DeLauro Opening Statement at Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee
First Subcommittee Consideration of Funding Legislation Since 2012
WASHINGTON, DC--Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), today led Democrats on the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education Appropriations Subcommittee on the subcommittee’s first markup in three years. In 2013, the markup was canceled the day before it was scheduled to be held and last year no bill was introduced.
The entire subcommittee meeting can be viewed here.
Democrats on the subcommittee offered the following amendments today:
1) Increase overall funding for numerous programs across the bill by $11.7 billion to match the President’s budget request (DeLauro #1). The amendment was rejected by a party line vote
2) Title X Family Planning (Lowey #1). Restores funding for Title X Family Planning and increases the funding level by $300 million to the President’s request. It also eliminates a rider that blocks funding for family planning programs. The amendment was rejected by a party line vote
3) Job Training and Worker Protection (Lee #2). Increases funding by $995 million for job training programs, worker protection agencies, Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Strikes Department of Labor (DOL) and NLRB riders. The amendment was rejected by a party line vote
4) Early Childhood Programs (DeLauro #2). Increases funding by nearly $2 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Head Start, and Preschool Development Grants. The amendment was rejected by a party line vote
5) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Roybal-Allard #1). Restores funding for AHRQ, increasing it by $364 million, and strikes the rider that eliminates the agency. The amendment was rejected by a party line vote
6) Title I and other education formula programs (Fattah #1). Increases funding by more than $1.7 billion for Title I, Teacher Quality State Grants and English Language Acquisition. The amendment was rejected by a party line vote
7) NIH Funding (DeLauro #3). Increases funding by $3 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $3 billion above the Chairman’s mark by adding H.R. 531, the Accelerating Biomedical Research Act to the bill. The Accelerating Biomedical Research Act would establish an annual cap adjustment for NIH. The amendment was rejected by a party line vote
8) Teen Pregnancy Prevention (Lee #1). Increases funding by $85 million for Teen Pregnancy Prevention and eliminates the requirement to allocate funds for abstinence-only programs. The amendment was rejected by a party line vote
9) Pell Grants (Lowey #2). Increases funding for Pell Grants by $370 million to the President’s request. The amendment was rejected by a party line vote
10) Affordable Care Act (DeLauro #4). Strikes the anti-ACA rider and also eliminates riders that rescind $6.3 billion in mandatory funds provided through the ACA. The amendment was rejected by a party line vote
11) BARDA/BioShield/Pandemic Flu (DeLauro #5). Increases funding by nearly $600 million for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), BioShield, and Pandemic Influenza preparedness. The amendment was rejected by a party line vote
12) ED Safe and Health Schools (DeLauro #6). Increases funding by $289 and restores to the President’s level for three programs the majority proposes to eliminate: Elementary and Secondary School Counseling, Physical Education Program and National Activities. The amendment also increases funding to the President’s request for Promise Neighborhoods. The amendment was rejected by a party line vote
DeLauro delivered the below opening remarks at today’s markup:
“Thank you very much Mister Chairman, and Mr. Rogers, Chairman of the full committee, Mrs. Lowey, Ranking Member of the full committee. I just might add, Mr. Chairman that I am glad to be here for our first subcommittee markup in three years. I must tell you that I was worried as I was beginning to leave the office that as happened in the past I would get a phone call that says it’s off. But let me just say a couple of things. We have had 12 hearings and all very productive hearings over these last few months and it has been my pleasure to work with you. I might add I am pleased you are not running for the United States Senate and that you are here. I am really delighted to be here and welcome all the folks who are here and have all this pent up emotion over the last several years.
“The Labor-Health and Human Services-Education bill is called the People’s Bill for a reason because it is about providing people we represent with the opportunities that they need in order to get ahead in life. The programs that we fund level the playing field for low-income children looking to learn. They help Americans learn the skills they need to find a job in a tough economy. They equip our nation to deal with public health emergencies.
