[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 153 (Thursday, November 17, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H10518-H10530]
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, 2006

  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 559, I call up 
the conference report on the bill (H.R. 3010) making appropriations for 
the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and 
related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, and for 
other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 559, the 
conference report is considered read.
  (For conference report and statement, see proceedings of the House of 
November 17, 2005, at page H10383.)
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula) and the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula).
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, today I think we are going to do a bill that will make 
us proud to be Americans. Why do I say proud to be Americans? Because I 
think this bill, more than any other, illustrates the compassion of the 
American people. Why do we say that? Let me give you some examples that 
are in this bill and are funded.

                              {time}  1230

  Special education, programs to help young people that are disabled 
for many different reasons. It is a matter of caring for them.
  Centers for Disease Control, an agency that is in 43 countries around 
the world watching out for us. We hear a lot about avian flu. We worry 
about avian flu, but the people that are really doing this are 
Americans in the Centers for Disease Control team that is out there in 
these 43 Nations, ready to stand by and alert us if it becomes a 
greater problem.
  Education. The number one challenge of government today is to educate 
people to compete in the world of tomorrow. If you read the literature, 
you find more and more emphasis on the importance of education if a 
nation is to remain strong, if a nation is to provide a standard of 
living that the people expect, that we are used to enjoying in this 
country. The competition is going to get tougher in the years ahead. 
You only need to read Tom Friedman's book ``The World is Flat'' in 
which it is pointed out how much is happening or talk to people that 
have traveled, as is the case of my State superintendent, to countries 
in the Far East, and realize how much emphasis is being put on 
education. We in the United States need to do the same, and this bill 
recognizes that.
  Education, going back to Thomas Jefferson, was designed to give all 
Americans through a system of public education, an equal opportunity to 
their future.
  Head Start. It is another program under education where we say to 
children from areas and schools and homes where they may not get 
somebody reading to them, may not have a chance to get that head start 
they need going into the school program. Our authorizing committee, I 
think, took a giant step forward on Head Start in authorizing it to 
become more than just a welfare program, as was originally envisioned, 
but actually providing that people that man the Head Start program have 
some experience in education, that they do more than teach. The 
literature makes it very clear that education does not start at the 
first grade or even for that matter in the period ahead of that. It 
starts early, early on, and Head Start is another example of the 
compassion of America.
  National Institutes of Health. We fund that in this bill. This is an 
agency that is researching, finding cures. Every Member I am sure has 
had parents in his office with a child with juvenile diabetes or with a 
parent with Alzheimer's, pleading with us to do more in medical 
research, to find cures; and this, again, illustrates the compassion of 
America. We have more than doubled the amount of money going to NIH in 
the last several years because we recognize that this is key to the 
health of America, to find cures, to find new ways to address the 
concerns of the people that all of us have seen in our office who are 
pleading with us to do something.
  This bill has 500 programs in it, 500 programs that help Americans, 
and in many different ways.
  Math and science, I have here a report just put out by a group 
commissioned by two Senators and two House Members, and it is entitled 
``Rising Above the Gathering Storm.'' Think about that title: ``Rising 
Above the Gathering Storm.'' What is the gathering storm? The gathering 
storm is the inability to compete as a Nation, and the thrust of this 
report is to rise above that. Their number one recommendation is an 
increase in America's talent pool by vastly improving K-12 science and 
mathematics education.
  We make that kind of a commitment in this bill. We do give extra 
funding for math and science and recognize that in the world of 
tomorrow for our young people to compete they need to have that 
background.
  Meals on Wheels, another example of compassion. If you have talked 
with people that work in this program, mostly volunteers who take out 
these meals, that allows seniors to stay in their homes for a longer 
period of time, that allows them to see somebody if they are living 
alone maybe once a day or more often in the week, a wonderful program 
in terms of caring about people.
  Afterschool programs, we fund those, and those of you who live 
particularly in the big cities realize how important that is. I talked 
this morning with a young man that is running an afterschool program in 
the gentleman from Pennsylvania's (Mr. Sherwood) district, a member of 
our committee, where he said how much they can help people with their 
afterschool programs.
  There are moneys in here to roll out the prescription drug program 
because we have a responsibility in this committee to provide for the 
administration of these programs.
  Global AIDS. Global AIDS is in this bill, $100 million to address, 
along with the money in the foreign operations bill that again is very, 
very important; and I think we can be proud to be Americans.
  That is what I said at the outset. I say it again, that when you look 
at what we have funded in this bill, we have funding in this bill for 
280 million Americans and over many billions of dollars to address the 
needs of people, that addresses things that are very important in their 
lives. I urge all the Members, before you rush to judgment on this 
bill, realize that we are in this bill doing a lot of good things for 
American citizens. Maybe it is not as much as you like, not many bills 
ever are as much as people would like that have a high degree of 
interest, but there is a lot of good in here.
  There is a lot in here for special education. We increase it. We 
increase NIH. More medical research to address those problems of 
juvenile diabetes is an example that you hear about in your office; 
more money for education, Title I.
  More money for community health centers. Any of us who have those in, 
and I hope most Members do, realize how important the community health 
centers are to people who have no access, who do not have a family 
doctor. It helps the hospitals because it means that people can go to 
the community

[[Page H10519]]

