Both the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Appropriations subcommittee will be marking up their respective Labor-Health and Human Services-Education spending bills for fiscal year 2004 today.

In the House, there is a pending $470 billion spending bill which would provide $138 billion in discretionary spending. This is a $5.6 billion increase over fiscal year 2003.

In the Senate, the subcommittee will mark up their bill which is $440 million less. The full Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up tomorrow.

There are big debates over IDEA funding. The House would provide $9.9 billion in state grants to provide for the education of disabled children. While it is a $1 billion increase over fiscal 2003, House Democrats find the amount insufficient, as both the FY 2004 budget resolution and the House bill that reauthorized IDEA called for a $2.2 billion increase.