Education Department FY99 Appropriations bill

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Department of Labor

Title II: Department of Health and Human Services

Title III: Department of Education

Title IV: Related Agencies

Title V: General Provisions

Title VI: National Center for Complementary and Alternative

Medicine

Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 - Title I: Department of Labor - Department of Labor Appropriations Act, 1999 - Makes appropriations for FY 1999 to the Department of Labor for: (1) training and employment services; (2) community service employment for older Americans; (3) Federal unemployment benefits and allowances; (4) State unemployment insurance and employment service operations; (5) advances to the Unemployment Trust Fund and other trust funds; (6) employment and training program administration; (7) the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; (8) the Employment Standards Administration; (9) certain special benefits; (10) the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund; (11) the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; (12) the Mine Safety and Health Administration; (13) the Bureau of Labor Statistics; (14) departmental management; (15) the Assistant Secretary for Veterans Employment and Training; and (16) the Office of Inspector General.

Rescinds specified amounts of funds made available for: (1) training and employment services for the Opportunity Areas of Out-of-School Youth; and (2) State unemployment insurance and employment service operations for assisting States to convert their automated employment security agency systems.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title.

(Sec. 101) Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act to require funds under the welfare-to-work program that have not been allotted at the end of any fiscal year due to a State not having met specified program requirements to be transferred to the General Fund of the Treasury.

Title II: Department of Health and Human Services - Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations Act, 1999 - Makes appropriations for FY 1999 to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for: (1) the Health Resources and Services Administration; (2) the Medical Facilities Guarantee and Loan Fund for Federal interest subsidies for medical facilities; (3) health education assistance loans; (4) the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Trust Fund; (5) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; (6) the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including amounts for the John E. Fogarty International Center, the National Library of Medicine, the Office of the Director, and buildings and facilities; (7) the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; (8) retirement pay and medical benefits for Public Health Service commissioned officers; (9) the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research; (10) the Health Care Financing Administration for grants to States for Medicaid, payments to health care trust funds, program management, and the Health Maintenance Organization Loan and Loan Guarantee Fund; (11) the Administration for Children and Families for family support payments to States; (12) low income home energy assistance; (13) refugee and entrant assistance; (14) the child care and development block grant; (15) the social services block grant; (16) children and families services programs; (17) family preservation and support; (18) payments to States for foster care and adoption assistance; (19) the Administration on Aging; (20) the Office of the Secretary for general departmental management; (21) the Office of Inspector General; (22) the Office for Civil Rights; (23) policy research; and (24) activities related to countering potential biological and chemical threats to civilian populations.

Reduces amounts of specified funds appropriated for FY 1999 for: (1) a study of child welfare under part B (Child-Welfare Services) of title IV of the Social Security Act; and (2) certain welfare research, evaluations, and studies under such Act.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title.

(Sec. 212) Amends title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) of the Social Security Act to replace provisions which authorize appropriations for allotments for FY 2003 and succeeding fiscal years with an authorization amount for FY 1998.

(Sec. 213) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated by this Act to carry out the Medicare+Choice program if the Secretary of HHS denies participation in such program to an otherwise eligible entity (including a Provider Sponsored Organization) because the entity informs the Secretary that it will not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or provide referrals for abortions.

Title III: Department of Education - Department of Education Appropriations Act, 1999 - Makes appropriations for FY 1999 to the Department of Education for: (1) education reform; (2) education for the disadvantaged; (3) impact aid; (4) school improvement activities; (5) Indian education; (6) bilingual and immigrant education; (7) special education; (8) rehabilitation services and disability research; (9) special institutions for persons with disabilities, including the American Printing House for the Blind, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, and Gallaudet University; (10) vocational and adult education; (11) student financial assistance; (12) the Federal Family Education Loan program account; (13) higher education; (14) Howard University; (15) the college housing and academic facilities loans program; (16) the historically Black college and university capital financing program account; (17) education research, statistics, and improvement; (18) departmental management; (19) the Office for Civil Rights; and (20) the Office of the Inspector General.

Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title.

(Sec. 301) Prohibits funds appropriated in this Act from being used to: (1) transport teachers or students in order to overcome racial imbalance in any school or to carry out a racial desegregation plan; or (2) prevent the implementation of programs of voluntary prayer and meditation in public schools.

(Sec. 305) Prohibits Department of Education funds from being used to field test, implement, or administer any federally sponsored national test in reading, mathematics, or any other subject. Makes such prohibition inapplicable to the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, the National Assessment of Education Progress, or other international assessments developed under the authority of the National Education Statistics Act of 1994 that are administered only to a representative sample of U.S. and foreign pupils.

(Sec. 307) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act to enforce certain annual compliance audit requirements of the guaranteed student loan program under the Higher Education Act of 1965 against those lenders with guaranteed student loan portfolios that do not exceed $5 million.

Title IV: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 1999 to the: (1) Armed Forces Retirement Home; (2) Corporation for National and Community Service; (3) Corporation for Public Broadcasting; (4) Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; (5) Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission; (6) Institute of Museum and Library Services; (7) Medicare Payment Advisory Commission; (8) National Commission on Libraries and Information Science; (9) National Council on Disability; (10) National Education Goals Panel; (11) National Labor Relations Board; (12) National Mediation Board; (13) Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission; (14) Railroad Retirement Board for the dual benefits payments account, Federal payments to the railroad retirement accounts, administration, and the Office of Inspector General; (15) Social Security Administration for payments to the social security trust funds, special benefits for disabled coal miners, the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program, administrative expenses, and the Office of Inspector General; and (16) U.S. Institute of Peace.

Title V: General Provisions - Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this Act.

(Sec. 505) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated under this Act for programs to distribute sterile needles or syringes for the injection of illegal drugs, with specified exceptions for needle exchange programs determined to prevent the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that do not encourage illegal drug use.

(Sec. 506) Sets forth Buy American requirements.

(Sec. 508) Prohibits funds appropriated under this Act from being expended for abortions or for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion, except in cases where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest or where a woman suffers from a physical condition that would, as certified by a physician, place her in danger of death unless an abortion is performed.

(Sec. 511) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act for: (1) the creation of a human embryo for research purposes; or (2) research in which a human embryo is destroyed or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death greater than that allowed for research on fetuses in utero under Federal regulations and the Public Health Service Act.

(Sec. 512) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act for activities to promote the legalization of a controlled substance unless there is significant medical evidence of a therapeutic advantage to the use of such substance or that federally-sponsored trials are being conducted to determine such advantage.

(Sec. 515) Cancels a specified amount of budgetary resources available for FY 1999 for salaries and expenses of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

Title VI: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine - Amends the Public Health Service Act to repeal provisions regarding the Office of Alternative Medicine.

Establishes a National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine as an NIH agency, to be headed by a Director appointed by the Secretary of HHS.

Requires the Director of the Center to study the integration of alternative treatment, diagnostic and prevention systems, modalities, and disciplines with the practice of conventional medicine as a complement to such medicine and into U.S. health care delivery systems.

Sets forth additional responsibilities of the Director, including the establishment of an advisory council, a bibliographic system for the collection of worldwide research relating to complementary and alternative medicine, and a related information clearinghouse.