health center instead of to the emergency room. We add money for that.
  Community services block grants. Think of that title. Community 
services, and we give block grants to communities to administer to 
local problems. This is an example of a program that helps local 
people.
  LIHEAP, again, Americans recognizing that people in areas of severe 
weather conditions need an additional helping hand, and that is 
especially true in this time that we are living in where people need to 
address the problems of excessive fuel costs.
  So I cannot say enough. I hope all of my colleagues and the Members 
that are listening to this, reading the bill, will take note of the 
fact that whereas this may not be everything you like, this bill does a 
lot of good. I do not think you want to go home and tell people you are 
against more money for special education, for those that are least 
fortunate, that you are against more money for education, for medical 
research, for LIHEAP, for global AIDS, for people around the world that 
are less fortunate than we are.
  So, again, I say think on what the importance is of what you are 
doing. Take pride in America. Take pride in the compassion of the 
people of this Nation as embodied in this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, the complete table of all the funding levels included in 
the conference report has been printed in the Congressional Record as 
of November 16; and for those of my colleagues who are wondering what 
each of the programs might be of the 500, you can go to the Record of 
November 16 and pick out a program that you might have a special 
interest in.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present before the House today the 
conference report on the fiscal year 2006 appropriations for the 
Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related 
Agencies.
  Many of my colleagues are aware of the difficult choices we had to 
make in this bill. In February, Congress received the President's FY 
2006 budget request. In light of our budget deficit, the President's 
request assumed a one percent cut in domestic spending, exempting both 
defense and homeland security from this reduction. Our budget 
resolution approved this recommendation. This cut, taken together with 
required increases for implementing the prescription drug benefit 
program, brings our bill to $1.4 billion below last year's level.
  Let me emphasize, we made a commitment to reduce deficits. 
Recognizing the will of this House, we have put together a bill that 
best reflects the priorities of this body and does a good job of 
meeting the needs of the American people.
  The conference report has no budget gimmicks, no emergency spending 
designations, and no earmarks.
  So many of the programs in this bill play an important part in the 
lives of American people. Peter Drucker, who passed away on Friday, was 
considered by many to be the most influential management thinker of the 
past century. He said, ``Successful enterprises create the conditions 
to allow their employees to do their best work.'' A successful employee 
needs adequate knowledge to thrive. I believe an investment in 
education is an investment in people. We support teachers and students 
by increasing funding for Title I by $100 million. Title I provides 
additional resources to low-income schools to help principals, teachers 
and students close education achievement gaps.
  Many of my colleagues speak with me about the financial demands of 
special education on their local school districts. In this bill, 
funding for special education is increased by $100 million.
  I believe the quality of classroom teachers and principals is one of 
the most important factors that affect student achievement.
  This bill provides $100 million to reward effective teachers and to 
offer incentives for highly qualified teachers to teach in high-need 
schools.
  We provide $184 million for math and science initiative. TRIO, GEAR 
UP, Vocational Education State Grants, and Adult Education, programs 
have strong support from members of this body. These programs were 
proposed for termination in the President's budget; however, we have 
allocated over $3 billion for the continuation of these important 
efforts.
  The sharp rise in college costs continues to be a barrier to many 
students. This bill provides the full amount needed to hold the maximum 
Pell Grant at the current level of $4,050, over $800 million over FY 
2005.
  Healthcare is a critical part of a nation's economic development. Mr. 
Speaker, as you know, many of the Community Health Centers have served 
as America's health care safety net for the Nation's underserved 
populations. Funding for the Community Health Centers is at $1.8 
billion, an increase of $66 million over last year.
  As a result of our commitment to the National Institutes of Health, 
our citizens are living longer and better lives. We have provided over 
$28 billion to NIH to support medical research, $150 million over FY 
2005.
  The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program ensures that low-income 
households are not without heating or cooling, and provides protection 
to our most vulnerable populations, the elderly, households with small 
children, and persons with disabilities. Given the anticipated high 
costs of energy due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we have provided 
over $2.2 billion for FY 2006.
  In the Department of Labor, we have provided nearly $3 billion for 
workforce training programs. These programs will ensure that our 
dislocated workers and most disadvantaged youth will return to gainful 
employment.
  Mr. Speaker, in order to implement more than 400 provisions of the 
Medicare Modernization Act and ensure senior citizens receive the 
prescription drug benefits we provided in MMA, we have allocated nearly 
$1 billion over the FY 2005 level to the Centers for Medicare & 
Medicaid Services and Social Security Administration. While benefits 
that both of these agencies provide come through mandatory spending via 
the Ways and Means Committee, this bill provides the funding for the 
agencies' administrative costs.
  Much more could be said about this bill, but given the allocation, we 
have produced a fair, balanced and responsible bill that best meets the 
needs of the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 11 minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Ohio is my friend. I have a great 
deal of respect for him, and I know he tries to do the best job with 
the tools he is given. The problem is that he has been given a totally 
inadequate set of tools.
  ``This is the budget that you get when you elect a Republican White 
House, a Republican House of Representatives, and a Republican 
Senate.'' I did not say that. The former majority leader of the 
Republican caucus said that, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay).
  This is the day when the price of Republican tax cuts for the wealthy 
becomes quite clear, on this bill and on the bill that will follow, the 
reconciliation bill.
  This is the day when this Congress chooses to walk away from its 
investments: obligations in education, health care, job training and 
the like. This is the bill which shortchanges the Social Gospel. This 
is the day that we pass legislation that chooses to make the lives of 
the most privileged among us quite a bit more pleasant because of their 
tax cuts while at the same time we are making the lives of the poor 
just a little bit more desperate.
  This is a growing country. It has growing problems. It has growing 
opportunities. If this bill does not grow with it, then we lose ground; 
and we are certainly losing ground under this bill today.
  This is the bill for education, health, social services, worker 
protection programs. This is the guts of the Federal effort to try to 
see to it that, regardless of one's station in life, people have the 
greatest possible opportunity to get ahead.
  Yet, this bill is $1.5 billion on a program-for-program basis, once 
you cut out the funny accounting, this is a bill which is $1.5 billion 
below last year.
  The Department of Labor, funding in that Department: $37 million 
below the House bill, $193 million below the Senate bill.
  There are 7.5 million Americans out of work. Yet the bill cuts $437 
million out of training and employment services. That is the lowest 
level of adult training grants in a decade.
  This bill also cuts the Community College Initiative, the President's 
initiative for community colleges, an effort to train workers for high-
skill, high-paying jobs. It cuts that effort by $125 million and 
rescinds $125 million from funds provided last year, denying the help 
that the President was talking about giving to 100,000 Americans.
  State unemployment insurance and employment service offices are cut 
by $245 million, eliminating help for 1.9 million people.
  The International Labor Affairs Bureau will certainly have a hard 
time protecting American workers from being undercut by child and slave 
labor abroad after this program has been cut by 20 percent.
  In the health and human services area, this bill cuts health care to 
the

[[Page H10520]]

poor and underserved rural areas of the country. It eliminates the 
community access program that helps coordinate services and programs to 
provide health care to people who do not have it.
  This bill cuts by 69 percent health professions training. This bill 
cuts by 73 percent funding for rural health outreach.
  We have only about 10 percent of physicians in America who practice 
in rural areas, and yet one-fourth of the U.S. population lives in 
those areas. We have huge shortages of health care providers in urban, 
underserved areas as well, but training grants for health care 
professionals are cut by $206 million.

