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Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1991

Public Law 101-517 · H.R. 5257 · 101st Congress · began in the House

Signed by George H. W. Bush (R) on Nov 5, 1990 · Economics and Public Finance

Sponsor: Rep. William Natcher (D-KY-2)

Cosponsors: None

Passage votes

  • HouseUnanimous consent
  • SenateVoice vote
Data notes

The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.

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Summary

The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.

Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1991 - Title I: Department of Labor - Department of Labor Appropriations Act, 1991 - Makes appropriations for FY 1991 for the following agencies within the Department of Labor: (1) Employment and Training Administration; (2) Labor-Management Services; (3) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; (4) Employment Standards Administration; (5) Occupational Safety and Health Administration; (6) Mine Safety and Health Administration; (7) Bureau of Labor Statistics; and (8) Departmental Management.

Prohibits the use of funds to grant variances, interim orders, or letters of clarification to employers which will allow exposure of workers to chemicals or other workplace hazards in excess of existing Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards for the purpose of conducting experiments on workers' health and safety.

Title II: Department of Health and Human Services - Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations Act, 1991 - Makes appropriations for FY 1991 for the following agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services: (1) Health Resources and Services Administration; (2) Centers for Disease Control; (3) National Institutes of Health; (4) Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (including the Federal subsidy for Saint Elizabeths Hospital); (5) Assistant Secretary for Health; (6) Agency for Health Care Policy and Research; (7) Health Care Financing Administration; (8) Social Security Administration; (9) Family Support Administration; (10) Assistant Secretary for Human Development Services; and (11) Office of the Secretary.

Prohibits the use of funds to perform abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make available through assignment not more than 60 employees of the Public Health service to assist in child survival activities and to work in AIDS programs through and with funds provided by the Agency for International Development, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, or the World Health Organization.

Prohibits the use of funds by the National Institutes of Health, or any other Federal agency, or recipient of Federal funds on any project that entails the capture or procurement of chimpanzees obtained from the wild.

Prohibits the use of funds to pay for any experiment, or other activity that presents a danger to the physical, mental, or emotional well-being of a human participant or subject without the written, informed consent of the participant or subject (or their parents or legal guardian, if they are under 18 years old).

Prohibits any of the funds appropriated in this title for the National Institutes of Health and the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration from being used to pay the salary of an individual, through a grant or extramural mechanism, at a rate in excess of $120,000 per year.

Declares that AIDS education programs that receive assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and other education curricula dealing with sexual activity that receive assistance under this Act: (1) shall not be designed to promote or encourage, directly, intravenous drug abuse or sexual activity, homosexual or heterosexual; (2) shall be designed to reduce exposure to and transmission of the etiologic agent for acquired immune deficiency syndrome by providing accurate information; and (3) shall provide information on the health risks of promiscuous sexual activity and intravenous drug abuse.

Title III: Department of Education - Department of Education Appropriations Act, 1991 - Makes appropriations for FY 1991 for the following purposes and agencies within the Department of Education: (1) compensatory education for the disadvantaged; (2) impact aid; (3) school improvement programs; (4) bilingual and immigrant education; (5) education for the handicapped; (6) rehabilitation services and handicapped research (including the Helen Keller National Center); (7) special institutions for the handicapped (including the American Printing House for the Blind, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, and Gallaudet University); (8) vocational and adult education; (9) student financial assistance; (10) guaranteed student loans (liquidation of contract authority); (11) higher education; (12) Howard University; (13) higher education facilities loans; (14) college housing and academic facilities loans; (15) college housing loans; (16) education research, statistics, and improvement; (17) libraries; and (18) Departmental Management.

Sets forth general provisions relating to auditing of certain institutions and to prohibitions on use of funds for certain forms of busing, other transportation, or transfers of students for purposes of desegregation.

Prohibits the use of funds to prevent the implementation of programs of voluntary prayer and meditation in the public schools.

Title IV: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 1991 for the following agencies: (1) ACTION; (2) Corporation for Public Broadcasting; (3) Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; (4) Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission; (5) National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; (6) National Commission on Libraries and Information Science; (7) National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality; (8) National Council on Disability; (9) National Labor Relations Board; (10) National Mediation Board; (11) Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission; (12) Physician Payment Review Commission; (13) Prospective Payment Assessment Commission; (14) Railroad Retirement Board; and (15) United States Institute of Peace.

