08.02.24

Senate Appropriations Committee Advances Spending Bills With Illinois Priorities Secured By Durbin, Duckworth

The package includes Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies; Defense, Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education, Related Agencies; Financial Services and General Government for Fiscal Year 2025

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced funding bills for Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies; Defense; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies; and Financial Services and General Government for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25).  Durbin and Duckworth worked to secure various priorities for Illinois in these four appropriations bills, both through Congressionally Directed Spending requests—also known as earmarks—and through the programmatic appropriations process. 

“Bipartisan efforts are necessary to get many meaningful things accomplished in Washington.  And right now, one of the most pressing items requiring a bipartisan effort is passing appropriations bills that fund the government for the next fiscal year,” said Durbin.  “Yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee took the first step to advance these four bills, which will benefit families, communities, and the economy in Illinois.  Congress must get these bills across the finish line when we return in September.”

“Our state and our nation are stronger when we invest in our communities and families—and that’s what these bipartisan funding bills do,” Duckworth said. “I’m proud I was able to help secure critical support for projects throughout Illinois that help improve our state’s infrastructure, clean up our water, improve accessibility and more.”

These funding bills include the following Illinois priorities secured by Congressionally Directed Spending requests:

Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies

  • East St. Louis & Vicinity, Madison and St. Clair Counties: $500,000 for the Army Corps of Engineers for a General Reevaluation Report that will investigate recurring flood risk in a study area that encompasses 10 economically disadvantaged communities including Cahokia Heights, East St. Louis, Washington Park, Caseyville, Madison, Venice, Brooklyn, Fairmont City, Pontoon Beach, and Granite City.
  • Madison and St. Clair Counties, Section 219, Madison and St. Clair Counties: $3.24 million to the Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District to continue the Cahokia Heights Sanitary Sewer Trunkline project.
  • Upper Mississippi River—Illinois Waterway System, IL, IA, MN, MO, & WI: $54 million to the Army Corps of Engineers to advance Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP) restoration projects. 

Financial Services and General Government

  • Digitization Initiative, Eureka: $200,000 to Eureka College to digitize the College’s archives that chronicle the history of Eureka College—the first Illinois institution of higher education to admit men and women equally—and its role in educating a future U.S. president.  This initiative will make these records more readily accessible to the public while safely preserving the original materials. 
  • Digitization Initiative, Galena: $300,000 to the Galena-Jo Daviess County Historical Society to digitize records and artifacts chronicling the history of Galena between 1820-1870, allowing the Galena-Jo Daviess County Historical Society to better showcase and make accessible records, papers, and photographs that chronicle Galena's unique place in American military and political history.  This effort is being undertaken in conjunction with the construction of a new Galena and U.S. Grant Museum.      
  • Entrepreneur and Business Center Initiative, Joliet: $800,000 to Joliet Junior College to provide training and advising to entrepreneurs with a focus on women, minorities, and veteran-owned small businesses.  This will allow the College to expand current efforts to support small business owners by adding additional business advisors for one-on-one consultations, as well as offer workshops and trainings to students and the public. 
  • Small Business Development Initiative, Quincy: $400,000 to John Wood Community College to develop and implement a small business development initiative with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI) to bolster small business creation in the Quincy region by providing AI training workshops, seminars, consulting services, networking events, and industry forums. 
  • Small Business Educational Initiative, Rockford: $800,000 to Rock Valley College to provide essential training and support to small businesses and entrepreneurs through the Rock Valley College Small Business Development Center (SBDC).  The SBDC will work with the City of Rockford to focus on educational classes and one-on-one training to assist business owners in gaining access to capital, buying/selling businesses, and deal structuring.
  • Small Business Support, Evanston: $450,000 to The Growing Season to help support the mission of The Growing Season and The Aux in empowering entrepreneurs from underserved communities in Chicago in gaining access to small business opportunities.
  • Entrepreneurship Programming, Chicago: $550,000 to Chicago’s Sunshine Enterprises to help fund programming support for Sunshine Enterprises, an organization dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs in Chicago's historically underserved communities.