                              {time}  1245

  We have the Maternal/Child Health Care Block Grant. That program is 
cut by 20 percent below fiscal 2002 levels, and we have a 24 percent 
cut in block grants for State health departments. And then, all of us 
are going to run home and brag about how much we have done to prepare 
the country for public health disasters.
  My friend talked about the National Institutes of Health. We have the 
smallest increase for NIH in 36 years, and under that budget, because 
funding for NIH does not keep pace with inflation, we will actually see 
500 fewer research grants coming out of NIH than we would have seen 2 
years ago. We have effectively ended the President's initiative to 
expand the number and the capacity of community health centers around 
the country, $238 million less than the President requested. For the 
low-income heating assistance program, our oil companies, one company, 
$10 billion profit the last quarter. We expect to see natural gas 
prices rise 46 percent, home heating oil prices rise 28 percent, and 
yet we freeze the program that is supposed to provide help to people to 
pay their bills so they do not have to choose between heating and 
eating, and we only serve 15 percent of the persons who are eligible to 
be served under that program.
  Education: This is the first cut in education funding in a decade. 
Education programs under the No Child Left Behind rubric are cut by 
$784 million below last year. That is $13 billion below the 
authorization, and on a cumulative basis, it is some $40 billion short 
of what we promised we would have provided these past years since we 
passed No Child Left Behind.
  Title I is up $100 million. That is in comparison to a $600 million 
increase that came from that well-known ``liberal'' George W. Bush. 
Special education, it is up $100 million in comparison to the $508 
million request from the President of the United States.
  Because we mandated that local school districts provide service to 
special education children, we are supposed to be providing 40 percent 
of the cost. This bill actually reduces the Federal share of that cost 
from 18.6 to 18 percent. That is going in the wrong direction.
  The Comprehensive School Reform Program, totally wiped out. The 
Goodling Even Start Program, named after Bill Goodling, the former 
Republican chairman of the Education Committee, cut by 56 percent. 
Education technology cut by 45 percent, and that comes on top of a 28 
percent cut that was made last year. We cut Safe and Drug-Free Schools 
by 20 percent in this bill. We freeze afterschool programs for the 4th 
year in a row. That means that there are 14 million kids in this 
country who want those services who will not get them. And I could go 
on and on.
  On higher education, the college board tells us that the 4-year cost 
of attending a public university has increased by $3,100 over the past 
5 years. The President's answer was to raise the Pell Grant maximum by 
100 bucks. A $100 solution to a $3,100 problem. The Congress said ``No, 
that is too much.'' The House cut it to $50. This conference report 
totally eliminates it, totally eliminates it. No increase in the 
maximum grant. And then in the reconciliation bill that follows today, 
they are going to add $8 billion more in costs to students who borrow 
money to go to college. And then this bill freezes all other student 
aid programs, SEOG, Work-Study, Perkins, TRIO, GEAR UP. It freezes 
title VI foreign language program.
  The backlog at Social Security, those caseload backlogs are going to 
increase. This bill provides $189 million less than the President 
asked, $80 million less than was in the House bill, $130 million less 
than the Senate bill. And we do all of this in order to free up 
necessary room so the Republican Party can deliver on its $100,000-plus 
tax cuts for people who make 1 million bucks.
  This is going in the wrong direction. These priorities are wrong. 
This bill is a disgrace. The gentleman would have provided a much 
better bill if he had been given a decent allocation, but he was not. 
So he did not have the tools to do it. There is no reason to vote for 
this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Walsh), a very productive and important member of our 
subcommittee.
  Mr. WALSH. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Regula for yielding me this 
time. And I thank him for not only his work product today, but for his 
many, many years of service to this country and to this Congress. He 
has been a remarkable leader throughout his career, and there is no one 
in this House who can question his sincerity or his knowledge of the 
issues that he is responsible for.
  I rise today in strong support of this bill. We will hear much from 
the other side of the aisle about what is missing from this bill, why 
we are not spending enough in this bill. We are spending $142 billion 
on the needs of our American citizens. That is more money than the 
entire budgets, the entire budgets, of Russia, China, Germany, and we 
could throw in 15 or 20 other countries. This is more money than they 
spend on their entire budget including their military. It is a pretty 
remarkable commitment to our Nation and to our fellow citizens. This is 
money that does not come easy. This does not come from God. This comes 
out of people's pockets.
  We are going to hear an awful lot about these tax cuts. Well, we have 
tried to reduce the tax burden on Americans who are paying for these 
benefits. They pay for these benefits out of the goodness of their 
heart. First of all, they have to pay taxes to help support our 
government. We take that money, we turn it around, and most of the 
money we spend goes toward helping our fellow Americans, and that is 
what this bill is all about.
  Congressman Bill Natcher, God rest his soul, used to refer to this as 
``the people's bill.'' This is the bill that helps educate our kids, 
that helps keep us healthy, that pays for Social Security and Medicare 
and Medicaid and all of our Federal health programs. And I do not know 
how anyone, except for nibbling around the edges, could criticize an 
effort where we are spending these tremendous amounts of money to help 
those among us who are less fortunate.
  But there is also the argument that we will hear on the other side of 
the aisle about our deficits, that our deficits are too high, our 
deficits are growing, our deficits, our deficits, our deficits; but 
every time we bring a bill to the floor, there is not enough money in 
it. They cannot have both ways. They cannot rail against deficits and 
then tell us that we need to spend more money on every program in the 
Federal budget.
  There is no question these are difficult choices, but I think if I 
were going to entrust my decisions on these things to anyone, it would 
be to Congressman Regula, who has been doing this for so many years.
  There are a lot of problems in our country, lots of them, and we have 
them in our home towns, our big cities, our rural areas, and this is an 
effort to deal with those problems.
  For example, our party, we have, since we have become the majority, 
provided billions and billions more in dollars for education, 
remembering that the education dollar, public education, was 95 percent 
State and local funds. Now it is about 92 because we have so 
dramatically increased our contribution to that. And yet 50 percent of 
the kids who start high school in the United States today do not finish 
high school. That is a tragedy and it is atrocious, and it shows it is 
not just about the money. It is about parents, it is about school 
boards, it is about teachers, it is about kids, getting it right, 
taking a serious look at

[[Page H10521]]

our public educational system in this country and realizing, as so many 
have said, that we are headed in the wrong direction. We are increasing 
resources to try to help with that, and we are trying to improve our 
math and science education because we are not competing with the rest 
of the world. But this bill makes a valiant effort to fund those needs.
  We are also providing billions and billions of dollars for health 
care. In this bill we are not even talking about the brand new Medicare 
prescription drug benefit, the $400 billion prescription drug benefit 
that Congress just enacted that is just taking place today. Again, what 
a remarkable response by the Government of the United States to the 
needs of our senior citizens, because everybody knows that health care 
in this country has changed. People do not just go to the hospital 
anymore to get an operation. They go to the doctor, they get 
prescription drugs. The prescription drugs help them to live long, 
healthy, quality lives. And because of these programs like Medicare, 
Medicare prescription drugs, Social Security, we now have the 
healthiest and wealthiest group of senior citizens that the world has 
ever seen. This is a continuing commitment to that.
  I urge my colleagues to forget about the nibbling around the edges 
and support a good solid bill that will help our fellow Americans.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds.
  Mr. Speaker, the gentleman brags about the additional money that the 
Republican Congress has put into education. President Clinton and the 
Democrats had to drag them kicking and screaming into providing that 
money. We provided $19 billion more in education since they took over 
the Congress than would have been provided if we had simply passed the 
Republican House bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Jackson).
  (Mr. JACKSON of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I know the subcommittee 
chairman, the ranking member, and the majority and minority staff, did 
the best they could under the circumstances. But I think cutting title 
VII health professions by 69 percent, eliminating some title VII 
programs entirely, is draconian and unconscionable.
  Since I started serving on this subcommittee almost 7 years ago, I 
have fought to end disparities, disparities in employment, disparities 
in education, disparities in health. And health disparities are real. 
If one is black in this country, their life expectancy is 66 years. If 
one is white in this country, it is 74 years. Infant mortality is twice 
as high for African American babies as it is for white babies.
  Fortunately, institutions like the Institute of Medicine of the 
National Academy of Sciences have laid out a framework on how to end 
these disparities. One of the recommendations of the IOM was to 
increase the number of minority health professions. This mark does 
exactly the opposite, cutting health professions by almost $200 
million.
  Mr. Speaker, in the Centers of Excellence Program, this cut will 
eliminate 30 programs at Minority Serving Institutions, negatively 
impacting approximately 1,000 under-represented minority students and 
almost 180 under-represented faculty at these schools.
  In the Faculty Loan Repayment Program, approximately 40 under-
represented staff persons will lose their jobs. In the Health Careers 
Opportunity Program, 7,000 minority disadvantaged students will be 
negatively impacted and 3,000 K through 12 students will be negatively 
impacted.
  Mr. Speaker, this assault on minority serving programs is unjustified 
and overtly irresponsible. I think that a society says a lot about the 
way it treats its most vulnerable of its citizens. I believe that we 
live in a United States and, like a chain, we are only as strong as our 
weakest link. By leaving some of our citizens behind, we prove that we 
are not strong and compassionate but weak and uncaring.
  I keep hearing Members of this body say, Jessie, this is a tight 
budget year. Mr. Speaker, this is a tight year. It was not created by 
immaculate conception. Some of us voted to make it a tight budget year. 
Some of us voted to approve the budget resolution. Saying it is going 
to be a tough budget year is like a farmer saying he is going to have a 
bad harvest because he did not plant any seeds. Mr. Speaker, when 
Congress approved this budget resolution, we did not plant any seeds 
and nothing will grow this year, not because of a natural disaster like 
a drought, but because of our own making in this Congress. Shame on us. 
The chairman and the subcommittee did the best they could, but this is 
a terrible mark, and I urge a ``no'' on this bill.

