[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 19, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H985]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE FISCAL YEAR 2003 BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Madam Speaker, I rise today as we celebrate 
Women's History Month to review some of the budget items that impact on 
women's issues.
  There are some issues in the FY 2003 budget proposal impacting on 
women that I would like to bring to the attention of my colleagues.
  It was disappointing, Madam Speaker, to find that the title X family 
planning program is not going to see an increase in funding. In fact, 
the program will be level funded at $266 million for the 2003 fiscal 
year.
  Title X is the only Federal program devoted solely to the provision 
of family planning and reproductive health care. The program is 
designed to provide access to contraceptive supplies and information to 
all who want and need them. Title X is designed to assist low-income 
women. For many clients, especially women of color, title X clinics 
provide the only continuing source of health care and health education.
  A growing number of uninsured women desperately need this care 
offered by title X clinics, because they cannot meet the increase in 
cost of Federal services. If the title X program had kept pace with 
inflation in recent years, it would now be funded at $564 million. That 
would have been more than double the current level.
  We Democratic women are pleased to see that the budget would provide 
$8.4 million for the Women's Bureau at the Department of Labor. 
Unfortunately, this is a decrease of $1.8 million from the 2002 fiscal 
year. The question I have, Madam Speaker, is what services to women are 
going to be cut to make up for this shortfall?
  Already, one organization has been threatened with closure. Women 
Work, the national network for women's employment, was led to believe 
that the Women's Bureau did not intend for its continuing funding. 
Happily, this did not happen. Programs continue to be needed to assist 
women to find their way into employment. The Women's Bureau, especially 
the decentralized Women's Center, have played a major role in this area 
and deserve to be fully funded.
  The welfare of children is, of course, of great concern to all of the 
Members of this House, not just the women Members. I am pleased to see 
that this budget includes $421 million for child welfare and abuse 
programs. These funds provide services to prevent child abuse and 
neglect. While it is laudable that this money has been allocated to 
such a worthy cause, it must be noted that the funding has been 
maintained at the same level as last year.
  Americans want to see all children in happy and safe homes and 
protected from abusive situations. For this reason, Democrats would 
like to see these programs strengthened.
  It is pleasing to see that the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention will receive $5.8 billion in this budget, but Democratic 
women have noted that there will be a decrease of $1 billion from the 
2002 fiscal year. This is a very large reduction in the CDC budget.
  We all agree that every child born should be a healthy baby. It is 
disappointing to see that the Birth Defects and Developmental 
Disabilities Center will receive $1 million less than last year.
  There is also a tragic imbalance and racial disparity in terms of 
babies born in the African American and white communities in our 
country. A black baby born today is twice as likely to die within the 
first year of life as a white baby. That baby is twice as likely to be 
born prematurely and at low birthweight. In order to help address these 
major problems and health concerns, we would like to see a modest 
amount of $3 million restored to the Public Health Service's Office of 
Minority Health that is located in the Department of Health and Human 
Services.
  The Fiscal Year 2003 budget includes $156 million for environmental 
disease prevention. This is a $1 million reduction. Cutting funding for 
environmental disease prevention is another unfortunate budgetary 
reduction.
  Madam Speaker, we Democrats are deeply disappointed with this budget 
and believe that it will have some very unfortunate repercussions for 
the well-being and provision of social and health services to the 
American public, and particularly how these cuts will affect women.

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