By Michael Sewall

Washington

A Senate appropriations subcommittee approved a spending bill on Tuesday that would provide a $1-billion increase to the National Institutes of Health but keep spending flat for most student-aid programs, including Pell Grants.

The lack of an increase to Pell Grants differs from the House version of the spending bill, which would supply about $5.7-billion more to the need-based aid program to cover a budget shortfall and to keep the maximum award at $5,550 for the 2011-12 academic year.

The Senate version also maintains the maximum award, but that could change if other money isn't found to cover the shortfall. Jonathan S. Fansmith, a lobbyist for the American Council on Education, said staff members on the House appropriations committee have estimated that if the program deficit had to be covered with money now going to students' grants, the maximum award could drop by about $845, or approximately 15 percent.

"The fact that the Senate doesn't include any funding for the shortfall, it is concerning," Mr. Fansmith said. "It leaves you a little bit worried of possibly seeing large cuts."

To make room in the budget for a Pell increase, House appropriators proposed to finance other student-aid programs at the same levels as in the current year and eliminate the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership Program, which provides grants to states to assist them in supplying need-based grants.

But because the Senate did not include an increase to Pell, its bill would continue to finance the educational assistance partnership program at this year's levels. Other federal grant and loan programs, including the Federal Work-Study program, would also receive the same level of money in 2011 as they did this year, similar to the House bill. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, was a major proponent of continued spending on the educational assistance partnership and thanked the subcommittee at its hearing.

"It's absolutely vital to the higher-education community," Senator Reed said. "It generated more than $840-million in state-matching funds last year."

Some higher-education programs would receive an increase under the Senate bill. The Federal Trio programs and the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or Gear Up, which both help low-income or disadvantaged students prepare for college, would each receive a 3-percent increase. The Gear Up program didn't receive an increase in the House version, but the Trio programs did.

For the National Institutes of Health, the Senate provided $32-billion, which is on par with the House bill and President Obama's request for the 2011 fiscal year, which begins October 1. The $1-billion increase would go to biomedical research.

The full Senate committee is scheduled to take up the bill on Thursday.

"I'd be curious to see if they'll address the Pell shortfall," Mr. Fansmith said. "I hope there's a plan to take care of it."

Correction: An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the U.S. senator who is a major proponent of continued spending on the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership Program. He is Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, not Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada. The article has been updated to reflect this correction.