                              {time}  1300

  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Granger), a distinguished member of our subcommittee.
  Ms. GRANGER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Labor, Health, 
Human Services and Education bill and say I am very proud to serve on 
this committee. It is an important committee that serves the needs of 
so many Americans in their daily lives. I want to say congratulations 
to and state my great admiration for Chairman Regula in these difficult 
times when he as the leader of this committee has had to make some very 
tough choices.
  The previous speaker said shame on us. I am not ashamed of this bill 
at all. I am very proud of the work we are doing. I am proud, for 
instance, of the $253 million increase to the National Institutes of 
Health funding medical research that can make such a difference to the 
health of Americans and to the health of this Nation, making us a 
healthy Nation. I am proud that we have doubled the funding for the 
National Institutes of Health while I have been on this committee.
  I am proud of the funding for the community health centers which have 
been raised to $1.8 billion, serving the uninsured and the 
underinsured. I have a community health center in my district. It is a 
wonderful community partnership serving literally thousands of people 
that were not being served otherwise. I am very proud of that funding, 
and I am very proud of community health centers and what they do.
  I am also proud about the funding for LIHEAP. It is $115 million over 
the last year, serving the poorest citizens in our country, helping 
with heating their homes, and those are citizens that are going to have 
to get up every day and decide what bills they are going to pay. I am 
proud of the work we have given them towards purchasing their 
prescription drugs. This funding for LIHEAP really makes a difference 
in their lives every single day.
  I was a teacher before I left teaching and went into business, and 
then came to Congress. I have watched our math and science scores, how 
we worked so hard to bring those scores up so we can be competitive in 
the world. Now we have $184 million for a math and science partnership 
to strengthen our math and science education in K-12. This is something 
we have to do, and we have talked about it year after year after year 
to put that money where it is served best so we are not importing our 
scientists, we are growing and building our scientists. This is a bill 
I am very proud of. It is a difficult time, and the chairman has done a 
great job.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds.
  Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman claimed there is a $115 million increase 
in here for low income heating assistance. There is not. The formula 
grant has been increased by $115 million, but the contingency portion 
of the program has been reduced by $115 million. The net result: no 
help in the teeth of huge energy increases.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. 
George Miller).
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman 
from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) for all of his work on the legislation, and I 
thank the chairman of the subcommittee for all of his work. Like so 
many others who have already spoken, it is clear they were not dealt a 
very fair hand, or the hand that they needed, to take care of needs of 
this country.
  I am most disappointed in the funding of No Child Left Behind. At a 
time when school districts are entering into the most expensive part of 
No Child Left Behind, when they are being required to restructure 
entire school districts, entire schools, when they are

[[Page H10522]]

