On July 30, 2009, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS-Education) Appropriations bill. Funding is included in this bill for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as funding for the Department of Education. The Senate did not bring this bill to the floor for a vote by the full Senate before leaving for their August recess. The House passed its version of the bill on July 24.
Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) explained that this year’s bill is heavily influenced by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), or stimulus bill. Select programs that do not normally see priority funding will see major increases in FY 2010. For example, school reform programs will see major increases, including the Teacher Incentive Fund, charter schools, new literacy and dropout prevention programs, and a new program for school renovation and construction. Programs that received large amounts of funding through ARRA, such as NIH and Title I education programs, would not receive their usual funding increases in FY 2010. The Senate’s justification for this is that most ARRA funding will be obligated in FY 2010 and these programs are expected to be given a higher priority in FY 2011, especially because they are expected to face severe financial pressures as the ARRA funding ends.
Full details can be found in the PDF attached below.