Congress introduced its long awaited $1.5 trillion FY 22 omnibus funding bill. The twelve annual bills provide $730 billion in nondefense funding, a $46 billion (6.7 percent) increase over FY 21 (the largest increase in non-defense programs in four years), and $782 billion in defense funding, a $42 billion (5.6 percent) increase FY 21. The House is expected to pass the omnibus today and then send it to the Senate for passage in the upper chamber.

The 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill provides $213.6 billion, an increase of $15.3 billion (7.7 percent) above 2021. The bill provides a total of $76.4 billion in discretionary appropriations for ED, an increase of $2.9 billion above the FY 2021 enacted level. The bill provides $3 billion for higher education programs, an increase of $452 million above the FY 2021 enacted level. Within this amount, the bill provides $885 million, an increase of $96 million over the FY 2021 enacted level, to assist primarily MSIs in the Aid for Institutional Development account, including $363 million for HBCUs, $183 million for HSIs, and $44 million for TCUs. The bill provides $6,895 for the maximum Pell Grant, an increase of $400 above the FY 2021 enacted level. This is the largest increase in the maximum award in more than a decade. The bill also includes $1.21 billion for Federal Work Study, an increase of $20 million above the FY 2021 enacted level.

The bill provides a total of $108.3 billion for HHS, an increase of $11.3 billion above the FY 2021 enacted level. The bill includes $8.9 billion for HRSA, an increase of $1.4 billion above the 2021 enacted level. Of this amount, $1.3 billion, an increase of $72 million above the FY 2021 enacted level, is for HRSA’s Bureau of Health Professions programs to support health workforce development.

Earmarks were included for the first time in over a decade.

The text of the spending package, H.R. 2471, may be accessed here. Explanatory statements may be accessed here. A summary of the Labor-HHHS-Educated provisions may be accessed here. A HRSA Title VII and VIII Health Workforce Programs funding chart from the Health Professions and Nursing Education Coalition (HPNEC) may be accessed here.