trying to meet the demand and the requirement of a law that we have a 
highly qualified teacher in every classroom, which requires substantial 
retraining of teachers, the attracting of new teachers, the paying of 
incentives for teachers to go to the most difficult schools, at that 
very time the Federal Government walks away from the commitment under 
No Child Left Behind. The Federal Government starts to decrease its 
participation when the States and the school districts and our schools 
need it more than ever.
  It really shows such little confidence in the future of our young 
children. It shows such little confidence in the ability of our school 
districts to restructure themselves to meet the demands being placed 
upon them. We see cuts here in technology grants that are absolutely 
essential for the future education of our children. We see teacher 
quality grants cut. Those are absolutely essential to improve the 
quality of our teachers in our classroom so they can engage in that 
kind of professionalism.
  What is most startling is that these cuts in education come at a time 
when, I am not saying put more money in education, Mr. Obey is not 
telling you that, but the American business community is telling you 
this is the most crucial thing you can do. The American Electronics 
Association, made up of some of the most successful companies in the 
history of this country, their number one priority was to fully fund No 
Child Left Behind. The Semiconductor Association: fully fund No Child 
Left Behind, put money into graduate school education, put money into 
highly qualified teachers. And this budget goes in exactly the other 
direction.
  We do not have the confidence that is necessary and demanded of this 
country in the future and the confidence in these young people and the 
necessary investments to be made in them. It is so discouraging to see 
the lack of confidence in our young people that this budget 
demonstrates.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Kingston), a member of the Committee on Appropriations.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I want to say back during the spring we 
went through our annual budget process. The Budget Committee has 
testimony from all sectors of society and the government who are 
affected by the budget. It is a good debate.
  In the final analysis, that budget came to the floor and after weeks 
and months of discussion and arm twisting, it passed by a vote of 214-
212. I may be wrong on this, I do not think any of the Democrats voted 
for it. Most of the Democrats, I would say, are very consistent saying 
we should be spending more money and, therefore, they voted against it. 
But there are other Democrats who are saying look at the deficit, look 
at this, look at that. Boy, these Republicans are spending too much. 
There is clearly a mixed signal here, and clearly some dissension in 
the Democratic ranks.
  But when you pass a budget in the spring and it is passed by this 
body and the other body, then the subcommittees of Appropriations have 
to follow that budget. That is what this does. Sometimes making these 
decisions is very, very tough.
  This bill actually eliminates 29 lower-priority programs. One of the 
programs I am a supporter of, the National Youth Sports Program, I like 
that program. They operated in Savannah. But when you look at the 
context of some of the other programs and you realize this is run by 
the NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and they are 
the same people who put on the Rose Bowl, the Rose Bowl alone generates 
$30 million in revenue. Perhaps they can replace the $18 million that 
Congress is putting into it right now. There are ways to keep these 
programs alive even though the Federal Government is not picking up the 
tab for them.
  It is my hope on these 29 programs that are terminated, that the 
local, the State level will step in, the private sector will step in; 
and a lot of what they are doing are duplicated in other programs. I 
have to say that these are very important.
  I have to say also, Mr. Speaker, that I had a lot of local programs 
that were eliminated. These are programs which I have worked very hard 
on over the years to try to get into this budget. Those were the 
earmarks: Memorial Hospital in Savannah, Georgia; St. Joseph's Hospital 
in Savannah, Georgia; a project for the city of Moultrie; the Warner 
Robbins Aviation Museum; the Civil Rights Museum in Savannah, Georgia; 
and Brunswick Hospital. These were a lot of good programs that I 
personally hoped to get in, things that were within the budget that 
were doable. And yet in the end because of the legislative process, all 
earmarks had to be eliminated.
  I was not happy about that, but I understand. In the bigger picture 
of things, you have to do what the body can pass, what there are votes 
for.
  In this case, where did the money go? It went to community health 
clinics. It goes to Medicare modernization and medical research.
  Incidentally, we talk about the NIH. The funding for the NIH has 
doubled under Republican leadership under a commitment made by the 
former Speaker, Mr. Gingrich. I have to say, I am a little disappointed 
in what we have gotten for our money. I have not seen a plethora of 
medical solutions and new devices and vaccines and all kinds of other 
research that I had hoped doubling the NIH budget would give us. 
Nonetheless, NIH still gets an increase under this bill.
  The bill also restores community service block grants. Lots of things 
like the Job Corps program are funded in this bill. Despite its 
tightness in some areas, Mr. Regula has worked with the committee to 
put on what I think is a solidly balanced bill and face the economic 
realities of today with today's budget.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished 
gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young).
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, reluctantly I stand here and oppose 
this legislation, primarily because we did earmark some money last year 
for programs, and now we are just cutting them off period, no 
prewarning, no salaries, no billing rent, no heat, nothing, just 
kicking them out. I do not think that is the right thing to do.
  If you had grandfathered those programs in, I believe it would be a 
lot better. I would like to ask the gentleman from Ohio, do you save 
any money or does the money just go back into the other programs that 
your committee decided ought to get funding?
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
  Mr. REGULA. In terms of earmarks, a proposal was made that we take an 
additional $2 billion as emergency spending, and half of that would 
have been for earmarks. But we did not do that.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Does the actual number save any money? Does it 
save any money?
  Mr. REGULA. The fact that there are no earmarks?
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Yes.
  Mr. REGULA. Absolutely, a billion dollars.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Just remember, you should have grandfathered 
those existing programs in place. You just killed them.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New 
York (Mrs. Lowey).
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I reluctantly rise in opposition to the 
fiscal year 2006 Labor-HHS Conference Report. However, I wanted to 
express my sincere appreciation to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Regula), the ranking member, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), 
and their staffs for their hard work on this legislation.
  The bill should address many of our most important priorities, from 
education funding, worker training, to biomedical research and public 
health activities. Unfortunately, it falls short.
  For the first time in 10 years, the bill actually cuts funding for 
the Department of Education. The bill provides the smallest increase 
for the National Institutes of Health in 36 years. Despite the fact 
that college costs have increased by 34 percent since 2001, the bill 
freezes the maximum Pell grant for the fourth year in a row.
  At a time when States are being asked to bear an increasingly larger 
burden for preparing for and responding to public health emergencies, 
this bill cuts funds for State and local health departments by $127 
million.

[[Page H10523]]

  And the bill includes a rescission of $125 million from New York 
State Worker's Compensation Programs intended for sick and injured 
workers from September 11. The President made a $20 billion commitment 
to the people of New York following September 11. The rescission breaks 
that promise.
  While these and other programs are on the chopping block today, the 
bill provides a $10 million increase for abstinence-until-marriage 
programs, despite mounting evidence of the scientific and medical 
inaccuracy of their curricula and ineffective results.
  Mr. Speaker, I also want to express my continued concerned with the 
Weldon refusal clause included in this bill. For over 30 years, there 
have been Federal laws that allow doctors, nurses, and hospitals to 
refuse to provide abortion services because of their religious beliefs. 
However, this provision extends that protection to HMOs, insurance 
companies, and makes no exception for medical emergencies.
  States that attempt to protect access to health services can be 
denied all of their Federal health, education, and labor funding. My 
colleagues, we had an alternative to this misguided and dangerous 
language. The Senate bill contained a provision that would protect 
doctors' consciences while ensuring that women still have access to the 
services and referrals they need.
  Unfortunately, the House majority rejected the Senate's reasonable 
compromise in favor of maintaining a policy designed to limit women's 
access to reproductive health services.
  Mr. Speaker, it is because of these flaws that I simply cannot 
support this final conference report.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Weldon).

