DELAURO DECRIES HOUSE REPUBLICAN BUDGET ALLOCATIONS

Washington, DC— Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), Ranking Member on the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, today made the following statement before the Committee on the 2013 budget allocations put forward by the House Republican Majority, which threaten to slash non-discretionary defense spending by $27 billion below the president's budget and come in at $19 billion below both the Senate allocations and the agreed-to cuts in the bipartisan debt deal last August. As Prepared for Delivery I rise in strong opposition to the proposed 302(b) allocations. For the second year in a row, the House Majority has put forward an allocation that ensures our government cannot meet its basic responsibilities to the American people.

A budget is about choices that reflect values and priorities. And once again, the majority has chosen to slash the priorities of mainstream Americans in order to preserve oil subsidies and tax breaks for the wealthy. The choices made by these allocations are wrong and will, if enacted, cause a great deal of damage both next year and in future years.

With these allocations, unlike both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, the Republican Majority has reneged on the bipartisan August debt deal, which provides $19 billion above what is before us today.

The Majority's course would have dramatic effects on the priorities embodied in the Labor, Health, Human Services and Education bill. Compared with 2012, these allocations assign more than 40 percent of their cuts to this LHHS bill, even though it represents only about 15 percent of discretionary appropriations. This will have a serious impact on working, middle class, and low-income families.

Remember, over the past two years, we have already made substantial cuts to many Labor, Health, Human Services and Education programs– including those aiding people hit hardest by the economic downturn, such as the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, workforce development, and the elimination of more than 40 education programs. And funding for our major education formula grant programs like Title One and Special Education has failed to keep pace with growing need. Now, the Majority's decision would require a further round of cuts — totaling at least $6.3 billion below 2012. Where is this new $6 billion cut going to come from? Perhaps the starting point will be the bill introduced by Chairman Rehberg last year. But even if we did everything the Chairman proposed then, we would still have to find another $3.4 billion to cut. And the Chairman's proposed cuts last year were substantial.

Employment and training programs would have been cut by roughly $2 billion – at a time when more than 9 million Americans are seeking assistance through the federal workforce system.

Health professions and nursing training programs would have been cut by $300 million. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services would have been cut by $283 million.

K-12 Education would have been cut by $1.1 billion, including the termination of programs such as school improvement grants and Special Olympics.

Title X, which has connected millions of American women to health care, was eliminated. So too was the AmeriCorps national service program, which would force thousands of community and faith-based service organizations to close their doors.

And remember, to hit the new allocation this year it will be necessary to cut $3.4 billion more. It is hard to imagine that CDC, NIH, or Pell Grants could escape unharmed. This is wrong. Investments in education and medical research and job training did not cause our current budget problems, and slashing that spending will not fix our problems. In fact education, medical research, and job training help put us on the right path.

Rumors are these allocations really will not matter, because eventually the Republican leadership in the House will return to the funding levels reached in the August debt deal – $19 billion above what is before us today. Again, that is where the Senate, on a bipartisan basis, is today.

Nevertheless, we should NOT think these allocations will go away and be replaced with higher levels. These allocation totals are contained in the Ryan-Romney budget and tell us quite a bit about the Republican majority. This is not a serious attempt at deficit reduction. Instead, this shifts investment away from middle-class and working families to pay for big oil subsidies and tax breaks for the rich.

The Labor, Health, Human Services and Education allocation is where the Ryan-Republican budget becomes real for the American people. It makes investments to better educate our children to compete in the future, discover life-saving research and fund services critical to the most vulnerable.

These allocations should reflect our values and advance the moral responsibilities of the nation to provide for the common good. The Majority's decision today fails that test. I urge my colleagues to vote against these ill-advised and inadequate allocations. Thank you.