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

  • Center for Middle School Civic Leadership, Chicago: $720,000 to DePaul University to establish the Center for Middle School Civic Leadership.  The Center will merge the Barat Education Foundation’s Our American Voice civic learning and engagement program for middle school students with DePaul University’s Future Leader Micro-credential program.  Both programs support youth development in underserved communities.
  • Dental Clinic Expansion, Edwardsville: $1.1 million to the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University (School of Dental Medicine) to renovate and expand the dental clinic operated by SIU’s Dental School to increase pediatric and specialty services to the community.  This clinic, which is staffed by professors and students of the dental school, is the safety net dental provider for the majority of Southern Illinois for children covered under Medicaid or uninsured patients.
  • Dental Clinic Expansion, Champaign: $3.5 million to Parkland College District 505 to construct a new dental clinic and training facility.  This will expand charity care services for hundreds of patients each year and enable Parkland to increase enrollment for its dental hygienist program by nearly 40 percent.
  • Dental Surgery Clinic, Peoria: $2 million to OSF HealthCare System to construct an outpatient dental clinic offering sedation and surgical services.  Currently, Central Illinois lacks a dental sedation clinic, meaning most patients—especially Medicaid-enrolled—must travel to Chicago or Metro East for intensive dental surgery.
  • Housing Support for Hospital Programs, Chicago: $1.3 million to the Center for Housing and Health to provide supportive housing to participants of the hospital-based violence recovery programs operated by University of Chicago and Cook County’s Stroger Hospital.  This program will provide housing assistance and case management services to individuals experiencing homelessness who frequently visit hospital emergency departments, helping to reduce costs and improve health outcomes.
  • ICU Equipment, Belleville: $1.25 million to Memorial Hospital Belleville to purchase ICU equipment including lifts, ventilators, and nurse monitoring technology.
  • Mentoring Programs, Chicago: $500,000 to Youth Guidance to expand Becoming A Man (BAM) and Working On Womanhood (WOW) mentoring programs to five Chicago public schools to serve up to 275 additional youth, in addition to the 9,000 students they presently serve in Cook County.  BAM and WOW use an evidence-based curriculum designed to develop the social-emotional competencies of students in grades 6-12, in underserved communities.
  • New Clinical Doctorate Programs, Quincy: $1.32 million to Quincy University to purchase equipment and cover personnel expenses for two doctorate degree programs.  These programs in occupational therapy and physical therapy will help meet current and future regional needs for health care practitioners.
  • Nursing and Health Sciences Program, Bloomington: $1 million to Illinois Wesleyan University to improve its nursing and health sciences program, including upgrading classroom technology for interactive and distance learning, acquiring simulation equipment for experiential learning, and creating interactive spaces for skill development.
  • Oral Health Expansion, Cook County: $700,000 to the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois to expand a clinic to offer dental services to low-income and pediatric patients.  This clinic does not currently offer dental services, despite the high level of need in the community.  Funding will build a clinic offering a range of preventive services, as well as sedation and operatory capacity.
  • Oral Health Initiative, Mount Carmel: $1.3 million to Wabash General Hospital District to purchase a mobile dental unit, hire staff, and invest in the dental workforce.  Funding would establish a mobile dental unit to serve schools and community sites throughout the tri-county area, as well as hire additional staff, and offer career-shadowing and scholarship opportunities to bolster the dental workforce pipeline.
  • Pediatric Dental Center, Carbondale: $1.15 million to Shawnee Health Service and Development Corporation to purchase equipment for a regional pediatric dental surgery center.  Shawnee Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center with clinics throughout southern Illinois, will increase the state’s oral health capacity by constructing a new surgical outpatient clinic for dental care, with an emphasis on low-income, rural, and pediatric populations.
  • Pediatric Dental Expansion, Rock Island County: $328,000 to Community Health Care, Inc. to furnish clinics with new dental equipment to expand services to pediatric patients. 
  • Trauma & Violence Recovery Center, Chicago: $1.5 million to Sinai Health System to establish a trauma recovery center for victims of violence.  Sinai will establish a program, serving more than 2,000 patients annually, to integrate clinical and community services through its extensive investment in Community Health Workers.
  • Violence Recovery & Intervention Program, Chicago: $1 million to Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago to support the expansion of the new hospital-based violence recovery program, serving pediatric victims of violence with trauma-informed mental health and recovery services.
  • Workforce Development Program Expansion, Chicago: $750,000 to ASI, Inc. to expand services by supporting additional personnel, training certifications, equipment, supportive services, and education services.  ASI, Inc. provides employment and training services to marginalized populations in the Chicago area.
  • Family and Support Services, Chicago: $1 million to the City of Chicago to help fund initiatives within Chicago's Department of Family and Support Services.
  • Rural Health, Oquawka: $550,000 to Eagle View Community Health System to help expand Henderson County Rural Health Center's rural health program initiatives.
  • Optometry Training, Chicago: $500,000 to the Illinois Eye Institute to help fund program and training initiatives for the Illinois College of Optometry.
  • Health Department Improvements, Murphysboro: $176,000 to the Jackson County Health Department to help fund improvements to the department.
  • Mobile Health, Dixon: $156,000 to Sauk Valley Voices of Recovery to help fund the Sauk Valley Voices of Recovery Crossroads Mobile Outreach unit.
  • Health Care Improvements, Chicago: $500,000 to Stroger Hospital to help fund Cook-County Health-Stroger Hospital programs.
  • Substance Abuse Support, Chicago: $1,387,000 to the City of Chicago to help fund the Department Public Health substance abuse initiatives.
  • Behavioral Care, Rockford: $800,000 to Rosecrance to help fund initiatives within the Rosecrance, Inc. Behavioral Healthcare comprehensive system.
  • Family Support, Chicago: $387,000 to Share Our Space to help fund the organization’s family relief initiatives.
  • Community Services, Elgin: $135,000 to the Chinese Mutual Aid Association to help fund its adult day service program.
  • Workforce Development, Collinsville: $3 million to Collinsville Area Vocational Center to help expand programs at the Collinsville Area Vocational Center.
  • STEM training, Chicago: $200,000 to Project SYNCERE to help fund educational improvements and equipment for STEM education programs.
  • EV Curriculum, Glen Ellyn: $350,000 to the College of DuPage to help fund the expansion of the College of DuPage’s electric vehicle curriculum.
  • Aviation Training, Champaign: $1,050,000 to Parkland College to help fund upgrades to Parkland College's Aviation Training program.
  • Community College Innovation, Sugar Grove: $250,000 to Waubonsee Community College to help fund innovations to the Waubonsee Community College.

