The U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate have now released their Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 allocations for the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations bills. These establish the total funding available for this particular appropriations bill, and set the appropriations cycle in motion.

The House of Representatives set the overall funding level for these appropriations bills at $150 billion, $6.3 billion (or 4%) less than the allocation in FY 2012.

The U.S. Senate set its allocation at $157.7 billion, a $1.4 billion (or 0.9%) increase from FY 12.

NAESP will be following these appropriations bills closely. It’s widely thought these bills are the most politically contentions among the various appropriations bills. In an election year, when overall spending is constricted and Congress is contemplating how to maneuver around looming budget cuts (know as sequestration), don’t expect the passage of these appropriations to come easily.

-By Emily Rohlffs