The Omni-bus, Mega-bus, Mini-bus and Continuing Resolutions…
In the last months of 2011, Congress worked diligently to pass the various legislative initiatives; going by the names of mini-bus, omnibus, and continuing resolution; to fund the federal government through to September 30, 2012 and closing out the FY 2012 budget process.
On Friday, December 16th, in the last hours before a short term Continuing Resolution funding the government agencies was set to expire, Congress approved a Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Omnibus Appropriations bill. A House and Senate conference committee hammered out an agreement on the nine remaining federal departments’ budgets. The final Omnibus included the Labor- HHS budget, which covers nursing workforce development funding.
The Senate voted (62 to 32) on Saturday, December 17, 2011, to adopt this conference report, and the bill was signed into law by President Obama.
Fortunately, during these tough economic times, the final funding for Title VIII programs fared better than an earlier House proposal, which would have slashed Title VIII funding, including the Loan Repayment and Scholarship Program entirely. Unfortunately, the final funding levels are well below the President’s budget request. The reported conference level for the programs was $232.387 million. However, after an across the board rescission of 0.189% was enacted for all LHHS-ED discretionary programs, the omnibus package provides $231.948 million for the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs, a 4.3% decrease or $10 million below 2011 funding.
A detailed explanatory statement can be located at House appropriations bill.
For Title VIII, which can be found on page 98 or posting copy 0833 of the report, the numbers are below. These are the conference levels reported.
| Advanced Education Nursing | $64.046 million (Same as FY 2011) |
| Nurse Education, Practice, and Retention | $39.653 million (Same as FY 2011) |
| Nursing Workforce Diversity | $16.009 million (Same as FY 2011) |
| Loan Repayment and Scholarship Program | $83.292 million ($10 million decrease from FY 2011) |
| Comprehensive Geriatric Education | $4.539 million (Same as FY 2011) |
| Nursing Faculty Loan Program | $24.848 million (Same as FY 2011) |
| Subtotal, Title VIII | $232.387 million ($10 million decrease from FY 2011) |
| Nurse Managed Health Centers | No funding in FY 2012 |
| NINR | $145.043 million |
For additional information visit Title VIII programs.
April Canter
Tags: Continuing Resolution (CR), House Appropriations Bill, January 2012, Labor-HHS Budget, Omnibus Appropriations Bill, Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs
