment in the federal commitment, so sooner or later, we all must recognize that someone will bear the burden" (CongressDaily, 7/12).

Budget Deficit Smaller Than Predicted
In other budget news, the White House Office of Management and Budget on Wednesday released a new projection of the FY 2007 budget deficit that is $39 billion less than a February estimate, CQ Today reports. The new $205 billion estimate is less than half of the peak budget deficit during the Bush administration of $412 billion in 2004 (Clarke, CQ Today, 7/11).

According to the Wall Street Journal, Bush "seized on the latest ... estimates," arguing that Republican tax cuts and spending allocations are working and that "Democrats' proposals to raise taxes and expand health care and other domestic programs pose a long-term threat to the country's economic health" (McKinnon/Solomon, Wall Street Journal, 7/12). Bush said, "Tax and spend policies are the policies of the past, and I'm going to use my veto pen to keep it that way" (Taylor, AP/Houston Chronicle, 7/11).

OMB said that the prediction for the FY 2008 budget deficit has been increased to $258 billion, up from a $239 billion estimate in February, because of higher outlays for entitlement programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare and other spending. House Budget Committee Chair John Spratt (D-S.C.) said, "It's hard to take a lecture on fiscal discipline from a president who has added $3.3 trillion to the national debt." Spratt added, "Most of the increase, the lion's share, comes from increased spending for national defense, and homeland defense, and we've funded it and gone along with it. For [Bush] to come back and blame us for that high level of expenditure, particularly for the war, is not fair, to say the least" (Wall Street Journal, 7/12).