| The Senate approved an amendment from Senators
Chris Dodd (D-CT), Jeffords (I-VT), and Hagel (R-NE) that would
boost spending on the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA) by $2.2 billion over last year - the amount assumed
in the FY 2004 Budget Resolution, House Concurrent Resolution
95. The amendment passed by voice vote and is funded by extending
expiring U.S. Custom fees. This is $1.2 billion beyond the increase
approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House
Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill. The increase was one
of a few exceptions to the Democrats' efforts to boost education
funding. Over a dozen amendments offered by the minority party
were turned back under the Senate's fiscal year (FY) 2004 spending
bill for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services
(HHS), and Education. However, Senator Dodd acknowledged that
not having a roll call vote will make it easier for the House
to procedurally reject any increase in the conference committee
between the two congressional chambers on this appropriations
bill.
In the version of the bill passed by the Senate (H.R. 2660),
funding for IDEA Part C, Grants for Infants and Families, was
increased by over $12 million or 2.9% to $447 million to FY2004.
ASHA members should know that Part C funds formula grants to
states to implement statewide systems of coordinated, comprehensive,
multidisciplinary interagency programs to make available early
intervention services to all children with disabilities, ages
2 and under, and their families.
The Senate level funded IDEA Part D, Personnel Preparation
grants, at $91.89 million for FY2004, the same level appropriated
in FY2003. ASHA members should know that Personnel Preparation
grants support competitive awards to help address state identified
needs for qualified personnel to work with children with disabilities,
and to ensure that these personnel have the skills and knowledge
they need to serve these children.
The Senate Appropriations committee did direct the U.S. Department
of Education to, "use a portion of such funding for the
preparation of personnel who serve children with low-incidence
disabilities, particularly those with sensory disabilities such
as low vision, blindness, and deafness." The Committee
was particularly concerned about the shortage of qualified special
education teachers and higher education faculty.
An agreement was reached for an amendment offered by Senators
Reid (D-NV) and Bingaman (D-NM) to increase funding for Hispanic
education programs by $10 million. The money would be distributed
as follows: $4 million for bilingual education; $3 million for
High-School Equivalency Program (HEP) - College Assistance Migrant
Program (CAMP); $500,000 for migrant education; $1 million for
Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), and $1 million for parent
centers.
For the National Institutes of Health, the Senate bill includes
$27.9 billion, an increase of $1 billion over the FY 2003 appropriation
and $318.6 million over the administration's request. The National
Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
received just over a 3% increase to $384,577,000.
In addition, the Senate continued to fund Universal Newborn
Hearing Screening and Early Intervention grant programs run
by the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) at about
$10 million. The Senate Appropriations committee had earlier
rejected the Bush Administration's proposal to consolidate this
program into the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant program.
The Early Hearing Detection and Intervention program under the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is also level
funded for next year at $7.2 million. For more information or
questions about the Senate FY2004 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations
bill, please contact Neil Snyder, ASHA's Director of Federal
Advocacy, by phone at 800-498-2071, ext.4257 or via e-mail at
nsnyder@asha.org.
Submitted By: David
Yoder |
