After a couple of failed attempts in recent months, the U.S. House of Representatives early today approved a budget resolution that would provide little new money for programs important to colleges in the 2007 fiscal year. However, to win the votes of moderate Republicans, the House leadership agreed to include in the resolution a statement that “recognizes the need” to increase spending on education and biomedical research, as well as other labor and health programs, by “not less than” $7-billion over President Bush’s request.

The budget resolution, which the House passed by a vote of 218 to 210 at 1 a.m., would provide an increase of about $840-million for health, education, and labor programs over the 2006 fiscal year. In February, President Bush had proposed cutting those programs by $4-billion.

However, in March, the Senate, in its version of the resolution, voted to raise spending on those programs by $3-billion over 2006, and $7-billion over the president’s request (The Chronicle, March 17).

A longer report on the House’s vote, and on the resulting budgetary outlook for 2007, will appear tomorrow morning on this Web site.