Summary of Labor Appropriations Bill

With Congress on recess, this a good time to take a look at the components of  the appropriations bills the House passed this summer.

Today we’ll look at the Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services bill, which appropriates $189.9 billion, an increase of $11.8 billion over FY 2019 and $47.9 billion over the president’s request. Of course, many of the details may be changed between now and when the bill is signed into law, especially since the budget deal requires no “poison pill” amendments to the provisions. But this at least provides a starting point for Democrats to go into negotiations with the president and the Senate over the final spending bill.

Note: The recently passed budget deal set spending levels of the whole budget, but Congress must still fill in the details of how much each individual agency and program gets.

So, here are the details of the Labor-HHS-Education bill:

1. $75.9 billion for the Department of Education, $4.5 billion above FY 2019 and $11.9 billion above the president’s request

2. $13.3 billion for the Department of Labor, $1.2 billion above FY 2019 and $2.4 billion above the president’s request.

3. $99.4 billion for Health and Human Services, $8.9 billion above FY 2019 and $21.3 billion above the president’s request.

4. $25 million for firearms injury and mortality prevention research (which sounds harmless but is actually an attempt to make a “scientific” case for gun control).

5. $250 million to “address” tobacco and e-cigarettes (meaning more nanny state programs including ones discouraging use of e-cigarettes even though they are healthier than tobacco cigarettes).

6. $15 million to study the health impacts of climate change.

7. $5.9 billion for the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Administration  (SMASHA) (which is the agency behind the scheme to subject America’s children to mandatory mental health screening).

8. $400 million, an increase of $114 million, for Title X family planning programs.

9. Directs the use of $100 million on carryover funds for ObamaCare’s navigators and for ObamaCare promotion.

10. $260 million for social and emotional learning centers, which aim to promote “holistic” education. (This sounds good at first but could be used to promote values different from those of a child’s parents.)

11. $42.2 billion for K-12 education programs, an increase of $3.4 billion over FY 2019 and $8.1 billion above President Trump’s request. This funds programs like No Child Left Behind and Common Core that impose a one size fits all education model on our nation’s schools.

12. $2.7 billion for higher education programs.

13. $1.14 billion, $55 million higher than FY 2019, for Americorps’ “paid volunteer” program. Trump actually proposed eliminating the program.

14. $495 million for public broadcasting, a $55 million increase over FY 2019.

15. $342 million for the National Labor Relations Board, a $55 million increase over FY 2019 and $100 million above the president’s request.