Congress Passes FY 2012 Appropriations Bill
Happy Holidays!
On Saturday December 17, The Senate passed H.R. 2055, an omnibus bill that includes appropriations for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS). This bill was passed by the House on December 16. The bill was the product of extensive negotiations among House and Senate appropriators of both parties and reflects a number of evident compromises. While he is expected to do so, nothing is set in stone until the bill is signed by the President.
As passed, the omnibus appropriations bill:
- Provides level funding for the Office of Adolescent Health Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP) at just under $105 million, including at least $75 million for Tier 1 grants and at least $25 million for Tier 2 grants, with the remainder for program support.
- Maintains existing language establishing standards of evidence and evaluation, along with criteria for Tier 1 and Tier 2 programs.
- Increases evaluation funding for TPPP from $4.5 million in FY 2011 to $8.5 million for FY 2012.
- Adds $5 million for competitive grants for abstinence education, tied to the “A – H” definition for abstinence-only education (with no evidence criteria).
- Allocates approximately $298 million for the Title X family planning program (a $2 million cut from the FY 2011 level), with no new restrictions (or “riders”) on how these funds can be used.
- Continues discretionary funding for Community Health Centers at $1.6 billion. When combined with mandatory funding in the Affordable Care Act, total FY 2012 funding is $2.8 billion or approximately $200 million above the FY 2011 level.
- Did not block mandatory funding provided through the Affordable Care Act for the Personal Responsibility Education Program and home visiting grants, as had been proposed in the House LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman’s plan.
The bill does eliminate funding for the Adolescent Family Life program (which was also zeroed out in the President’s FY 2012 budget request earlier this year) and cuts $10 million from the Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grant—from $656 million in FY 2011 to $646 million for FY 2012.
All LHHS programs will be subject to an additional across the board cut of 0.189 percent (in other words, less than two tenths of one percent).
On balance, it is encouraging that in this very challenging fiscal and political climate, the bill maintains steady funding for most key programs to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy. It is also important that the bill maintains high standards of evidence and evaluation for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program to ensure that federal funds are focused on programs that work. Unfortunately, the new funding for abstinence-only education does not include such standards.
Please continue to let your members of Congress know that maintaining these common sense commitments to programs that work to reduce teen and unplanned pregnancy saves taxpayers billions of dollars every year, helps to strengthen our workforce and contributes to our economic competitiveness.
To view our statement on the omnibus appropriations bill, click here.