Winners And Losers In Short-Term Spending Compromise
Community health centers and a voucher program supported by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., take hits, while funding for HIV and STD prevention - despite early reports - dodges a cut.
Los Angeles Times: New Cuts Detailed In Federal Budget Compromise
The previously undisclosed reductions stunned advocates for community health centers, foreign aid and climate change research. Among the cuts is a $500-million reduction in funding for the federal health and nutrition program for women, infants and children, known as WIC (Mascaro, 4/12).
Politico: Billion Dollar Bumble On HIV Funds
Congressional staffers working quickly to summarize the 400-plus page budget deal accidentally cut $1 billion in AIDS and STD prevention funding from a document posted on the House Appropriations Committee website Tuesday morning. The committee quietly updated the table later in the day. "That line was an error," the committee's spokeswoman told POLITICO (Feder and Nocera, 4/12).
The New York Times: Lobbyists Win Key Concessions In Budget Deal
With $38 billion in cuts on the line in a $3.5 trillion budget, the clash over federal spending played out in numbers so big that most standard calculators had trouble tracking all the zeros. But in the end, a handful of relatively small-bore line items affecting particular industries attracted some of the most aggressive lobbying behind the scenes, as business interests, health care providers and others fought to hold on to, or kill, proposals that affected their bottom line (Lichtblau, 4/12).
The Hill: Frustrated Democrat Senator May Vote Against Budget Deal
A frustrated Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said he is inclined to vote against a budget deal to keep the government operating because it cuts a health care reform provision he authored last year. The deal between President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) would ax a Wyden-sponsored provision allowing people to opt out of employer-provided health care plans to buy coverage from public-private insurance exchanges (Bolton, 4/12).