                              {time}  1315

  Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for 
yielding, and I want to commend the gentleman for his outstanding work 
on this piece of legislation. The chairman is, I believe, well noted on 
both sides of the aisle for being a very compassionate and caring 
person, but as well a responsible adult.
  When I travel around my congressional district, yes, it is true there 
are certain groups that would like to see areas of this bill increased. 
The things I hear overwhelmingly and most loudly is that these are 
difficult times. We have had tremendous outlays and expenditures with 
Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq and that we really need to hold the 
line on spending. And what this bill does, I believe, is unprecedented 
in my 11 years of being here in the House of Representatives. It 
actually reduces spending from last year. So this is not 
Washingtonspeak gimmicks where you take a 7 percent increase and reduce 
it to a 6.9 percent increase and scream and yell about that being a 
cut. This is a real reduction in spending, and I think it is quite 
impressive. It eliminates 21 existing programs and cancels eight new 
programs.
  What Chairman Regula has done is adopted a philosophy which I think 
everybody in the Congress should adopt, look at programs very seriously 
and are they getting the job done. And if they are not, they should be 
eliminated. And contrary to Reagan's statement that the only thing that 
has eternal life in Washington, D.C. is a Federal program, Chairman 
Regula has been able to reduce and eliminate 21 existing programs 
because they were not effective.
  Within that context, the bill includes, I think, a number of 
important increases along the lines of what I believe the American 
people want to see. They are small in the budget realities we are 
dealing with now, nonetheless, they are real. The Pell Grant amount was 
increased so that we could keep the size of the grant the same. 
Additionally, there are some small increases for special education and 
title 1. I want to particularly commend the chairman for holding the 
line on the Weldon language. We have had in this bill for, as I 
understand it, decades, conscience protections for health care 
providers that do not want to perform abortions.
  But in recent years, very aggressive abortion rights advocates have 
been putting pressure, using regulatory agencies and State governments 
and courts on hospitals and other institutions to begin performing 
abortions when the officials and the workers in those institutions did 
not want to do that. And what we have done is held the existing 
language from last year, which, I think, is the right policy for the 
Congress. It is the right policy for the American people. So I commend 
all my colleagues to vote for this bill. It is a good piece of 
legislation. It is the right thing for this country at this time and 
our history with the challenges that we face today.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished 
gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, the work of this subcommittee has always 
reflected our priorities as a Nation, helping provide services that 
help us meet our most basic needs, health, our children's education, 
our scientific research, challenges only the Federal Government has the 
ability, the capacity and the resources to help us meet. The problem 
with the funding in this conference report is that it fails to meet 
that threshold.
  Worker training, funded at levels below last year. The National 
Institutes of Health, where this subcommittee made historic progress, 
doubling our investment in medical research. Name the disease, 
childhood leukemia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, HIV, the work of the NIH 
has prolonged or improved the life of every single American.
  The funding level for the National Institutes of Health does not even 
meet inflation. Health professions are cut in half. Head Start is 
funding below last year's level. And with the cost of a college 
education skyrocketing, this conference report flat funds Pell Grants, 
meaning the maximum award is exactly the same as it was last year.
  Funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, at last 
year's level, will prove disastrous for low income families.
  This bill fails to invest in any of the priorities important to the 
American people. And the American people are tired of the Congress 
spending trillions in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans at the same 
time they are told we simply do not have the resources to invest in 
things that impact their daily lives. We can make those investments, 
but only, only if we make them a priority.
  That is what the American people want and expect from their 
government. You ask any middle class family what is more important to 
them, tax cuts for wealthy Americans, or lowering the cost of health 
care, home heating costs or college. They will tell you they want 
something that makes a difference in their lives and their family's 
lives. Vote against this conference report.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Pence).
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise simply to express profound gratitude 
for the leadership that Chairman Ralph Regula has provided in bringing 
this extraordinary measure to the floor. I also commend the Chairman of 
the Appropriations Committee, the gentleman from California, for his 
leadership.
  The challenge of being in the spending branch of government is to 
fund the Nation's priorities and to live within our means. And this 
legislation for fiscal year 2006, with Labor, Health and Human Services 
and Education, does just that.
  The story goes that Chairman Ralph Regula was at the White House, saw 
Ronald Reagan and they talked about the fence at the Reagan ranch. And 
a day later, Ralph Regula received a handwritten set of instructions 
about how to build a fence that is on the wall of his office today.
  What is clear today to House conservatives is that Ralph Regula 
learned more than just how to build a fence from Ronald Reagan. He 
learned how to fund the Nation's priorities with the fiscal discipline 
that characterizes this governing party. And for that, I am grateful.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona 
(Mr. Flake).
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, I too want to commend those who worked to get 
the earmarks out of the bill. But I just wanted to point out that not 
all the earmarks are out of the bill. In the bill,

[[Page H10524]]

we have $1.25 million for the Center For Excellence in Native Hawaiian 
Law at the University of Hawaii, $1.2 million for the Hawaiian 
Department of Education for school construction, $2 million to the 
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians for cultural and education funding, 
$5 million for America's Promise.
  Now these may well be good programs, but they should not be funded in 
this bill that says that all the earmarks are gone.
  We also violated a House rule where we were naming two Federal 
facilities after sitting Members of Congress. The Center for Disease 
Control headquarters is being renamed the Arlen Specter Headquarters 
and Emergency Operations Center. We are renaming the communication 
center at the CFDC the Thomas R. Harkin Global Communications Center. 
We should not be doing this. If we are getting rid of the earmarks, we 
ought to get rid of all of them.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished minority whip.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I am sorry that the gentleman from Indiana 
(Mr. Pence) left the floor. The majority party neither funds the 
appropriate priorities in this bill nor meets its responsibilities for 
fiscal sound management of the Federal Government. It has taken this 
Nation $3 trillion into additional debt in the last 56, 58 months. 
During the last 4 years of the Clinton administration, we did not have 
to increase the debt once, not once.
  Mr. Speaker, this appropriations conference report betrays our 
Nation's values and its future. It is neither compassionate, 
conservative nor wise, and I will vote against it.
  Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, including my 
Republican friends on the Labor Health Committee, claim that there is 
little they can do to improve the funding levels in this key domestic 
program. They say that they have no options, no alternative, that they 
are only complying with the funding levels dictated by the Republican 
budget resolution, a resolution which results in an additional almost 
trillion dollars in additional debt.
  But let me remind them, you voted for that budget resolution and you 
cannot have it both ways. You cannot vote for draconian cuts in April 
and disclaim responsibility when those cuts are enacted in November.
  At a time when we should be striving to make American schools and 
American students the best and the most competitive in the world, this 
bill insures that our Nation falls further and further behind. 
Unconscionably, this conference report cuts the Federal investment in 
education below current levels by $59 million, for the first time in a 
decade. And it cuts funding for No Child Left Behind by $784 million, 
3.2 percent cut, below the current level. This means that we have now 
reached a $40 billion cumulative shortfall below the amount we promised 
our children when President Bush signed this bill into law. We do 
nothing in this bill to make higher education more accessible.
  In my State, and I am sure in the chairman's State, and the chairman 
I do not criticize. He is given what he is given and he does the best 
he can. But in my state, costs have gone up for college kids and their 
families. Despite the President's 2000 campaign promise to increase the 
maximum Pell Grant to $5,100, despite that promise, this bill freezes 
the maximum Pell Grant at over 25 percent below that, at $4,050. For 
the fourth year in a row, that promise has been broken, while tuition 
and fees have increased 46 percent since 2001.
  However, the inappropriate funding levels in this conference report 
should not surprise anyone. They are the inevitable consequence, and I 
am glad my friend from Indiana has returned, because the budget 
deficits confronting this Nation and the underfunding of priorities in 
this Nation are the inevitable consequence of the fiscal policies of 
the Republican majority and this administration, policies that starve 
the government resources.
  So let everyone here and everyone watching at home understand, the 
funding levels contained in this conference report are the direct 
consequence of the Republican Party's failed economic policies that 
have spawned record budget deficits. Why? Because the next bill that is 
coming down the line will cut taxes by some $70 billion. As the 
gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) asked, is it saving money? It is not. 
And those failed policies are the proximate cause of this woefully 
underfunded and unacceptable conference report.
  When we started on this budget disaster, Jim Nussle, Republican 
leader of the Budget Committee said this: ``We do not touch Social 
Security. It does not touch Medicare. In fact, this budget accomplishes 
the largest reduction of the debt held by the public in our history. 
The bill does not change in one way, shape or form. And by the end of 
10 years, this budget will have eliminated the debt held by the 
public.''
  In fact, it has taken, contrary to Mr. Nussle's representations, $3 
trillion, with a T, additional debt has been accumulated under these 
budgets. All they do is underfund priorities and adopt fiscally 
irresponsible policies. What a shame for America. Together America can 
do better.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve my time.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey).
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, the budget and appropriation bills that we 
pass here in the House are reflective of our values as leaders in this 
country. H.R. 3010 reflects very poorly on this Congress. Four years 
ago, when we passed the No Child Left Behind Act, we told schools that 
we wanted them to be accountable for results and that we would provide 
them with the resources necessary to achieve these results.
  Today, we know that the President and the Republican Congress have 
utterly failed to keep the bipartisan promise to students, to parents, 
to teachers, to provide schools with the resources called for by No 
Child Left Behind.
  If we pass this bill, we will have shortchanged our Nation's children 
by more than $40 billion over the past 4 years. This is only one of the 
many, many, many ways that this bill fails to invest in the American 
people and their children. And I urge my colleagues to oppose it.

