[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2397-E2398]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 3061, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN 
 SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2002

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. KEN BENTSEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 19, 2001

  Mr. BENTSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3061, the 
Fiscal Year 2001 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education 
Appropriations bill. This legislation would provide $395 billion for 
the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and 
related agencies. This $395

[[Page E2398]]

billion funding level represents an 11 percent increase above last 
year's budget. I am especially pleased that this legislation would 
provide a 15 percent increase for education funding and 15 percent 
increase or $23.3 billion for biomedical research conducted through the 
National Institutes of Health (NIH).
  With regard to education, I am pleased that this bill would 
dramatically increase funding, for education programs by providing $6.8 
billion or 15 percent over FY 2001 levels and $3.9 billion above the 
President's request. Over the last five years, the average annual rate 
of new educational investment has been 13 percent. This legislation 
would increase the education investment to 17 percent--the highest in a 
decade. While the bill does not include separate funding for the class-
size reduction initiative, I am pleased that the program was redirected 
into teacher quality state grants. Under this legislation, these state 
grants will receive a $2.9 billion increase to help schools reduce 
class size and provide professional development for teachers and other 
school employees. Additionally, the committee's inclusion of $975 
million for the President's Reading First initiation will enable 
schools to bring proven, research-based reading programs to students in 
the critical early learning years. The $1 billion increase for 21st 
Century After School Centers will provide students with a quality after 
school programs. And for students continuing on to higher education, 
the increase in the Pell Grant maximum grant to $4,000 will enable low-
income students to meet today's ever-increasing educational costs. 
Additionally, the bill wisely rejects proposed enrollment cuts to Head 
Start, preventing possible cuts for as many as 2,500 children from this 
critically important program.
  I am also pleased that the committee included a 18 percent increase 
in the federal share of special education costs. This agreement 
provides $8.7 billion for educating children with disabilities, $1.3 
billion more than this year's funding. In 1975, Congress passed Public 
Law 94-142, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 
which committed the federal government to fund up to 40 percent of the 
educational costs for children with disabilities. However, the federal 
government's contribution has never exceeded 15 percent, a shortfall 
that has caused financial hardships and difficult curriculum choices in 
local school districts. According to the Department of Education, 
educating a child with a disability costs an average of $15,000 each 
year. However, the federal government only provides schools with an 
average of just $833. While I believe the funding increase in this 
legislation represents a step in the right direction, I believe we must 
abide by our commitment to fund 40 percent of IDEA costs, and I am 
hopeful that we will consider greater funding increases in the next 
fiscal year.
  While the overall bill is a good one, there are many important 
programs that were level-funded or eliminated under this legislation. 
To that end, I look forward to working with my colleagues to continue 
funding for these programs at adequate levels, or in the case of school 
modernization, to work for its reinstatement. In total, though, this 
bill makes important investments in education, and will provide 
America's children with the resources they need to succeed and be 
productive members of our society.
  As a Co-Chair of the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus, I am 
pleased that this legislation provides $23.3 billion for the National 
Institutes of Health (NIH), an increase of 15 percent or $3 billion 
more than last year's budget. This $23.3 billion NIH budget is our 
fourth payment to double the NIH's budget over five years. Earlier this 
year, I organized two bipartisan letters in support of a $3.4 billion 
increase for the NIH. I am a strong supporter of maximizing federal 
funding for biomedical research through the NIH. I believe that 
investing in biomedical research is fiscally responsible. Today, only 
one in three meritorious, peer-reviewed grants which have been judged 
to be scientifically significant will be funded by the NIH. This higher 
budget will help save lives and provide new treatments for such 
diseases as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and AIDS. 
Much of this NIH-directed research will be conducted at the teaching 
hospitals at the Texas Medical Center. In 2000, the Texas Medical 
Center received $289 million in grants from the NIH.
  In addition, I support the $4.3 billion budget for the Centers for 
Disease Control, a $431 million increase above last year's budget. The 
CDC is critically important to monitoring our public health and 
fighting disease. Of this $4.3 billion CDC budget, $ 1.1 billion will 
be provided to address HIV/AIDS programs and to combat tuberculosis. 
This CDC budget also provides $627 million to provide immunizations to 
low-income children. In Texas, there are many children who are not 
currently receiving the immunizations that they need to stay healthy. 
This CDC program will help to monitor and encourage low-income families 
to get the immunizations that will save children's lives and reduce 
health care costs. Investing in our children is a goal which we all 
share.
  I also want to highlight that this agreement provides $285 million 
for pediatric graduate medical education (GME) programs. As the 
representative for Texas Children's Hospital (TCH), which is one of the 
nation's independent pediatric training facilities, I am pleased that 
this bill fully funds this critically important program. This $285 
budget is $50 million more than last year's budget and is the same 
level which has been authorized for this program. Under current law, 
independent children's hospitals such as TCH can only receive Medicare 
GME funding for those patients which they treat who are Medicare 
beneficiaries. Since many of TCH's patients are not Medicare eligible, 
current GME programs fall to help to pay for the cost of training our 
nation's pediatricians. Last year, TCH received approximately $8 
million from this program, which is more than half of the cost of 
training physicians, residents and fellows at TCH. This bill is an 
important step in the right direction to ensure that all hospitals 
receive assistance to help defray the cost of training physicians.
  I am also pleased that this agreement includes funding for several 
projects which I have spearheaded. This bill provides $440,000 for the 
Center for Research on Minority Health (CRMH) at the University of 
Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. This $440,000 budget is the third 
installment in my effort to examine cancer rates among minority and 
underserved populations. The CRMH is a comprehensive cancer control 
program to address minority and medically underserved populations.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and vote for this 
important health, education and labor funding measure.

                          ____________________