The House last week gave swift approval to a bill that would set Education Department spending in the fiscal year 1983 at $14.3 billion, an amount that is approximately $324 million less than was spent on education in 1982 but $4.4 billion more than the Reagan Administration wants to spend.
The bill, which also includes the appropriations for the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services, was approved by a lopsided 330-to-70 vote and was referred to the Senate for that chamber’s consideration. No amendments were offered to the measure, allowing the House to dispose of it in two hours.
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education was scheduled to begin delibera-tions on the bill late last week.
Staff members of the Senate panel, which is chaired by Senator Harrison H. Schmitt, a Republican of New Mexico and one of the Senate’s five “lame ducks,” could not be reached for comment.
‘Budget-Busting’
President Reagan has often stated his opposition to “budget-busting’’ bills, raising the possibility that he may veto the measure if the Senate approves it without reducing spending from the levels contained in the House bill. If that occurs, funding for the Education Department would be provided for under a continuing resolution, a temporary measure that consolidates the provisions of several appropriations bills.
For the last three years, the Congress has been unable to fashion appropriation bills for the three departments. As a result, funding for the departments has been provided since then under continuing resolutions.
The House-approved version of the bill, HR 7205, includes:
$3 billion for the Chapter 1 program for educationally disadvantaged children;
$483.8 million for Chapter 2, also known as the education block grant;
$475 million for impact aid;
$1.1 billion for education of the handicapped;
$829.5 for adult and vocational education;
$138.1 million for bilingual education; and
$2.5 billion for Guaranteed Student Loans and $2.4 billion for the Pell Grant program.
The bill also appropriates $607.7 million for three additional student-aid programs for which President Reagan had requested no additional funds in fiscal 1983.
