House Passes Commerce, Justice, Science Spending Bill

On June 3, the House passed, 242-183, the FY2016 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) spending bill (H.R. 2578). The House Appropriations Committee approved the legislation on May 20 (see The Source, 5/22/15).

According to the report, the bill would authorize $51.378 billion in total discretionary funds in FY2016. This amount is $1.3 billion over FY2015, $661 million below the President Obama’s request, and includes funding for the Departments of Commerce and Justice and federal science agencies.

The bill includes $49 million in increased funding for violence against women prevention and prosecutions programs. The legislation would continue to support priority programs, such as the DNA initiative, efforts to reduce sexual assault kit backlogs, and the Missing and Exploited Children program (p. 2).

During the consideration of the measure, the House adopted several amendments by voice vote, including:

• An amendment by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) to increase funding for trafficking victims services programs by $17.3 million;
• An amendment by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) to increase funding for the Consolidated Youth-Oriented program by $4 million and child abuse victims programs by $3 million;
• An amendment by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) to increase funding for community-based sexual assault response reform by $4 million; and
• An amendment by Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) to increase funding to prevent elder abuse by $750,000.