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   =_Congressional                                                                 _____
           a   Research Service
                hnforming the legislative debate since 1914        -    ~-       ~    -    ~-





FY2020 LHHS Appropriations: Status



Updated September 30, 2019
Congress has begun consideration of the FY2020 appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health
and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS). The LHHS bill historically is the
largest ($1.06 trillion in FY2019) of the 12 annual appropriations bills, when accounting for both
mandatory and discretionary funding.
Most recently, a continuing resolution (CR) providing temporary FY2020 LHHS funding through
November 21, 2019, was enacted (Division A of P.L. 116-59) on September 27, 2019. In general, the CR
funds discretionary programs at the same rate and under the same conditions as in FY2019 (§ 101) and
funds annually appropriated entitlements at their current law levels (§ 111).

Scope of the Bill
The LHHS bill provides the annually appropriated budget authority for the programs, activities, and
administration of the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services (except for the
Food and Drug Administration, the Indian Health Service, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry, which are funded in other appropriations bills), the Department of Education, and more
than a dozen related agencies, including the Social Security Administration and the Corporation for
National and Community Service.
In general, mandatory funding represents just over 80% of the total budget authority in the LHHS bill,
supporting annually appropriated entitlement programs, such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security
Income (SSI). Discretionary funds account for less than 20% of total funds in the bill, but tend to receive
the most attention throughout the LHHS appropriations process. This is because the appropriations
process controls the amounts provided for these programs, whereas the appropriations process generally
has little control over the amounts provided for appropriated entitlements. That is, for programs with
appropriated mandatory funding, the authorizing statute controls the program parameters (e.g., eligibility
rules, benefit levels) that entitle certain recipients to payments.
While discretionary appropriations represent a relatively small share of the entire LHHS bill, the bill itself
is typically the largest single source of nondefense discretionary funding for the federal government. (The
Department of Defense bill is the largest single source of discretionary funding overall.)



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