SUMMARY OF BUDGET ESTIMATES AND COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS

For fiscal year 1988, the Committee recommends total budget authority of $129,395,927,000 for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. Of this amount, $13,998,000,000 is for subsequent year advances. Mandatory programs amount to $90,470,693,000, or 70 percent of the total. The remaining $38,925,234,000, or 30 percent, is for discretionary appropriations, which is an increase of $8,883,763,000 over the President's budget request and $2,638,634,000 more than the enacted fiscal year 1987 level.

Like the House, the Committee did not consider full-year 1989 advance appropriations and first quarter 1990 advance requests for several entitlement accounts, but instead maintained fiscal 1989 first quarter advances; this results in reductions of $70,719,423,000 and $13,961,992,000, respectively, in fiscal 1989 and 1990 advance requests.

The Committee recommendation includes $3,285,356,000 for programs deferred by the House, which is $262,323,000 above fiscal year 1987 enacted appropriations. These are primarily existing programs in the process of being reauthorized or replaced by new legislation.

REVISED WELFARE REFORM RESERVE

The Committee recommendations incorporate programs included in the budget resolution reserve for welfare reform initiatives. In the resolution, Congress committed targeted funding for major new initiatives and increased spending for existing programs that provide a comprehensive approach to reducing the occurrence of poverty among current and potential welfare recipients. Existing activities that relate to these legislative initiatives include the Work Incentive Program, child welfare services, dislocated worker assistance, and other Job Training Partnership Act programs.

The Committee allocation has been revised to cover budget authority and outlays associated with these recommendations that were a part of the reserve; specifically, this covers increases over enacted levels, with the exception of work incentives, where the entire amount was assumed as part of the welfare reform reserve in anticipation of a newly authorized job training program for welfare recipients. Absent the new authorization, the Committee expects credit for funding sufficient to cover three-quarters of the year until a replacement program can be enacted.

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ALLOCATION CEILING

According to Budget Committee scorekeeping, the recommendations result in total outlays of $132.51 billion, the full amount of the subcommittee's revised allocation pursuant to section 302(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as printed in Senate Report 100-144.

Federal Employees Retirement System [FERS]

The Committee has reduced budget requests for contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System [FERS] by $89,895,000, or approximately 33 percent, as did the House. These reductions are based on revised estimates that participation in FERS will be lower than originally anticipated. The Committee notes the President has recently submitted amendments to fiscal 1988 budget estimates, reflecting reduced amounts for FERS expenditures. These revisions were received too late to be reflected in the budget request comparisons throughout this report.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BILL

Job training programs.—$3,877,201,000 is included for programs authorized under the Job Training Partnership Act, an increase of $226,972,000 over fiscal 1987 enacted levels. In addition, new job training programs for the homeless are included at their fully authorized level of $12,000,000, and $50,000,000 is recommended for trade adjustment program activities.

Employment of older Americans.-$346,000,000 is recommended for community service employment for older Americans, an increase of $10,000,000 over rivsed fiscal 1987 appropriations, which included a $10,000,000 supplemental.

Safety and health.-$247,901,000 is for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and $169,765,000 for the Mine Safety and Health Administration, increases of $18,974,000 and $11,344,000 respectively over fiscal 1987 enacted levels, restoring proposed staff cutbacks. Funds for the homeless.-The Committee recommendation provides $74,000,000 for programs authorized in the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, allocated as follows:

In general, the Committee provides one-half of the fiscal year 1988 authorized funding for homeless programs, recognizing that much of the $145,000,000 provided for these programs in the fiscal year 1987 supplemental appropriation will be available to States in 1988.

AIDS.-$946,391,000 is recommended for research, prevention, information, and education activities for acquired immune deficiency syndrome [AIDS] related programs. This is an increase of $468,206,000