House Votes for FY 09 Omnibus Spending Bill

Following the signing into law of the recent stimulus package, in another near party line vote, the House of Representatives passed the FY 09 Omnibus Appropriations Act by a vote of 245-178. A press release issued by the House Committee on Appropriations states This bill works in harmony with the economic recovery package, making investments that address the country’s immediate needs while investing in our long term economic strength. The bill provides for significant funding for both science and education.

Some of the education provisions are:

• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part B State Grants: Increases the share of special education costs met by the federal government to 17.4 percent with $558 million above 2008 for a total of $11.5 billion.

• Pell Grants: To help 6.9 million families pay for college, this bill increases the maximum Pell Grant by $119 to $4,360, $3 billion above 2008 for a total of $17.3 billion. With additional mandatory funding under the College Cost Reduction Act the maximum Pell Grant is $4,850, increased $800 since 2006.

• Student Financial Aid: Helps 1.4 million students go to school with programs including federal supplemental educational opportunity grants, Perkins Loans, and the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships programs, with total funding of $1.9 billion.

• Title I Grants for Low-Income Children: $648 million above 2008 to help disadvantaged students at more than 50,000 schools improve academic achievement with total funding of $15.0 billion.

• Head Start: $235 million above 2008 to ensure that 900,000 low–income children have access to high quality preschool services, with total funding of $7.1 billion.

• Child Care Assistance: $65 million above 2008 to support quality child care for 11,000 more children than last year with $2.1 billion in total funding.

• After-School Programs: Provides roughly 1.7 million children with quality after school services that help them learn while their parents work with $50 million above 2008 for a total of $1.1 billion.

The bill eliminates the Reading First program which was championed by President Bush and the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship which provides public funds for students to attend private schools.

Science and research spending increased as well. Spending on NSF, NASA, and NOAA include:

• NASA: $1.3 billion, including over $150 million to fund Earth science missions and to measure climate change – such as measuring Earth’s radiation or changes in polar ice, as recommended by the National Academy of Sciences.

• NOAA: $394 million to improve computer models, install climate sensors on satellites and improve the accessibility of climate data.

• National Science Foundation: An estimated $230 million to research the impacts of human activities on the climate and to study carbon cycles, land use, and impacts on ecosystems.

• NASA: $17.8 billion, $385 million above 2008, for scientific discovery, national security, and space exploration.

• National Science Foundation: $6.5 billion, $363 million above 2008, for the most promising scientific research at America’s colleges and universities, and supporting scientists with cutting edge labs and equipment.

• NOAA: $4.4 billion, $468.7 million above 2008, to increase important ocean, weather, and climate research activities and for satellite acquisitions.

The Omnibus bill must now pass the Senate where it will most likely face a more difficult audience. In addition, while the Congress is still working on FY 09 the President is proposing his FY 10 budget so Congress will be increasingly busy.