                              {time}  1330

  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished 
gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy).
  Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the 
opportunity to say a few words about why I think this bill is a bill 
that says that the best days of this country are behind us, not before 
us. I call attention to some statistics, statistics that say the high 
school dropout over the course of their life will earn $260,000 less 
than a graduate. This legislation, I think, does very little to support 
more students graduating from high school when it cuts after-school 
programs by 25 percent. If you spread that across 23 million high 
school dropouts in this country, that adds up to $50 billion a year 
less in taxes.
  So if we are really concerned about generating more taxes, we ought 
to be investing in our people, not taking away the kinds of resources 
that contribute to their ability to become greater taxpayers in this 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, $1 invested in preschool leaves $7 saved in welfare, 
health care and criminal justice. Let's invest in our people.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  A previous majority Member said today that this bill represented 
fiscal responsibility. The fact is the Republican Party will provide, 
over the next decade, $1.2 trillion in tax cuts to people who make over 
$1 million a year. Yet in this bill, they will freeze student loans, 
they will allow people without health care to increase in number by 2 
million, they will provide the first cut in education in a decade, they 
will cut safe and drug-free schools by 20 percent, and they will slash 
the President's initiative for math and science education.
  In the teeth of the fact that they have given $14 billion in 
subsidies to the big energy companies, they then say to low-income 
people who have to pay those higher prices, ``Sorry. Despite the fact 
you're going to have a

[[Page H10525]]

huge increase in home heating costs, we're not going to give you a dime 
in additional money in this bill.''
  That is what they do. What we are going to see today in the 
reconciliation bill and in this bill is a double whammy on the most 
vulnerable people in this society. That is wrong morally and it is 
wrong economically. We hear a lot of talk on this floor about 
preserving life. Yet this program is going to cut maternal and child 
health care by 20 percent below the 2001 level. How is that going to 
encourage women to carry their babies to term?
  This bill falls far short of our responsibilities in meeting the 
growing economic and social needs of this country. It ought to be 
defeated. We should not put tax cuts for millionaires ahead of 
providing basic education, basic health care and basic job protection 
to America's working people.
  I urge a ``no'' vote on the conference report.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, I hope you will all weigh 
carefully what your opportunity here is in terms of voting for this 
bill. An opportunity to improve health research, an opportunity to 
improve education in Title I, an opportunity to provide more money for 
special education, an opportunity to ensure that LIHEAP is funded for 
those in need, an opportunity to develop community health centers where 
poor people can go to get help, where they can avoid having to run to 
the emergency room. So many positive things.
  As I said at the outset, this is a bill that makes you proud to be an 
American. It illustrates the compassion of the American people. We have 
heard from the other side how we are not doing enough. Let me point out 
that in 1996 shortly after the Republican Party became a majority in 
1994 and took responsibility, in 1996, the total of this bill was $65 
billion. Here 10 years later, this bill is $142.5 billion, more than 
double the amount of money that has been committed to the compassionate 
programs of America, education, job training, medical research. We 
could go on and on.
  We heard the gentleman from California talk about qualified teachers. 
I want to mention a special program in here. It is new. $100 million to 
help get better qualified teachers in every classroom. Over and over 
again we hear how important the teacher is to the education system. Not 
only teachers but principals, good principals, good schools. We have 
recognized the importance of this by committing $100 million. This bill 
has $2 billion for homeland security. Again, this is important to the 
American people. Homeland security in the form of CDC, checking around 
the world in 43 locations to ensure that avian flu does not reach our 
shores.
  I could go on and on about the compassion of this bill in terms of 
helping people. TRIO and GEAR-UP, programs to help people get into 
college, to get that higher education that we all recognize is vital to 
their future and to the future of this Nation.
  And let me say to those of you who think that, well, the key to this 
is to defeat the bill. If you defeat the bill, what is going to happen, 
in all likelihood, it will give these responsibilities that are 
embodied in this bill, the important programs for America will get 
rolled into some form of an omnibus bill and will be a continuing 
resolution. If that were to happen, priorities that are embodied in the 
bill would be lost, the things that are so important to all the Members 
of this body, but, moreover, far more important to the people of 
America, 280 million people.
  I urge a strong, positive vote for the bill so we can continue to 
take pride in America and the compassion of the American people.
  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this conference report 
funding the Departments of Labor, Health, Education, and other 
agencies.
  While not a perfect bill, it is a good bill. It represents another 
step in this year's appropriation cycle for fiscal responsibility.
  Earlier this year, Congress passed a budget. It was a tough budget 
that reflected the difficult financial times we face.
  It reined in spending on non-security activities for the first time 
in a generation. This is not an easy task. It is tough to cut the 
budget.
  The conference report before us today $142.5 billion. This is 
precisely the House-passed level, and nearly a half a billion dollars 
less than last year.
  To arrive at this number, the conferees had to work hard to reduce 
the levels proposed by the other body that were $2.6 billion higher 
than the accounts in the House-passed bill.
  The conference report before us today does not include emergency 
spending designations or funding gimmicks as proposed by the other 
body.
  The bill before us is lean. It prioritizes spending, contains some 
real cuts, and provides some resources for high priority programs.
  The bill proposes to terminate 29 programs, including 20 of the 50 
programs proposed for termination in the bill that originally passed in 
our chamber. Other programs proposed for termination by the House are 
cut substantially from last year's level.
  While reducing the overall size of the bill from last year, the House 
conferees were able to increase funding in critical area, such as Pell 
Grants, Special Education, and low income heating assistance and 
bioterrorism preparedness.
  For Community Health Centers, the final conference agreement provides 
$1.8 billion, $66 million more than last year.
  The conference report includes $100 million for a Teacher Incentive 
Fund that will be a pilot program helping reward teachers with the 
incentives to boost the quality of our education.
  Generally, the increases in the conference report aren't big enough 
for our Democratic friends but they reflect our effort to do the best 
we could with the limited resources we had available.
  I urge my colleagues to support the conference report.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Conference 
Report.
  This bill inadequately funds virtually every area of need. It slashes 
$1.5 billion from our country's critical health, human services, 
education and labor programs.
  While the Bush administration has never fully funded the No Child 
Left Behind Act, this bill goes a step further by actually cutting 
total Federal education funding for the first time in a decade--cutting 
No Child Left Behind by $14 billion below the authorized level, 
slashing special education, safe and drug free schools, education 
technology grants and freezing the maximum Pell grant award for the 
fourth year in a row despite rising tuition costs.
  While people are trying to get re-trained because their jobs have 
been outsourced overseas, this bill cuts adult job training by $31 
million and youth job training by $36 million.
  At a time when we are trying to prepare our country for the aging of 
the baby boomers and threat of pandemic flu, this bill cuts funding for 
healthcare. It cuts the CDC's budget by $249 million and provides the 
smallest percentage increase to NIH--less than 1 percent--since 1970. 
It doesn't provide any money for pandemic flu preparedness and 
eliminates 10 critical health care programs, including trauma care and 
the health community access program and cuts the health professions 
training grants by 69 percent making it even harder to recruit 
qualified health professionals.
  The bill before us today would also freeze funding for the Low-Income 
Home Energy Assistance, LIHEAP, at $2.18 billion, counting both basic 
formula grants and emergency grants--the FY 2005 level.
  LIHEAP serves about 5 million households, the majority of which have 
at least one member who is elderly, disabled, or a child under age 
five.
  LIHEAP appropriations have failed to keep up with rapid increases in 
energy costs over the past several years.
  The conference report is freezing LIHEAP even though consumers are 
expected to pay 52 percent more for natural gas, 30 percent more for 
home heating oil, and 11 percent more for electricity this winter.
  Back in August, the Republican majority heralded the passage of their 
massive energy bill, a bill that contained $14 billion in tax breaks--
most of them for wealthy oil, gas, coal and nuclear industries. At the 
time, they argued that their bill was ``balanced'' because, among other 
things, it provided $5.1 billion in annual authorizations for the 
LIHEAP program.
  But now, in this bill, we see that Republicans are not willing to 
fully fund LIHEAP. Under this bill, the Republicans would freeze LIHEAP 
funding at last year's level, despite the skyrocketing prices consumers 
will be paying for natural gas and home heating oil this winter.
  Later today, the Republicans will be bringing up their Reconciliation 
bill, a bill that provides an additional $1 billion for LIHEAP. But in 
the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Republicans voted against an 
amendment offered by the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Rush, the 
gentleman from Texas, Mr. Green, and myself to increase LIHEAP funding 
up to the full $5.1 billion level. The Republican leadership isn't even 
going to allow Democrats to offer an amendment to increase LIHEAP 
funding up to that level.

