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Each year, the House and Senate appropriations committees must set specific funding levels – referred to as “302(b) allocations” – for each of the twelve regular appropriations bills, including the bill providing funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and related agencies (commonly referred to as the “Labor-HHS bill”). The letter, which was jointly circulated by the Committee for Education Funding, the Coalition on Health Funding, and the Campaign to Invest in America’s Workforce (of which National Skills Coalition is a convening partner), calls on appropriators to provide the largest possible 302(b) allocation for the Labor-HHS bill, subject to the discretionary budget caps established under the 2011 Budget Control Act.
Labor-HHS programs – along with other discretionary programs – have contributed $1.5 trillion to deficit reduction since FY 2011. National Skills Coalition, along with the signing organizations has called for Congress to adopt a balanced approach to deficit reduction that does not include further cuts to discretionary programs. NSC will continue to monitor developments in the FY 2014 budget and appropriations process relating to workforce funding, and will provide updates to the filed as new information becomes available.
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