Nuts and Bolts of Bill

One of the biggest changes did not involve dollars and cents, but rather policy. At the behest of Rep. David Joseph Weldon (R-Fla.), House negotiators inserted language allowing doctors, hospitals and insurers to refuse to perform abortions or offer abortion counseling.

The budget for abstinence education increased by $30 million, to $105 million.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration, which has recently faced huge controversies about the safety of antidepressants and painkillers, was given a $76 million increase, to $1.46 billion. The amount was $33 million below the president's request.

HOMELAND SECURITY

The Homeland Security Department's appropriation of $32 billion was an increase of $1.1 billion over its spending from the year before, and was $496 million above what Bush proposed.

The science and technology unit, which researches cutting-edge security technologies, received an increase of $76 million, and the Coast Guard saw a $54 million boost.

One part of the budget that Congress reworked was the formula for allocating money to state and local first responders. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has tried to shift more money to higher-threat areas and to give comparatively less to lower-threat zones. Bush asked for $1.5 billion to be distributed to all 50 states, and $1.5 billion to high-threat areas.

But the House allocated $2 billion to the statewide program, and reduced Bush's proposed high-threat sum by $500 million, spurred by lawmakers whose districts lack prominent terrorism targets but who don't want to be seen bringing home less money than in previous years. In the end, after the Senate weighed in, the sums ended up at $1.1 billion allotted statewide, and $1.2 billion to high-threat areas (and other sums split up into other accounts).

HOUSING

Congress cut the Department of Housing and Urban Development's budget by $618 million, reducing it by 1.6 percent, to $37.3 billion. That was still $521 million more than the president requested.

Funding was reduced for nearly all HUD programs, including the public housing capital and operating funds, down-payment assistance, homeless assistance grants, rural housing and housing for people with AIDS.

Among the few receiving more money is the Section 8 rental assistance program for tenants, which received $14.9 billion, up from $14.4 billion. The program this year enabled about 1.9 million poor families, disabled people and the elderly to obtain a rent voucher from a local housing authority and take it to any private landlord willing to accept it.

In April, HUD changed the program's payment method to contain costs. Instead of allocating housing authorities a specific number of vouchers, officials provided payments based on past costs, adjusted for inflation. Housing authorities said they lacked enough money to cover the vouchers' costs, and the government later restored millions of dollars to the program.

Congress now will require HUD to provide housing authorities with a fixed annual budget based on the average number of vouchers in use in summer 2004. Housing advocates say this new system will lead to new funding shortages.

The omnibus bill also provides $1.9 billion in fiscal 2005, up from $1.8 billion, for the Low-Income Housing Energy Assistance Program. The measure also includes $300 million, up from $99.4 million, for emergency spending associated with the program. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a proponent of the program, said that despite the increase in appropriations, it is still inadequately funded.

JUSTICE

The Justice Department gained nearly $1 billion in new funding, faring even better than it would have under Bush's request. Justice, which probably will be run by Bush confidant Alberto R. Gonzales, will have a total budget of $20.6 billion in fiscal 2005.