These funding bills include additional Illinois priorities through the programmatic appropriations process:

Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies

Army Corps of Engineers

  • Brandon Road: Includes report language requiring the Corps to provide a quarterly report on status updates and any change in cost for the Brandon Road Project, which will maintain navigation on the Illinois River while protecting the Great Lakes from invasive species, including invasive carp. 
  • Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency Study: $3 million to continue a comprehensive watershed assessment of the Great Lakes coastal areas.
  • Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program: Includes $55 million in funding for the program, which conducts long term monitoring of the Upper Mississippi River and habitat restoration.
  • Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study: $200,000 for the Corps to continue to study a range of options and technologies to prevent aquatic nuisance species movement between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins.
  • Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Electric Dispersal Barrier: $17,979 for operation of an electric barrier preventing movement of invasive carp toward the Great Lakes.
  • Cahokia Heights & East St. Louis: Includes report language supporting the ongoing Flood Hazard Analysis in Piat Place and the Lower Harding Ditch area of Cahokia Heights and East St. Louis.
  • Bubbly Creek: Includes report language encouraging the Army Corps and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to continue interagency discussions, to allow the Corps to move to construction on environmental remediation and restoration of the South Fork of the South Branch of the Chicago River known as Bubbly Creek.  Includes an amendment directing the Corps to brief the committee on the status of the negotiations between the Army Corps and EPA within 30 days of enactment. 
  • Quincy Bay: Includes report language encouraging the Corps to prioritize the environmental restoration project at Quincy Bay under the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program.
  • Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Dispersal Barrier: Includes report language that prevents funds for construction of hydraulic separation measures.
  • Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund: Includes report language encouraging the Corps to use the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to invest in the Great Lakes Navigation System, which has more than 175 million tons of commodities carried though its waters each year.

