Attempting to avoid a fight among themselves, leaders of the House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee said today they have reached a general agreement on the massive Labor-HHS appropriations bill.
However, they made it clear that the funding levels in the bill reflect their own priorities--and not those of the bipartisan budget agreement reached with the Clinton administration.
In beginning to mark up the bill, which has been a battleground over the past two years, House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Porter, R-Ill., said if congressional leaders and the administration could have agreed on all funding issues "there would not be any need for Congress at all."
He said his plan has "very great differences" with the budget agreement. Subcommittee ranking member David Obey, D-Wis., said he and Porter have worked together on the bill, adding that he agrees with many of the funding levels.
Under Porter's plan, the National Institutes of Health would receive $427 million more than President Clinton's request, while the Goals 2000 education reform program, the Social Services block grant program and the Opportunity Areas for Youth Advance program all would receive cuts of more than $100 million below Clinton's request.
Overall, HHS funding would increase by almost $609 million, while Labor and Education department funding would be cut below the president's request.
The bill would prohibit OSHA from issuing a proposed or final standard on ergonomics--a sticking point in past Labor-HHS bills.
Porter said he will resist other attempts to add legislative provisions to the bill. He accused authorizing committees of failing to do their work -- and complained that they are trying to convince appropriators to do it for them.
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