DELAURO VOTES IN SUPPORT OF HOUSE SPENDING MEASURE

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), Ranking Member on the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, released the following statement today after the passage by the House of Representatives of the Conference Report on H.R. 2055, the Consolidated Appropriations Act.

"I voted to support this budget, which funds the government at a level consistent with this year's budget requirements without many of the damaging cuts and extraneous ideological riders that marked earlier efforts. Make no mistake: there are real cuts here, including hard cuts to vital programs like the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Still, I believe this legislation has been improved.

In terms of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, the agreement restores $2.9 billion in cuts. These funds are key investments in job creation, education and the health and the well-being of families that will lead us to recovery.

One of the hardest issues for this conference has been Pell grants, the foundation of federal student aid to college students. Yes, the costs of the program have risen rapidly, but the most important reason for those increases seems to be the state of the economy, which has led to both increased financial need and to a number of people who have lost their jobs going back to school to get new skills. We need a well educated workforce and society, and student aid should be one of our highest priorities. The agreement maintains the maximum grant amount of $5,550. For too many students I have met, even $100 cut would have derailed their prospects for higher education. At the same time we have made some targeted cost-saving changes to the program that should eliminate the funding shortfall for this year and perhaps next year as well.

For the thirteen million Americans looking for work, investments in job training and re-employment services are key. They help responsible people succeed, and I am pleased that this agreement restores the three-quarters of the cuts to job training programs proposed in the chairman's original bill, which was never considered before the committee.

Health care is no longer shortchanged. With an aging population and a nursing shortage before us, we need to make wise investments in people. The programs that help to train primary care doctors, nurses and other health care providers, cut by over 60 percent in the Majority's bill, are now only cut by 6 percent. Funding for vital mental health services, once cut by 17 percent, are now only cut by 3 percent.

This agreement also retains key investments in implementing the Affordable Care Act. A great deal of what would have been blocked from implementation or de-funded are just common sense measures, such as new rules prohibiting insurers from denying coverage for children for pre-existing health conditions, or restrictions on annual limits on amounts covered under insurance plans so that coverage doesn't run out when people get sick, or steps towards establishing health insurance exchanges to make the market work better for individuals and small businesses. Now, with this conference agreement, those and other activities can go forward to help address what are very real national problems of health care coverage and affordability.

I am also glad to see the National Institutes of Health receive a funding increase of $299 million and a new national Center for Advancing Translational Science as proposed by Director Francis Collins is established. NIH can now keep funding life-saving research and pushing the frontiers of medical knowledge.

Perhaps no other investments we make are as important as the ones we make in our children. This agreement includes a $60 million increase for the childcare and development block grant, providing desperately needed aid to working parents for safe and reliable childcare. It provides a $424 million increase for head start, allowing our kids to continue a path to academic success. $60 million increase to Title 1, supporting schools serving low-income children and $100 million increase to IDEA, supporting students with special needs.

I was also pleased to see that the virtual elimination of the Corporation for National and Community Service, proposed in the majority's draft, has been rolled back. Instead of ending Americorps, this agreement includes sufficient funding to maintain current AmeriCorps membership, and $45 million to continue the successful Social Innovation Fund. These programs take on some of the toughest and most pressing community challenges out there. They give all Americans, young and old, a chance to make a difference. I am very glad to see them restored.

Finally, our approach to this conference report was not an academic exercise or just to fit pieces into a puzzle. We were guided by the impact of this bill on people's lives. I very much appreciate the spirit of cooperation and compromise among all involved."