Department of Energy (DOE)

  • DOE Office of Science: $8.6 billion to support basic science research, the National Labs, and the development of critical technologies.
  • High Energy Physics: $1.2 billion to support basic, discovery science in DOE’s highest priority physics projects.
  • Long Baseline Neutrino Facility(LBNF)/Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE): $280 million to continue construction of Fermilab’s LBNF accelerator and the installation of detectors and necessary lab infrastructure in South Dakota’s DUNE.
  • Proton Improvement Plan II: $125 million to upgrade Fermilab’s accelerator complex with the cutting-edge technology needed to enable LBNF/DUNE.
  • Argonne Leadership Computing Facility: $225 million to support the development, maintenance, and operation of Argonne’s supercomputing complex, including its Aurora Exascale Computing System and new testbeds for AI development.
  • Light Source Operations: $805 million for the operation of DOE’s five light sources, including Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source.
  • Batteries and Energy Storage Hub: $25 million, including for the continued operation of Argonne’s Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, which performs cutting edge battery research and development.
  • Fermilab Utilities Infrastructure Project: $40 million to support key improvements to water, power, and transportation infrastructure supporting Fermilab’s scientific experiments.
  • Argonne Utilities Upgrade: $3 million to support laboratory infrastructure and eliminate the deferred maintenance costs on Argonne’s campus.
  • Bioenergy Research Center Program: $115 million to support four centers working to establish a sustainable bioenergy industry, including the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  • Fast Reactor Program: $10 million and includes report language to support the fast reactor program conducted at Argonne National Lab.
  • Vehicle Technologies Office: $450 million to continue research and development of advanced transportation technologies, including improvements to electric vehicles and charging, energy storage, battery recycling, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.  Argonne National Lab leads the nation in vehicle technologies research.
  • Charging Accessibility: Includes report language promoting the accessibility of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in underserved or disadvantaged communities and which encourages the considerations of the “soft costs” of installing EV chargers.
  • Weatherization Assistance Program: $326 million to reduce energy costs for low-income households by implementing energy efficiency and weather resilience measures in homes.
  • Methane Mitigation and Quantification: $58 million to continue the development of new and more powerful sensors for the detection of methane leaks and other ambient greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas systems.  GTI Energy of Des Plaines leads the nation in this research.

Defense Appropriations

National Priorities

  • Defense Medical Research: $2.32 billion in defense medical research. This topline in medical research includes:
    • $40 million for Melanoma research and $75 million prostate cancer research;
    • $40 million for ALS research; and
    • $12 million for Epilepsy research.
  • Baltic Security Initiative (BSI): $225 million for the BSI.  A strategic, multi-year BSI allocation allows the Baltic States to sustain and develop critical defense capabilities in a more comprehensive manner. 
  • Impact Aid: $70 million for Department of Defense’s Impact Aid program, which provides financial assistance to school districts across the country to compensate for the lost local tax base due to nearby federal property, such as the North Chicago and the Mascoutah School Districts.
  • Civilian Harm: $72.8 million for DoD’s efforts to prevent and mitigate civilian harm. 

Illinois Priorities

  • Rock Island Arsenal:
    • $120 million for the Arsenal Sustainment Initiative to continue to stabilize labor rates at all three arsenals;
    • $120 million to continue manufacturing of the Shop Equipment Contact Maintenance Vehicle (SECM);
    • $5 million for the Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence;
    • $5 million for continued testing of soft recoil technology for Howitzers;
    • $3 million for research on protective upgrades to prevent injuries in the event of Humvee rollovers;
    • $5 million to continue the Army’s real estate pilot to use available space at Army installations such as the Arsenal; and
    • Army Organic Industrial Base report language to prevent layoffs without advanced warning and stabilize labor rates at Army Arsenals.  
  • Scott Air Force Base: Retains bill language prohibiting a divestment of any C-40 aircraft from the current Air Force fleet, protecting the 932nd Airlift Wing, and $328 million to expand the C-40 fleet by one aircraft.

