Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017
Latest action. Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 541.
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
Highlights:
The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017 provides annual appropriations for:
the Department of Labor;
most of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS);
the Department of Education (ED); and
several related agencies, including the Social Security Administration, the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the National Labor Relations Board.
The bill does not include funding for the Food and Drug Administration, the Indian Health Service, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which are included within HHS, but considered in other appropriations bills.
The bill includes both discretionary and mandatory funding. The majority of the funding in the bill is mandatory funding for entitlement programs such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income that are funded in annual appropriations bills. These programs, known as appropriated entitlements, are included in annual appropriations bills, though the amounts provided for the programs are generally determined by authorizing statutes that control details of the programs such as eligibility rules and benefit levels.
The bill decreases discretionary funding compared to FY2016 levels. It also includes provisions that affect polices in areas such as:
implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,
abortion,
human embryo research,
the use of federal facilities for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments,
fiduciary standards for providing investment advice for pension and retirement plans,
collective bargaining,
needle exchange programs, and
withholding financial assistance to educational institutions for violations of the civil rights of transgender students.
The bill also restricts funding for Department of Education regulations to define gainful employment, establish requirements for the state authorization of higher education programs, define credit hours, and establish a teacher preparation program accountability system.
Full Summary:
Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017
The summary continues for 280 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House without amendment" stage on July 22, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on July 22, 2016: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 541.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Tom Cole (R-OK) introduced it on July 22, 2016. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 22, 2016, 3702 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3702 days ago, on July 22, 2016.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers