Don Nickles: “The Labor, HHS, Education appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2004 provides $137.6 billion in discretionary budget…”

“The Labor, HHS, Education appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2004 provides $137.6 billion in discretionary budget authority and $134.9 billion in discretionary outlays for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies. These amounts are both precisely at the subcommittee's 302(b) allocation. This is an increase of 2.3 percent in discretionary budget authority and 6.8 percent in discretionary outlays above the 2003 enacted levels. Including mandatory spending, the bill provides a total of $370.7 billion in new budget authority and $294.6 billion in new outlays in Fiscal Year 2004. With outlays from prior years and other completed actions, the Senate bill totals $456.4 billion in budget authority and $453.6 billion in outlays. The committee-reported bill also shifts $2.2 billion in 2004 advance appropriations back to fiscal year 2003, pursuant to an agreement with the administration. These advance appropriations were originally provided in the 2003 omnibus appropriations bill to avoid circumventing the 2003 spending limits, an action which the President previously objected to when he signed that legislation. The purpose of this shift is to allow for $2.2 billion in additional nondefense discretionary spending in 2004 without exceeding the budget resolution's discretionary spending limit.”