December 2014

Following a day of drama that at first saw the 2015 omnibus spending bill pulled from the House floor due to lack of support, the House succeeded in passing the package late Thursday evening. The House narrowly passed the bill by a vote of 219 – 206, with 67 Republicans and 139 Democrats voting against it. House Democrats including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi objected to provisions in the bill on campaign finance reform and financial services, while some Republicans opposed it due to opposition over the President's immigration Executive Order. The bill must still be passed by the Senate, which is expected this weekend. The President is expected to sign the bill into law.

Because the omnibus was not passed by both chambers before the current spending measure deadline of last night, Congress also has to pass a 2-day temporary measure to prevent a government shutdown. The $1.1 trillion package provides flat or minor funding increases for the health research and services programs that the ATS monitors, including a half percent funding increase for the NIH.

The bill includes the following:

• A funding level of $30.084 billion for NIH, a $150 million or .5 percent funding increase over the FY2014 funding level of $29.934 billion.
• A funding level of $6.925 for CDC, a $76 million or 1 percent funding increase over the FY2014 funding level of $6.849 billion.
• $5.4 million in Ebola assistance funding to be divided among CDC, USAID, FDA and NIH, with the majority going to USAID.
• A funding level of $142.2 million for CDC's TB program, level funding with FY2014.
• A funding level of $24.7 million for CDC's asthma program, level funding with the FY2014 funding level of $24.7 million.
• A funding level of $334 million for NIOSH, level funding with FY014
• A funding level of $8.139 billion for the EPA, a $59 million or 0.7 percent cut from the FY2014 funding level of $8.200 billion.
• A funding level of $236 million for USAID's TB program, level funding with FY2014
• A funding level of $588.9, a $2.3 million or 0.4 percent increase over the FY2014 funding level of $586.6 million for the VA Research program

Another important issue in the omnibus is policy riders. Fortunately, on the clean air front, there are no significant policy riders. On the positive side for tobacco control, the bill eliminates a 5 percent discount on tobacco products sold at military exchanges.