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

Department of Health and Human Services

  • National Institutes of Health (NIH): $50.4 billion to support biomedical research, an increase of $2.05 billion (or more than four percent) above the current year.  Included in this amount are increases to mental health research ($275 million); Alzheimer’s research ($275 million); maternal health research ($20 million); Office of Research on Women’s Health ($76 million); and ALS research ($10 million). Over the past decade, Congress has provided NIH with a 60 percent funding increase.
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): $9.4 billion to ensure CDC can conduct critical science and provide health information that protects our nation against expensive and dangerous health threats and responds when these arise.
  • Community Violence & Trauma-Informed Care: The bill provides the following funding levels:
    • $18 million for CDC’s community violence initiative, including report language aligned with the work of Durbin’s Chicago HEAL Initiative;
    • $14 million for the CDC Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) program Durbin created with Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) in 2018;
    • Within SAMHSA’s $146 million Project AWARE school mental health program, $14 million for the Trauma Support in Schools grant program Durbin created in 2018 (from which CPS and ISBE have received funding).  This is in addition to the $28 million provided in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act for Durbin’s program;
    • $25 million for CDC and NIH firearm injury prevention research; and
    • $104 million for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and $2 million for the Interagency Task Force on Trauma-Informed Care that Durbin created in 2018 to coordinate federal trauma efforts and funding.
  • Congenital Heart: $8.25 million for CDC’s research, data collection, and awareness-building activities for congenital heart disease.
  • Health Workforce/Dental: With respect to health workforce needs, the bill provides the following funding levels:
    • $13.5 million for Durbin’s SIREN Act grants to rural fire/EMS agencies; 
    • $128.6 million for the National Health Service Corps, including report language to explore eligibility for Cook County Jail to assist with their health workforce recruitment;
    • $20.25 million for the CDC’s Oral Health program;
    • $55 million for school-based health centers; and
    • $47 million for HRSA’s Area Health Education Centers program—which builds the pipeline of local students into health careers, and $14 million for HRSA’s Rural Training Track program to help hospitals open new rural residency programs.
  • Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education: $390 million for children’s hospitals to train and provide the next generation of pediatric doctors. 
  • Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program: $51 million to protect children from lead exposure by funding programs that support surveillance and technical capacity, provide lead poisoning prevention training to public health professionals, support childhood blood lead surveillance systems, expand public health laboratory capacity, and ensure targeted screening and case management.
  • Title X Family Planning: $286.5 million to support the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing lower-income individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services.
  • Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Programs: $246.5 million to support tobacco use prevention and cessation programs through the CDC’s Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion program.
  • Social Security Administration: $14.7 billion to support the administrative expenses of the Social Security Administration (SSA).  This funding will help SSA to process claims for those seeking retirement and those who have disabilities.
  • Refugee and Entrant Assistance: $6.4 billion for benefits and services provided to refugees, asylees, special immigrant visa recipients, and unaccompanied children apprehended.
  • Office of the Ombudsperson: Includes report language supporting the establishment of the Office of the Ombudsperson for unaccompanied immigrant children in federal custody.
  • Post-Release Services, Legal Services/Access to Counsel, and Child Advocates: $750 million for post-release and legal services, as well as access to counsel support for unaccompanied children.
  • Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program: $4.1 billion to help low-income households and seniors with their energy bills. 
  • CDC’s National Asthma Control Program: $33.5 million to track asthma prevalence, promote, asthma control and prevention, and build capacity in state and community health programs.
  • CDC’s Chronic Kidney Disease program: $4.5 million to support awareness initiatives, surveillance, and early treatment efforts to prevent disease progression and improve outcomes, including through coordination with provider, patient, and community organizations.
  • HRSA’s Organ Donation and Transplantation: $67 million for organ donation and transplantation activities.  In 2023, Congress unanimously passed the Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act to increase transparency, accountability, and competition in the management of the U.S. transplant network.  
  • CDC’s Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity Program: $40 million to provide critical support to epidemiologists and laboratory scientists who are instrumental in addressing various food, water, and vector-borne outbreaks—such as exposure to Legionella bacteria, which can lead to Legionnaire’s disease.  This program assisted Chicago’s response to the measles outbreak earlier this year.
  • Epilepsy: $11.5 million within the CDC to improve awareness and education, eliminate stigma, and better connect people with epilepsy to health and community services.  Includes report language urging NINDS and NCATS, in collaboration with stakeholders and the Curing the Epilepsies conference, to establish the Pediatric-Onset Epilepsies Network, and to report within one year of enactment on key findings and planned actions.
  • Sec. 317 Immunization Program: $696.9 million for the national immunization program authorized under Section 317 of the Public Health Service Act at the CDC.  Funding will provide continued critical efforts to boost vaccination rates as well as sustain the improvements made through emergency supplemental bills to ensure both routine immunization is restored and future preparedness is assured.  This program assisted Chicago’s response to the measles outbreak earlier this year.

