After weeks of delay, the House of Representatives narrowly passed its budget resolution, in a 218-210 vote, with 12 Republicans joining all Democrats voting against it. The resolution now moves to a House-Senate conference to reconcile differences between the bills.
 
Letters, e-mails, faxes, and calls from ASHA members in concert with other concerned groups generated thousands of letters and prevented the House leadership from securing the votes needed to rubber-stamp the budget earlier this year. Due to pressure from members like you, and broad concerns over dramatic cuts in critical education and health programs, moderate House Republicans opposed the budget and forced the House leadership to negotiate with them to accommodate their demands.

 
Although the moderates were only able to secure $4 billion of the $7.2 billion we were seeking, obtaining even this much was a major concession. In addition, during last minute negotiations, the House GOP leadership offered a "promise" of an additional $3 billion, but did not specify where those funds would come from. In the end, enough moderate House Republicans accepted this deal, giving the GOP leadership the majority it needed to move the budget process forward.
 
While funding for education and health programs is higher than the figures proposed in President Bush’s 2007 budget, the final House budget resolution still under funds critical programs that serve students with disabilities, the elderly, the poor, and the disabled.
 
ASHA will continue its efforts to secure at least the $7.2 billion that was added earlier this spring in the Senate bill by Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) for key domestic programs. As part of this conference strategy, we will be asking you to reach out to your members of Congress at the appropriate time and urge them to support our position. For more information, please contact Neil Snyder, ASHA’s Director of Federal Advocacy, at nsnyder@asha.org or by phone at 800-498-2071, ext 4257.