On June 17, 2015, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee considered the fiscal year (FY) 2016 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. The Administration supports investments in health care, public health, job training, and improving educational outcomes for students at all levels. However, we have a number of serious concerns about this legislation, which would underfund these important investments and includes highly problematic ideologically-motivated provisions. In advance of Full Committee consideration of the Subcommittee bill, I would like to take this opportunity to share some of these concerns with you.



The bill drastically underfunds the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), providing almost $500 million, or 42 percent, less than the FY 2016 Budget. The bill would fund approximately 50,000 AmeriCorps members, meaning that 40,000 fewer members than under the President’s plan would be able to serve their communities while earning money to cover college costs or repay student loans. AmeriCorps members serve in more than 25,000 locations across the country–including thousands of public schools, communities hit by disaster, organizations helping veterans, tribal nations, and faith-based groups.

Under this bill, AmeriCorps would have to drop many of these service areas and projects. The bill also defunds AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), closing campuses in California, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, and Mississippi that support 2,000 young adults each year who do critical disaster relief and other work.

The bill also eliminates funding for the Social Innovation Fund, a public-private partnership that has generated more than $500 million in non-Federal funding to replicate evidence-based programs, and drops the Pay for Success authority that ties public funding to programs that are producing clear results for taxpayers and beneficiaries. In addition, the bill’s deep cuts in CNCS’s administrative budget and elimination of State Commission support would essentially eliminate the agency’s ability to administer any of its programs.

Read the letter to the House Appropriations Committee from Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan