On Wednesday, March 21, 2013, nearly six months into the 2013 fiscal year (FY), Congress passed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 933), a second continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2013. The President signed the CR into law on March 26^th.[1]

While H.R. 933 includes full appropriations language for five of the twelve appropriations bills, funding for the remaining appropriations bills, including Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS), was essentially continued at FY 2012 final levels, with minor adjustments such as increased funding for the National Institutes for Health. The funding package included language giving the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) the authority to adjust funding levels as necessary to comply with the final budget caps established in the American Taxpayer Relief Act (H.R. 8 of the 112^th Congress). As a result, OMB has indicated, though not yet published, that there will be an additional 0.2% rescission—an across-the-board cut—to LHHS.[2]

Since the final CR did nothing to prevent or alter the sequester, the annually appropriated non-defense programs, such as the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI) and the Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) are also subject to a 5% cut, in addition to the 0.2% rescission. The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), as a mandatory funded program, is subject to a slightly higher, 5.1%, cut. Finally, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has the authority to transfer up to 1% of each HHS program’s funding to another program within HHS, so further funding adjustments through this “tap” are also possible.

Pending further direction or guidance from HHS, the currently assumed FY 2013 funding levels as of the end of March 2013 are as follows:

TPPI: $99.17 million ($5.4 million cut from FY 2012 level)

TPPI Evaluation: $8.06 million ($0.44 million cut from FY 2012 level)

DASH: $28.25 million ($1.55 million cut from FY 2012 level)

PREP: $71.2 million ($3.8 million cut from FY 2012 level)

There was little pause in Washington, DC before the focus moved onto the FY 2014 process. President Obama released his FY 2014 budget on April 10, 2013, and both the House of Representatives and the Senate are moving forward in anticipation of their own deadlines for Member funding requests. SIECUS continues to monitor the FY 2013 funding information and will provide updates for the current year’s funding levels and for FY 2014 as warranted.