The House appropriations committee recently released
its proposed FY13 302(b) allocations. 302(b)s set the overall funding amount that an appropriations subcommittee can spend within a particular appropriations bill. We follow the Labor, Health, and Human Services (LHHS) appropriation most closely. The proposed FY13 302(b) for LHHS is $6 billion less than FY12 levels.
Below is a quick comparison of the FY13 LHHS 302(b) in relation to both FY12 levels and Senate FY13 levels (in billions):
- FY12 LHHS Allocation: $156.284
- Senate FY13: $157.722
- House FY13 LHHS: $150.002
- Senate v. FY12: +$1.438 b (0.9%)
- House v. FY12: -$6.282 b (-4.0%)
- House v. Senate: -$7.72 b (-4.9%)
Under the House plan, the LHHS and
Education departments would receive a combined $150.002 billion in
funding, while the Senate plan would fund these departments at $157.722
billion, a difference of $7.72 billion.
Overall, the House and the Senate have set discretionary spending limits that are approximately $19 billion apart. The House adopted a congressional budget resolution that capped discretionary spending in FY13 at $1.028 trillion, while the Senate chose to stick to the $1.047 trillion amount set by last summer’s Budget Control Act, which raised the debt ceiling.
The large differences in the subcommittee allocations will likely make it more difficult for the House and Senate to agree on FY13 appropriations bills for these departments.