Department of Education

  • Open Textbooks: $9 million for the Open Textbook Pilot program.  The Open Textbooks Pilot, based on Durbin’s Affordable College Textbook Act, is a competitive grant program to support the creation and expand the use of open college textbooks—textbooks that are freely available under an open license, allowing professors, students, researchers, and others to freely access the materials.  
  • School-Based Mentoring: Includes report language that encourages the Department of Education to provide grants for evidence- and school-based mentoring programs that are focused on providing disadvantaged students with social and emotional learning and workplace skills.  This language is based off Durbin’s Mentoring to Succeed Act. 
  • Pell Grants: Increases the maximum Pell award from $7,395 to $7,495 for the 2025-26 school year. 
  • Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA): $2.16 billion for FSA to oversee the federal student loan program, higher education accountably enforcement, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and Income Driven Repayment.
  • Impact Aid: $1.6 billion for Impact Aid to provide critical funding for schools that are unable to benefit from a state and local tax base due to the presence of federal property in their district. 
  • Early Education Programs: $12.97 billion for Head Start, $10.35 billion for Child Care and Development Block Grant, $545 million for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Grants for Infants and Families, $420 million for IDEA Preschool Grants, and $315 million for Pre-School Development Grants. These programs provide early learning experiences for low-income children.
  • Education for the Disadvantaged: $19.4 billion to provide financial assistance to school districts with high rates of low-income students and students at risk of not meeting academic achievement requirements. 
  • 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC): $1.3 billion for 21st CCLC to supports afterschool and summer learning opportunities to help students in high-need schools.
  • Migrant Education Program: $375.6 million for the Migrant Education Program to assist states in helping ensure all migrant students receive a high-quality, comprehensive education.
  • Full-Service Community Schools: $150 million for Full-Service Community Schools to provide comprehensive academic, social, and health services for students, students’ family members, and community members.
  • Strengthening Predominately Black Institutions (PBI): $22.7 million for the Strengthening PBIs program to help expand their capacity to serve low- and middle-income students, especially Black students.
  • Work Colleges: $11.1 million for Work Colleges, a type of college that requires students to work and integrate their work into the college learning experience.
  • International Education and Foreign Language Studies (Domestic and Overseas Programs): $85.7 million for key programs that encourage U.S. students to learn foreign languages and to have international cultural and educational experiences.
  • Teacher School Leader Incentive Program: $60 million to support teachers and school leaders in high-need schools to enhance student academic performance and narrow achievement gaps between high and low-performing students.

