Committee Approves FY25 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act
Washington, D.C. – Today, the House Appropriations Committee met to consider the Fiscal Year 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The measure was approved by the Committee with a vote of 31 to 25.
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Chairman Robert Aderholt (R-AL) said, “This bill ensures the continued success of critical programs needed by Americans across the nation, while implementing common sense reforms to the appropriations process by reducing and eliminating many programs with expired authorizations, ultimately saving taxpayer dollars. With today’s approval by the full Committee, we are one step closer to delivering on our continued commitment to restoring trust with the American people by laying a foundation for transparency and fiscal responsibility in the appropriations process.
"By advancing this bill through the full Committee, Republicans show that we are united on bolstering our national security, reining in Executive Branch overreach, and supporting American values and principles.
"Thank you to Chairman Cole for his leadership and for his support as I’ve worked with my colleagues to craft this important legislation. We look forward to seeing this bill on the floor for full consideration by the House.”
Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) said, “Each investment in this bill is directed to help our communities, students, and workforce. We prioritize life-changing value for patients and the health of the nation through research for novel treatments and cures, while also enhancing our medical supply chain and biodefense capabilities. The well-being of our greatest gift – America’s children – is paramount. We invest in the safety of our classrooms, support kids with special needs, and uphold the dignity of unborn children. Essential core resources are maintained while out-of-touch and wasteful programs are rejected. Chairman Aderholt’s bill puts America and families across the country on a stronger path forward.”
Subcommittee Chairman Aderholt’s opening remarks are available here.
Chairman Cole's opening remarks are available here.
Fiscal Year 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act
The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act provides a total discretionary allocation of $185.8 billion, which is $8.6 billion (4%) below the Fiscal Year 2024 enacted score, $23.8 billion (11%) below the Fiscal Year 2024 effective spending level, and $36.2 billion (15%) below the President’s Budget Request.
Key Takeaways
- Bolsters our national security by:
- Providing $48 billion in funding to support biomedical research, which is necessary to counter China’s growing threat in basic science research.
- Strengthening America’s biodefense and countering global health security threats by providing more than $3 billion for the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, an increase of nearly $200 million above the President’s Budget Request.
- Prohibiting the purchase of supplies from China for the Strategic National Stockpile, which supports expansion of the domestic industrial base for these items.
- Reducing funding by 60% for nongovernmental organizations facilitating the flow of minors illegally crossing the border.
- Securing the nation’s food supply by rolling back the Biden Administration’s burdensome one-size-fits-all regulations leading to the closure of small family farms.
- Focuses the Executive Branch on its core responsibilities by:
- Eliminating 57 programs, including 21 that are not authorized.
- Cutting funding for 48 programs.
- Rejecting new programs in the President’s Budget Request such as Climate Corps, divisive school diversity initiatives, and drug-use advocating “harm reduction” programs.
- Reducing funding for ineffective, duplicative, and controversial K-12 education competitive grants by $1 billion (50%).
- Reducing funding for the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Social Security Administration offices due to reduced in-person staffing.
- Focusing the CDC on communicable diseases rather than social engineering.
- Reducing funding by 22% and eliminating 23 duplicative and controversial programs while increasing funding to combat emerging and zoonotic infectious diseases.
- Helping state and local communities combat substance misuse.
- Providing mental health services through significant increases to the SAMHSA Substance Misuse Prevention and Mental Health Services block grants while reducing funding for programs that support the active misuse of narcotics.
- Prioritizing funding for early education, childcare, child welfare, and programs for seniors and the disabled.
- Increasing funding to educate children with disabilities in every school district.
- Increasing funding for career and technical education to support local programs for students who are not seeking a college degree.
- Increasing funding for charter schools to support students and families seeking better schooling options.
- Maintaining funding for Pell Grants at the maximum discretionary amount of $6,335, combined with mandatory funding of $1,060 – the total Pell award for the next school year continues to be $7,395.
- Supports American values and principles by:
- Maintaining the longstanding Hyde Amendment and ensuring no federal funding can be used for abortion on demand.