Title V: General Provisions - Prohibits the use of funds to pay student assistance or any remuneration to an applicant for admission, student, teacher, or other employee of an institution of higher education if such individual has engaged in conduct on or after August 1, 1969, which involves the use of force (or assistance to others in such use) or the threat of force or the seizure of any property under the control of an institution of higher education, to require or prevent the availability of certain curricula, or to prevent such institution's faculty, administrative officials, or students from engaging in their duties or pursuing their studies.

Requires that sums necessary for FY 1991 pay raises for programs funded by this Act be absorbed within the levels appropriated in this Act.

Prohibits the use of funds to carry out any program of distributing sterile needles for the hypodermic injection of any illegal drug unless the President certifies that such programs are effective in stopping the spread of HIV and do not encourage the use of illegal drugs.

Committees

The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.

Data notes

A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.

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Timeline

From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 182 actions.

  1. Nov 5, 1990Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 101-517.
  2. Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
  3. PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
  4. Oct 26, 1990Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate receded from its amendments to the House amendment to Senate amendments 31 and 163-164. By Voice Vote.
  5. Resolving differencesResolving differences · On motion that the House disagree to the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment No. 164 Agreed to without objection.
  6. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Mr. Natcher moved that the House disagree to the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment No. 164.
  7. Resolving differencesResolving differences · On motion that the House disagree to the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment No. 163 Agreed to without objection.
  8. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Mr. Natcher moved that the House disagree to the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment No. 163.
  9. Resolving differencesResolving differences · On motion that the House disagree to the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment No. 31 Agreed to without objection.
  10. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Mr. Natcher moved that the House disagree to the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment No. 31.
  11. Resolving differencesResolving differences · On motion that the House agree to the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment No. 14 Agreed to without objection.
  12. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Mr. Natcher moved that the House agree to the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment No. 14.
  13. Oct 25, 1990Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate agreed to conference report by Yea-Nay Vote. 82-15. Record Vote No: 315.Senate roll call 315
  14. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Conference report agreed to in Senate: Senate agreed to conference report by Yea-Nay Vote. 82-15. Record Vote No: 315.Senate roll call 315
  15. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate agreed to the House amendment to Senate amendment nos. 10, 16, 21, 24, 26, 27, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 50, 60, 62, 63, 65, 68, 69, 71, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 87, 95, 96, 110, 113, 117, 122, 138, 139, 147, 152, 155, 162, 189, and 190 by Voice Vote.
  16. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate concurred to the House amendment to Senate amendment no. 14 with an amendment(SP 3166) by Voice Vote.
  17. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate concurred in the House amendment to the Senate no. 31 with an amendment (SP 3165) by Voice Vote.
  18. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate concurred in the House amendment to Senate amendments nos. 163-164 with an amendment (SP 3163 and SP 3164) by Voice Vote.
  19. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Conference papers: Senate report and managers' statement held at the desk in Senate.
  20. FloorFloor · Amendment SP 3166 agreed to in Senate by Voice Vote.
  21. FloorFloor · Amendment SP 3165 agreed to in Senate by Voice Vote.
  22. FloorFloor · Amendment SP 3163 agreed to in Senate by Voice Vote.
  23. FloorFloor · Amendment SP 3164 agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 95-1. Record Vote No: 318.Senate roll call 318
  24. FloorFloor · Motion to table SP 3163 rejected in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 42-55. Record Vote No: 316.Senate roll call 316
  25. Oct 22, 1990Resolving differencesResolving differences · Conference papers: message on House action held at the desk in Senate.
  26. Resolving differencesResolving differences · On motion that the House recede and concur with amendment in the Senate amendment No. 190 Agreed to without objection.
  27. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Motions to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  28. Resolving differencesResolving differences · On motion that the House recede and concur with amendment in the Senate amendment No. 189 Agreed to without objection.
  29. Resolving differencesResolving differences · Mr. Natcher moved that the House recede and concur with an amendment in the Senate amendment No. 190.
  30. Resolving differencesResolving differences · On motion that the House recede and concur with amendment in the Senate amendment No. 164 Agreed to without objection.
Data notes

Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.

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Official record

The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.