Department of Labor

  • Automation: Includes report language affirming the Committee’s support for funding for demonstration and pilot programs relating to the training needs of workers who are or are likely to be dislocated due to automation.
  • Reentry Employment Opportunities (REO): $115 million for the REO program, to provide grants to nonprofit organizations that offer essential employment services and workforce preparation for formerly incarcerated adults and youth.  This includes $30 million for national and regional intermediaries.
  • Apprenticeship Grants: $290 million in Apprenticeship Grants, to support registered apprenticeship activities through grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts.  Includes report language encouraging the Department of Labor to fund apprenticeship opportunities in local communities that have high rates of unemployment and high rates of community violence.
  • Job Corps: $1.76 billion for Job Corps, to connect disadvantaged youth to education and job training pathways. 
  • Wage and Hour Division: $7.5 million to help prevent exploitative child labor.  Includes report language supporting efforts to combat exploitative child labor and violations of child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
  • YouthBuild: $110 million for the YouthBuild program, to help connect disconnected youth with work readiness and industry-driven credential training opportunities.
  • Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Title I Programs: $885.65 million for Adult Employment and Training Activities; $948.13 million for Youth Training; and $1.1 billion for Dislocated Workers Employment and Training Activities. 
  • Opportunity Youth: Includes report language encouraging DOL to use WIOA funds for technical assistance and demonstration projects that support programs that allow opportunity youth who are out-of-school, have limited work experience, and live in communities of high violence and unemployment rates to participate in the workforce.
  • Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC):  Includes report language setting aside $2.5 million to continue efforts to reduce the processing backlog for the WOTC program and assist States in modernizing information technology for processing certification requests, which may include training and technical assistance.
  • Unemployment Insurance State Administration Grants: $2.8 billion to provide funding to help states implement unemployment compensation programs and assist states in modernization of technology, document sharing, and enhanced customer service.

Financial Services & General Government

Treasury

  • Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund: $354 million to promote access to capital and local economic growth in low-income urban and rural communities across the nation. 
  • Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN): $215.7 million to safeguard the financial system from illicit use and combat money laundering.
  • Internal Revenue Service: $12.3 billion, including report language supporting an increase of special agents in the Criminal Investigations unit who are responsible for investigating money laundering, violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, and criminal violations of the tax code.

Judiciary

  • Federal Defender Services: $1.5 billion to ensure that the government is meeting its constitutional obligation to provide counsel to indigent defendants.
  • Federal Courts and Other Judicial Services: $6.1 billion to provide for the necessary expenses of the courts, including salaries and expenses for Probation and Pretrial Services.

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)

  • CPSC: $162 million to protect American consumers from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of consumer products used every day. 
  • Battery Fires and Fame-Retardant chemicals: Includes report language directing the Consumer Product Safety Commission to consider the benefits and risks associated with the use of flame-retardant chemicals to combat battery fires in micromobility products, as these chemicals may do little to slow the spread of fire while exposing residents and firefighters to harmful toxins.

Election Assistance Commission (EAC)

  • Election Assistance Commission: $30 million to improve election accessibility and advance election security efforts.
  • EAC Grant Funding for States: $75 million for grants to improve the administration of elections for federal office.

General Services Administration (GSA)

  • Zero-Emissions Vehicles (ZEV) in the Federal Fleets: Includes report language urging the GSA to work with the Department of Energy to develop a total cost of ownership model to determine potential health, cost, fuel, and maintenance savings associated with the purchase of ZEVs for federal fleets.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

  • Conflict Minerals: Includes report language highlighting conflict mineral companies’ due diligence to report on their supply chains.
  • Mandatory Arbitration: Includes report language encouraging the SEC to maintain its position that mandatory arbitration clauses remove investor protections and violate anti-waiver provisions of securities law.
  • Investor Advisor Committee: Includes report language supporting the SEC in hearing from all investors, especially retail investors, as part of its Investor Advisor Committee.

Small Business Administration

  • Microloan Program: $3 million for the direct microloan program and $42 million for microloan technical assistance to help small businesses access credit.
  • State Trade and Export Program: $21 million to provide matching federal funds to states and territories to carry out export promotion efforts for small businesses.

United States Postal Service

  • Delivering for America Plan: Includes report language to require a study of the cost and impact of the consolidation plan being implemented under the Delivering for America Plan.  The language also requires a report on the cost of undoing the consolidation.
  • Delivery: Requires a continuation of six-day delivery and delivery times for first class mail while expressing concern about on-time delivery.
  • Safe Delivery: Directs the Postal Service to continue to invest in combatting mail theft and violent crimes targeting postal employees.  It also directs the Inspector General to implement recommendations for mail and employee security reached in a recent audit of field operations.
  • Rural Post Offices: Includes report language to bar any funding for the use in closing or consolidating rural post offices.

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