Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations. This bill (H.R. 2660) would appropriate $470 billion for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Departments for fiscal 2004, a 10 percent increase over fiscal 2003. This bill, the biggest of the fiscal 2004 domestic spending bills, includes $138 billion for discretionary spending, including $55.4 billion for education and $22.7 billion for the National Institutes of Health. That leaves $332 billion for so-called mandatory spending on entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and unemployment insurance.
The House passed H.R. 2660 on July 10, 2003 by a vote of 215 to 208 (Roll Call 353). We have assigned pluses to the nays because this bill represents a significant increase in spending, and these departments are not authorized by the Constitution.
