The House of
Representatives will return to Washington next week with a focus on completing
all of its Appropriations bills before the Fourth of July recess. The Labor-HHS
Appropriations Subcommittee will mark up its FY 07 bill on Wednesday with a
bill that includes an additional $4.1 billion for Labor-HHS programs above the
Administration’s request level. This increased funding is a result of a
House Budget Resolution compromise between the House leadership and moderate
Republicans. The leadership agreed to include an additional $4.1 billion
immediately and another $3 billion from mandatory spending programs at some
point during the year.
This increased
Labor-HHS funding is still slightly below FY 06 funding levels. It does not
account for an additional $1.9 billion necessary to pay for earmarks and an
education financing program previously funded on the mandatory side being
switched to the discretionary side this year.
NWA has worked in a
variety of ways to make funding for WIA a priority of House Labor-HHS
Appropriators. Last week, NWA met with Chairman Regula to discuss FY 07 WIA
funding. Chairman Regula described his strong support for the workforce system
and his belief that the program works. Chairman Regula did not discuss specific
funding levels for the program, but we underscored to him that any cuts would
directly impact services, rather than excess carryover.
House Education and
the Workforce Chairman Buck McKeon also met with Chairman Regula to voice his
support for WIA funding. McKeon’s advocacy on behalf of WIA funding is
another example of his strong support of the workforce system, as he chose to
bring WIA funding to the attention of the Appropriators, despite the fact that
there are dozens of popular programs within his jurisdiction.
107 House Members
also signed the Porter/Tierney WIA Dear Colleague letter to Chairman Regula in
support of funding WIA at FY 05 levels.
While Mr. Regula is
supportive of WIA funding, we are concerned about rumors floating among some
Members of the Subcommittee that staff have already drafted a bill that
contains significant cuts to a variety of programs. It will not be unveiled for
Members of the Subcommittee until the night before markup.
If the bill contains
cuts to popular programs and does not reflect the leadership’s promises of
additional funding, it is unclear whether the bill will make it to the House
floor, as a number of moderates have already indicated that they would vote
against an inadequately funded Labor-HHS bill. If brought to the floor, it
could be defeated like it was last year, which makes it highly unlikely that
the leadership will allow the bill to receive floor consideration unless they
are certain to have enough votes to secure passage. If the leadership does not
have enough votes to pass the bill on its own, it will either be rolled into a
larger Omnibus Appropriations bill or a long term Continuing
Resolution.
NWA is also hearing
that the Senate leadership would like to reduce the $7 billion increase that
Labor-HHS programs received in the Senate Budget Resolution. Senate insiders
have little expectation that House and Senate negotiators will complete a
Budget Resolution Conference. As a result, Senators Frist and Appropriations
Chairman Cochran have included in the pending Supplemental Appropriations bill
for the Iraq war, a provision that deems overall discretionary funding at $873
billion in the Senate this year, the same level as the President requested.
This deeming resolution would allow Appropriators to send out their funding
allocations to their individual Subcommittees (called 302(b)
allocations).
NWA has been told
that Frist and Cochran would prefer to provide the Labor-HHS 302(b) with less
than the entire $7 billion in additional funding included in the Senate Budget
Resolution. Instead we are told they are floating with Labor-HHS Appropriators
offering something closer to the $4 billion increase level in the House
bill.
Labor-HHS
Appropriators have rejected the leadership’s proposals to reduce funding
for their allocation, but they continue to be concerned about the 302(b)
allocation they will eventually receive from the leadership. NWA is actively
coordinating with key education and health groups at the request of Labor-HHS
Appropriators to pressure the leadership to include the additional $7 billion
in the Labor-HHS 302(b) allocation.
Senator Snowe
offered this week to circulate a Dear Colleague letter among moderate
Republicans to Frist and Cochran requesting that Labor-HHS receives the full
funding allocation these Senators voted for in the Budget Resolution in its
302(b). These 302(b) allocations are expected to be issued sometime in the next
few weeks.
Unlike House
Appropriators, Senate Appropriators are not working under a tight timeframe to
complete their bills. At this juncture, there is no timetable for a markup of
the Senate Labor-HHS bill and it is unlikely that a markup will occur before
the August recess.
While an easy
solution to the faith based issue remains elusive, NWA has spoken with key
authorizers in the House and Senate who still believe there is an opportunity
to pass WIA reauthorization this year. Senior Education and Workforce Members
have told NWA that they have been alerted by their leadership that Chairman
Enzi will have floor time in September to bring bills within his
Committee’s jurisdiction to the Senate floor. These Members have been told
that Enzi would like to move a WIA reauthorization Conference bill during this
window. NWA is working to assist the House and Senate to move forward in these
negotiations, as there is a recognition that if a solution to the faith based
issue can be reached, there are few impediments to the quick completion of a
House-Senate Conference Report.
.
Saturday,
December 2 - Tuesday, December 5, 2006
We are putting
together quite a line-up! The whole event kicks off with a Pre-Conference
co-sponsored by USAWorks. NWA CEO David Bradley will be leading a full day
workshop on the outcome of the Mid-Term Congressional Elections! This is a
great opportunity to collaborate with leading Directors from all over the
country as a precursor to the Conference which opens on Sunday December
3.
Please remember that
now is the time to act and save on the conference registration fee. Our early
bird reg fees expire on July 1, 2006. Visit our website at:
ww
w.nwaonline.org to obtain more information on our conference as well as a
registration form.
|
