Appropriations Committee Approves the Fiscal Year 2012 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill

Press Release

The House Appropriations Committee today approved the fiscal year 2012 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill, which provides annual funding for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other related agencies.

In total, the legislation contains $50.2 billion in funding. This is a reduction of $3.1 billion or 6% below last year's level, and $7.4 billion or 13% below the President's request for these programs. This amount is also 3% below the pre-stimulus, pre-bailout level of 2008.

"This important bill funds a wide range of programs that deal with everything from trade to law enforcement to scientific research. But faced with record-high deficits, we have to rein in spending and prioritize what is most important -- what would have the greatest benefits for American taxpayers and businesses to promote economic growth and job creation. Most of these cuts were not easy -- but they were certainly not made carelessly," House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers said.

"This bill represents our best take on matching needs with scarce resources. It achieves our spending reduction goals while at the same time investing in core priorities like national security and American competitiveness, and contains critical investments in export promotion, manufacturing and a number of new job creation initiatives," CJS Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf said.

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