- Maintaining the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, a legacy rider that prohibits the creation or destruction of human embryos for research purposes.
- Prohibiting NIH from using human fetal tissue obtained from an elective abortion to be used in taxpayer-funded research.
- Prohibiting funding for Biden Administration activities to promote abortion.
- Eliminating funding for Title X family planning and stopping funding from going to abortion-on-demand providers, like Planned Parenthood.
- Prohibiting funding for Biden Administration executive orders and regulations that promote divisive ideologies, like Critical Race Theory, or infringe on American due process rights and religious liberties.
- Maintaining the longstanding Dickey Amendment, which ensures that federal funds cannot be used to advocate or promote gun control.
- Prohibiting funding for schools that support antisemitic conduct or which discriminate against religious student groups.
- Prohibiting funding for medical procedures that attempt to change an individual’s biological sex.
- Prohibiting the Biden Administration’s student loan bailout.
- Prohibiting the Biden administration’s independent contractor rule, liberating 64 million American women, seniors, and others balancing work with family responsibilities to participate in the freelance economy.
A summary of the bill is available here.
During the markup, Committee Republicans refused amendments offered by the Democrats that would have:
- Provided an irresponsible, non-offset increase to Title I funding.
- Allowed taxpayer dollars to be used for abortion.
- Allowed biological men to compete in women’s sports.
- Permitted the Administration’s illegal student loan cancellation scheme.
- Used taxpayer dollars to register Democrat voters.
- Funded polarizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
- Promoted and advanced critical race theory.
- Allowed funding for hormone therapies or surgeries that would alter bodily sex traits as interventions for gender dysphoria.
- Exposed Americans, in particular student groups, to religious discrimination.
- Funded the Administration’s wasteful green agenda.
- Reimplemented the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
- Provided an irresponsible, non-offset increase to the Social Security Administration account.
Adopted Amendments
- Aderholt #1 (Manager’s Amendment) – Makes technical, bipartisan changes to the bill and report.
- The amendment was adopted by voice vote.
- Aderholt #2 (En Bloc) –
- Reduces the availability of funding for agency reception and representation expenses.
- Ensures that medical professionals do not have to opt out of abortion training.
- Prohibits the implementation of Child Care and Development Fund final rule provisions, which would reduce access to funding for faith-based organizations.
- Moves $10 million from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to charter schools.
- Requires agencies to provide regular updates on efforts to bring federal employees back to the workplace.
- Directs the Employment and Training Administration to report on candidate screening technologies to accelerate a return to work for dislocated workers.
- Encourages the DOL to improve the processing of Permanent Labor Certification Applications filed through the Program Electronic Review Management process.
- Provides $10 million for Sexual and Domestic Violence Prevention within CDC.
- Urges the CMS to reconsider its minimum staffing rule in light of its impact on rural facilities and access to care for seniors.
- Reiterates that Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program grant funding may be used for archery, hunting, and other shooting sports.
- Encourages the Department of Education to prioritize applications from under-resourced schools for school infrastructure safety grants.
- Urges the Department of Education to prioritize the equitable distribution of Full-Service Community Schools awards to include high-poverty rural areas.
- The amendment was adopted by a vote of 33 to 24.
- Clyde #1 – Provides protections to Unaccompanied Alien Children by preventing such children from being placed with an alien sponsor.
- The amendment was adopted by voice vote.
- Clyde #2 – Protects Second Amendment rights of Americans by preventing the CDC from conducting gun research or using taxpayer resources to advocate, promote, or study firearm-related restrictions or policies.
- The amendment was adopted by a vote of 32 to 24.
- Hinson #2 (Amendment in the Second Degree to Frankel #1) – Provides an increase to the Rape Prevention program by reducing funds for the CDC’s building and facilities account.
- The amendment was adopted by voice vote.
- Carl #1 – Modifies an existing provision relating to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
- The amendment was adopted by voice vote.
Bill text, before adoption of amendments, is available here.
Bill report, before adoption of amendments, is available here.
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