[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 125 (Thursday, September 11, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S11412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S11412]]
DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, EDUCATION, AND RELATED 
                   AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I want to thank both Senator Specter and 
Senator Harkin for their hard work on this important legislation which 
provides Federal Funding for the Departments of Labor, DOL, Health and 
Human Services, HHS, and Education, and related agencies. It funds 
programs that are among the most critical to the health and well-being 
of our Nation. With our military forces deployed abroad and a 
struggling domestic economy here at home, providing for and protecting 
our Nation has never been more challenging or more important.
  The funding provided by this bill for domestic health programs is 
critical for our country, States and local governments. Given the poor 
state of our national economy and the rising number of unemployed and 
uninsured Americans, as well as the budget crises facing most State 
governments, resources provided by this legislation will help meet the 
substantial health care needs of our Nation's vulnerable populations.
  I am pleased that this legislation provides increased funding for a 
number of programs that are particularly important in light of the many 
threats facing our Nation today. This bill increases funding for the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, which plays a vital 
role in protecting our nation from bioterror attacks and ensuring 
adequate preparedness for health emergencies. With the recent threat of 
foreign born illnesses such as SARS and Monkey Pox, increased funding 
for the Infectious Disease Initiative is especially important and will 
ensure quick response to public health threats.
  Additionally, this bill increases funding for National Institutes of 
Health, NIH, by $1 billion over the last fiscal year. That increase 
will enable the continuation and expansion of research into treatments 
and cures for chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes, new 
infectious diseases that threaten our Nation's safety, and diseases 
that disproportionally affect older Americans, such as Alzheimer's. I 
have strongly supported doubling the amount of the NIH budget, and I am 
pleased that its funding continues to increase.
  In addition to funding key public health programs, this bill provides 
funding to help States and local communities educate our children. I 
applaud the fact that funding for education for individuals with 
disabilities and programs to improve educational opportunities for 
economically disadvantaged students have been increased in this bill. I 
also am pleased that this legislation increases funding for Head Start 
to ensure that low-income children are physically and mentally prepared 
to begin school.
  These and the many other important programs funded throughout this 
legislation will help many Americans. However, I am disappointed to 
find that the report accompanying this bill is laden with directives 
and suggestive language that predetermines which programs may receive 
funding. This language eliminates the ability of the agencies funded by 
this bill to determine, by a fair and competitive process, which 
programs to fund. This is yet another example of the micro-management 
of federal agencies at the hands of the appropriators.
  I would like to note that both the bill and the report contain only a 
handful of earmarks, and I commend the Appropriations Committee for its 
restraint. I encourage the members of the Committee to resist the 
temptation to weigh down this important bill with locally specific 
parochial projects when the bill is negotiated with the House of 
Representatives during conference. Unfortunately, however, the list of 
directive and suggestive language included in the actual bill language 
and the accompanying report are extensive, and I will not burden the 
chamber by listing each one individually. Instead, I highlight a few 
examples:
  In the report language, for the Department of Labor, the Committee 
``recommends'' $7 million for the Denali Commission for job training in 
rural Alaska. The funding is intended to train rural Alaskans for high-
paying jobs in their villages. Any doubt as to whether the 
appropriators wanted this funding to occur is dispelled by the fact 
that the bill language authorizes ``such sums as may be necessary'' to 
the Denali Commission to conduct this Alaskan job training. Although 
this specific authority and funding was unrequested by the 
Administration, the appropriators apparently think they know better. 
They not only provide the appropriation, but they also want to do the 
work of the authorizing committee as well. How fortunate it is that 
this activity in the State of Alaska has such ardent supporters in the 
members of the Appropriations Committee and has received special 
treatment at the expense of other states.
  Furthermore, the report language expresses the Committee's concern 
about the Department of Labor's reorganization proposal, which would 
close the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, offices 
in Bangor and Portland, Maine, and would consolidate the activities of 
those offices in Augusta, Maine. Instead of allowing DOL to do their 
job and streamline the operations of OSHA, the Committee in its report, 
``expects'' the Department of Labor to maintain the existing 
organizational structure with offices in Bangor and in Portland, 
including providing adequate office space for the current Bangor OSHA 
staff. Again, the appropriators are catering to a locality-specific 
interest in Maine at the expense of the national interest in having a 
more efficient government agency.
  Furthermore, this legislation includes legislative and report 
language that creates a new National Cord Blood Stem Cell Bank Program, 
through the Health Resources and Services Administration, and 
appropriates $10 million for the new program. This program may further 
important life-saving research; however, this is a new legislative 
initiative, not authorized by the committee of jurisdiction, and not 
requested by the Administration, but created and funded entirely by the 
appropriators.
  Similarly, the report language accompanying the bill includes 
directive and suggestive language for the Department of Health and 
Human Services to initiate a number of new programs, all of which may 
be worthy of consideration; however, none have been requested or 
authorized. These programs range from the creation of a Diamond 
Blackfan Anemia Clinical Care Center to $500,000 allocated for the CDC 
to create a registry and database of children nationwide with 
craniofacial malformation. Although these new programs will undoubtedly 
benefit many children and individuals, they are further examples of new 
programs created the appropriators, by circumventing the authorizing 
committee of jurisdiction.
  Also included in the report is language directing HHS and the 
Department of Education to complete over 20 reports, all at the 
specific request of the Appropriations Committee. These reports concern 
important programs within the Departments, but producing them will 
require substantial manpower and time, diverting scarce and valuable 
resources to projects dictated by the Appropriations Committee.
  With this sluggish economy expected to push this year's budget 
deficit past a whopping $450 billion and numerous threats facing our 
nation, funds must be expended on programs that will provide the 
maximum benefit for all Americans. It cannot be spent on unauthorized 
and unrequested projects and reports demanded by members of the 
Appropriations Committee. This is simply wrong and does a disservice to 
all Americans.

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