This week, the House of Representatives approved on a 242 to 176 vote the FY 2004 omnibus

appropriations bill that includes the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education bill that funds drug and alcohol treatment, prevention, education and research programs. Despite the final bill including a .59 percent across-the-board cut for all programs, the bill would provide significant new funding for drug and alcohol treatment and research, including $35 million for the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant and $105 million for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, including $100 million for the Administration’s drug treatment voucher initiative, “Access to Recovery.” The Access to Recovery program’s funding level represents the House’s full original allocation, a significant amount of funding for a new program in this tough fiscal environment. The Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant received a funding increase that fell between what the House and Senate originally proposed.

Additionally, the bill would beat back the Administration’s proposed cut to the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention with an allocation of $200 million, $3 million above the FY 2003 funding level and slightly more that the House and Senate bills originally allocated. While the bill would cut $24 million from the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities’ State Grants Program, the final program funding level is a dramatic improvement over the $47 million cut the Senate bill and Bush Administration’s budget originally proposed.

Both the National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) would receive funding increases, with NIDA receiving a $35 million increase over FY 2003 funding and NIAAA receiving a $15 million increase. Both of these funding increases are slightly more generous than what the House bill allocated.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) originally was hoping to have the Senate vote on the bill this week by unanimous consent (no Senator objecting to the bill’s passage.) However, Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Senate Minorty Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) objected to the Senate passing the bill in this manner. Therefore, the Senate will not consider the omnibus appropriations bill until Congress returns from its winter holiday recess on January 20, 2004.

• Intervention programs for developmental, transitional, and adjustment issues that affect students as they matriculate and graduate from college;

• Addressing issues related to binge drinking and the associated behavioral health risks;

• Providing services for students with mental and behavioral health problems that impede academic performance;

• Self-management skills (for behavioral and emotional self regulation);

• Management of chronic mental illness;

• Assessment and intervention for depressive disorders, and suicidal and self-harming behaviors;

• Assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders;

• Prevention programs for depression, anxiety, suicide, and domestic violence;

• Assessment, treatment, and education for eating disorders;

• Treatment of sexual trauma;

• Psychological education for parents of college students;

• Hiring of appropriately trained staff;

• Strengthening and expanding psychology doctoral internships and postdoctoral residency programs; and

• Supporting the use of evidence-based and emerging best practices and evaluating outcomes in order to provide information and training to other campus counseling and mental health centers around the nation.