“Each of these programs represents an investment in our nation’s human capital. As such, they are not just a moral responsibility of government; they are vital to American competitiveness around the globe. By providing high-quality education and job training, and by making sure people do not get sick, these programs increase Americans’ earning capacity. That is especially critical at a time when wages have been stagnant or in decline for 30 years. Yet the Majority has chosen this bill to bear the brunt of their cuts. They have taken a deliberate decision to starve priorities that are already suffering.
“True, some programs are not cut. Lifesaving research at the NIH gets a boost, as do programs for kids with special needs through IDEA. Head Start is increased over last year, but still $1.3 billion below the President’s request. And the small number of increases in this bill come at devastating cost to a range of programs essential to children, seniors, women, workers, students, and families.
“As we have known would happen since the allocation was announced, this bill contains many cuts – almost $4 billion worth, in fact – on top of the almost $20 billion the Labor-HHS-Education bill has lost in real terms over the last five years.
“The Department of Education alone takes $2.5 billion in net cuts – and that is after accounting for a $500 million increase for Special Education State Grants. The bill eliminates Preschool Development Grants, Math and Science Partnerships, Carol White Physical Education, Magnet Schools, and many other valuable programs at the Department of Education. Even Striving Readers is eliminated. Mr. Chairman, universal literacy is the mark of a civilized society. Eliminating the only remaining federal reading program for K-12 students is the opposite. Pell Grants, so essential to college access for generations of low-income young people, lose $370 million.
“Aside from NIH and the new investments to combat anti-microbial resistance, the Department of Health and Human Services takes a cut of $1.3 billion. Family Planning under Title X is zeroed out, and Teen Pregnancy Prevention is cut by $98 million below last year – a reduction of 91 percent. These cuts will have a devastating impact on women’s health and reproductive choice. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is eliminated. The Majority will say that its work is duplicative. That is false. NIH carries out basic research. CDC tracks diseases. AHRQ focuses on health systems. Moreover, this bill only shifts AHRQ’s workload to other agencies, without providing the necessary funding to do the work. So their argument falls flat. Community Prevention Grants are eliminated. And this bill fails to meet the President’s request for funds needed to protect victims of human trafficking.
“The Department of Labor is cut by $205 million. Job training and worker protection programs face substantial reductions, right when we need them most to increase people’s earning capacity. Too many hard-working Americans are stuck in jobs that do not pay them enough to make ends meet. How can we even be talking about cutting programs that help people who have lost their jobs or are looking to train in order to make a better living?
“The Corporation for National and Community Service, which runs AmeriCorps and other national service organizations, is cut by more than one third, eliminating funding for the Social Innovation Fund and the National Civilian Community Corps, and making drastic cuts to the National Service Trust. Mr. Chairman, where are our priorities?
“Then there are the riders. Yet again, this bill attempts to block funding for the Affordable Care Act, putting health care for working families at risk. It also prohibits funds for family planning and research into patient-centered outcomes. This bill intentionally leaves students, workers, and women more vulnerable to exploitation. It blocks the Department of Education from protecting students at risk from low-quality, high-debt career education programs. It prohibits the Department of Labor from ensuring that financial advisers act in the best interests of their clients. It continues the Majority’s assault on the American worker by stopping the National Labor Relations Board from enforcing its own rules facilitating union elections. And it targets women by allowing their employers to block access to preventive health services if they have so-called ‘religious or moral’ objections. This is just a small sampling of the damaging, ideological riders that have been attached to this bill.
“But the bottom line is that this bill is woefully underfunded. It will mean a continued deterioration in services that provide lifelines to millions of people. The funding in this bill fails to meet our country’s needs, and represents an abdication of this committee’s responsibility to the American people. This is the tragic end result of yet another inadequate allocation. The only durable solution is to end the culture of austerity, the sequester cuts, and the spending caps, once and for all. Unless and until we do so, the American people will continue to suffer.
“Thank you.”
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