Nuts and Bolts of Bill

Spending on several higher education programs, including the popular Pell Grants for low-income students, didn't keep pace with rising costs. A clause in the bill permits the administration to recalculate the formula for giving Pell Grants, which could result in tens of thousands of low-income students becoming ineligible. The maximum Pell Grant was frozen at $4,050 for the third year in a row.

ENERGY

The Energy Department received a 5.5 percent increase in its budget over last year, bringing its total to $24.8 billion. That includes about $300 million being transferred from the Defense Department to be spent on nuclear-weapons-related expenses and defense activities.

Overall, Energy's budget is more than $1 billion more than the amount Bush requested. The spending plan includes $50 million for a clean-burning-coal initiative and $18 million for a project called FutureGen, aimed at creating the world's first emissions-free power plant using coal.

Also included is $50 million for research and development costs associated with the licensing of a modern nuclear reactor, a $30 million increase over last year.

Funding for safeguards and security at nuclear weapons sites was $175 million more than last year's level.

ENVIRONMENT

Earlier this year, Bush proposed cutting the Environmental Protection Agency's budget by more than 7 percent. Congress softened that blow, but nevertheless sliced the agency's funding by more than 3 percent -- about $277 million -- to approximately $8.08 billion.

Some of the biggest cuts are aimed at the agency's State and Tribal Assistance Grants, which help communities maintain their clean water and sewer infrastructures. Lawmakers cut the grants by about $273 million, to $3.6 billion. Congress rejected Bush's proposed $124 million increase for the agency's Superfund program, which pays for large-scale environmental cleanups, and left the program essentially unchanged at $1.26 billion.

Congress gave the Interior Department a nominal increase, upping its budget to $9.88 billion. The National Park Service was one of the agency's big winners. Lawmakers increased its funding by $90 million -- slightly less than what Bush had proposed -- to $2.35 billion. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was another winner, receiving about $2.33 billion, a $29 million increase and $76 million more than what Bush had requested. The Bureau of Land Management received the brunt of the agency's cuts -- its funding was cut by $137 million -- coming in with $1.77 billion.

The bill also includes legislative language allowing the government to continue charging various fees at some national parks, to permit the slaughter of some wild horses roaming the West and to continue to allow snowmobiles at Yellowstone National Park.

HEALTH

Health care initiatives dealing with the threat of terrorism, abstinence and the obesity epidemic were looked upon favorably by Congress. Overall, Department of Health and Human Services spending will rise by about 2.7 percent over last year, officials said.

Congress didn't rescue $1.1 billion that had been allocated for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The unspent money has been returned to the federal treasury, despite pledges by administration officials that it would be distributed to states.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta received a 2 percent increase over its fiscal 2004 budget. The additional $138 million was 5 percent above Bush's request, with $27 million targeted to exercise and nutrition programs. Projects such as the cancer registry, an environmental health lab and preparations for an influenza pandemic all received increases. In addition, the agency will receive $1.6 billion for anti-terrorism efforts.

A grant program aimed at helping hospitals prepare for terrorist attacks has been trimmed by more than $20 million, though Bush had proposed cutting $40 million.

The National Institutes of Health budget will grow by about 2.2 percent, an increase of about $575 million over last year's $28 billion budget. Much of the increase will go to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is building a new biodefense research center named after House Appropriations Committee Chairman C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) A separate public health emergency account, controlled by the HHS secretary, has steadily grown since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. For 2005, the fund will direct $47 million to NIH to respond to chemical and radiological events.