Arlen Specter: “the bill which we are considering today is the largest of all of the appropriations bills, consisting of some $472…”

“the bill which we are considering today is the largest of all of the appropriations bills, consisting of some $472 billion, even larger than the Defense appropriations bill, although a major portion of that is on mandatory spending--Medicare, Medicaid, family assistance, and other mandatory provisions--which leaves $137.6 billion to fund the three departments: the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Education. The amount of the discretionary spending is $380 million below the President's budget request and $435 billion below the amount the House of Representatives had to spend on Labor, HHS, and Education programs. It is important to note that the House and Senate bills also have an additional $2.2 billion in fiscal year 2004 which was achieved by pushing back advanced appropriations from fiscal year 2004 to fiscal year 2003.”