[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 130 (Saturday, August 5, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1692]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND 
               RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1996

                                 ______


                               speech of

                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednsesday, August 2, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2127) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human 
     Services, and Education, and related agencies, for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 1996, and for other purpose:

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in complete opposition to the 
cuts in this years Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill (H.R. 2127), 
a bill that funds programs that are in many cases the foundation of our 
future and the hope for tomorrow. I am staunchly opposed to any 
proposal that would make drastic cutbacks in programs for women and 
children, students, seniors disabled Americans, and individuals living 
in rural communities.
  For example, I remain appalled that included in this bill is the 
absolute elimination of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program 
[LIHEAP].
  Five million Americans, including the disabled, the working poor, and 
low-income senior citizens are in desperate need of funding for LIHEAP. 
Without these funds vulnerable Americans will be forced to chose 
between heating their homes or feeding their families. For Vermont, 
this means a cut of $5,753,000 in low-income heating assistance.
  Beyond the cuts in LIHEAP, the package cuts federal education funding 
by $3.7 billion in fiscal year 1996. Education for disadvantaged 
children--formally known as chapter 1 funding--is cut by more than $1 
billion, which will result in cuts to Vermont of close to $2.5 million 
in fiscal year 1996. Vermont education improvement funds will be cut by 
over $1 million, and Vermont will lose more than $1 million in safe and 
drug free school funds. Vocational education will be cut by 27 percent 
nationally, resulting in a loss to Vermont of over $1 million.
  At a time when we need to devote more resources for education it will 
be an absolute disaster for Vermont to lose tens of million dollars in 
Federal education and training funding. These cuts will mean higher 
property taxes for Vermont communities and fewer students receiving 
Head Start, student loans, and grants, assistance for the 
disadvantaged, and summer job opportunities.
  By the year 2002, Republican-approved cuts would deny: 309 Vermont 
children a chance to participate in Head Start; 60 out of 60 Vermont 
school districts funding used to keep crime, violence, and drugs away 
from students and out of schools; 21,200 Vermont college students would 
be denied $2,111 in loans, and as many as 3,000 graduate students would 
be denied $9,424 in loans to help pay college costs; 9,492 Vermont low-
income youths would be denied a first opportunity to get work 
experience in summer jobs.
  In 1996 alone, Republican-approved cuts would deny: 2,100 
disadvantaged Vermont children crucial reading, writing, and mathematic 
assistance in school; 700 Vermont students funding for Pell Grants to 
help afford a college education; 227 young people in Vermont a chance 
to participate in national service programs; 563 dislocated Vermonters 
training opportunities.
  Seniors programs are also severely damaged by this bill. The 
Community Service Employment for Older Americans is cut by $46 million 
dollars. The National Senior Volunteers Corp., which includes the 
Senior Companion Program, the Foster Grandparent Program and the 
Retired Seniors Volunteers Program, is cut by more than $20 million. 
Congregate and home delivered meals for seniors are cut by more than 
$20 million. This will mean that 114,637 fewer seniors will be able to 
get hot meals at senior centers under the Congregate Meals Program and 
43,867 frail older persons will be cut off from Meals on Wheels.
  Working Americans will suffer as a result of this bill. At a time 
when Americans are working longer hours for less pay and the gap 
between the rich and the poor is wider than at any time in the history 
of this Nation, this bill is an assault on working people. This bill is 
going to make it far more difficult for working people to keep their 
place among the middle class as workplace safety, health, protection, 
and bargaining laws are taken off the books. The bill literally guts 
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration which protects our 
workers from unsafe conditions in the workplace. Corporations will find 
it easier to violate wage hour laws, set up bogus pension systems and 
take advantage of workers who try to organize.
  Disabled Americans are not spared the cuts in this bill. The 
Developmental Disabilities Councils, which provide some of the only 
services to meet the needs of the people with severest disabilities, 
have been cut by $30 million, or nearly 40-percent reduction. The 
Councils have been instrumental in supporting a voice for this highly 
vulnerable population and their families. Nationwide, the Councils have 
been a voice to foster deinstitutionalization of people with mental 
retardation; to work for employment and economic independence of people 
with developmental disabilities, and to encourage the development of 
long-term care in community-based settings.
  In Vermont the Developmental Disabilities Council supports the 
Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights, an organization which provides 
advocacy on disability issues; supports a statewide newsletter, The 
Independent, focusing on issues affecting the elderly and people with 
disabilities; supports the disability law project to provide advocacy 
on individaul cases and systematic issues; supports a highly successful 
project to make recreation sites accessible to people with 
disabilities; and, among other things, supports statewide training for 
people with disabilities on the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  And finally, Mr. Chairman, health care for rural communities has been 
put at great risk by this bill. This bill eliminates State Offices of 
Rural Health, the Federal Office of Rural Health, rural health 
telemedicine grants, the essential access to community hospitals 
programs, new rural health grants, and the bill cut by 43 percent, the 
rural health transition grants. This bill turns its back on small rural 
communities that are struggling to recruit doctors, maintain hospitals, 
and reach out to isolated rural settings that have difficulty accessing 
health care.
  In closing, let me say that this bill could not be more clear about 
the misplaced priorities of the Republican majority in Congress. While 
Republicans set out gutting programs for women, children, students, 
seniors, people with disabilities and working Americans, they launch 
production of the F-22 airplane in the Speaker's district and increase 
spending billions more on the creation of more B-2 bombers--a weapon 
the Pentagon has said it doesn't want or need.


                          ____________________