December 13, 2005

The House and Senate have come to an agreement on a new conference report to the FY2006 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (Labor-HHS-Education) appropriations bill. The bill provides $66.1 million for Perkins Loan Cancellations and no funding for the Federal Capital Contribution. This is the same amount of funding proposed in both the House and Senate bills. It is important to note that this bill does not contain proposed rescissions to Health Professions loans at the Department of Health and Human Services.

The previous Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill was defeated in the House on November 17. The new conference report makes small changes to rural and other health care programs. No changes were made to programs at the Department of Education.

The House is expected to vote on the conference report within the next two days and, should it pass, the Senate is expected to consider it soon thereafter - before the December 17 expiration of the current continuing resolution. COHEAO will continue to provide updates as the situation develops.

Andrew Stringer
Legislative Associate
Washington Partners, LLC
(P) 202-289-3903
(F) 202-371-0197
astringer@wpllc.net