[[Page H10526]]

  The Republicans won't fully fund LIHEAP because they have other 
priorities. Their budget makes that quite clear. Tax cuts for 
millionaires, tax cuts for the giant oil companies, weakening 
environmental regulations for their business cronies. Those are the 
priorities for the Republican-controlled Congress. Funding for 
education, health care and low-income home energy assistance so that 
seniors on fixed incomes, and poor families can heat their homes this 
winter, are not their priorities.
  I urge a ``no'' vote on this bill.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong 
opposition to the ill-conceived Conference Report for H.R. 3010, the 
Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill for fiscal year 2006.
  This bill is flawed in so many ways and is a disservice to the 
American people. It is the latest move in the steady drumbeat of a 
Republican legislative agenda that makes working and middle class 
Americans pay for the tax cuts that benefit the ultra-wealthiest 
Americans. And it comes at a time when we are confronting the aftermath 
of Hurricane Katrina and the huge costs of waging the ongoing war in 
Iraq.
  Overall, this conference report cuts education, health care, and 
human services by $1.5 billion below what was spent on these efforts 
last year. Meanwhile, Republicans plan to spend $11 billion this week 
on a capital gains and dividend income tax cut that will provide 53 
percent of its benefit to people making more than $1 million. Overall, 
Republicans will spend more on tax cuts this week alone, $70 billion, 
than on both the Department of Education and the Department of Labor, 
$68 billion, for an entire year.
  These are just a few victims of the Republican bill.
  No Child Left Behind funding is cut by $784 million, the first time 
NCLB will have been cut since the law was enacted. Title I, which is 
the core of NCLB's efforts to improve reading and math skills, receives 
the smallest increase in 8 years--only $100 million--which means 3.1 
million low-income children will be left behind.
  The maximum Pell grant is frozen for the fourth straight year, and no 
new funding is provided for all other student financial aid and support 
programs, even though college costs have increased by $3,095, 34 
percent, since 2001.
  Consumers are expected to pay 46 percent more for natural gas and 28 
percent more for home heating oil this winter, yet Republicans refused 
to increase funding for LIHEAP home heating assistance, which helps 
keep the heat on for low-income seniors and children.

  Nearly 46 million Americans are without health insurance yet 
Republicans provide virtually no funding for new Community Health 
Centers beyond those approved last year. Republicans also eliminate the 
Healthy Communities Access Program, $83 million, and state planning 
grants to improve health care coverage, $11 million.
  The conference agreement does not include the $8.1 billion in 
emergency funding provided in the Senate bill for pandemic flu 
preparedness, or any part of the $7.1 billion requested by the 
administration for that purpose.
  The conference agreement freezes or cuts most programs below their FY 
2005 levels, including the following:
  International assistance grants to eradicate child labor and protect 
worker rights through the Bureau of International Labor Affairs are cut 
by 21.4 percent.
  Community college training grants are cut by 50 percent in each of FY 
2005 and FY 2006.
  Unemployment insurance and employment service offices to help the 
unemployed are cut by 6.7 percent.
  Health professions training grants are cut by 69 percent.
  The Healthy Communities Access Program is eliminated.
  The Centers for Disease Control is cut by 3.9 percent.
  Comprehensive school reform state grants are eliminated.
  Even Start family literacy services are cut by 55.6 percent.
  Education technology grants are cut by 44.6 percent.
  The education block grant for local initiatives is cut by 49.6 
percent.
  Safe and drug free schools grants are cut by 20 percent.
  Under the conference agreement, only a few programs receive modest 
increases over FY 2005 and--in most cases--even these increases are 
below the amounts sought by the administration. While the conference 
agreement restores many of the 50 programs proposed for termination in 
the House bill, these restorations were made at the expense of funding 
for priority programs, such as community health services, Title 1 
grants for low-income children, and special education grants, and Pell 
grants.
  NIH receives a mere 0.7 percent increase--this does not even keep 
pace with inflation and does not meet our health research needs.
  Title 1 grants for low-income children receive a 0.8 percent 
increase--the smallest increase in 8 years.
  Special education grants receive a 0.9 percent increase--the smallest 
increase in a decade.
  The maximum Pell grant is frozen at $4,050 for the fourth consecutive 
year compared to the $4,100 provided in the House bill.
  Mr. Speaker, the simple truth is that the bill cuts essential health 
and education programs to pay for ill-conceived tax cuts. I do not 
believe this bill reflects the priorities and values of the American 
people. I urge my colleagues to vote against it.
  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart to talk about 
the misguided conference report that the majority party has produced.
  While the number of people living in poverty in this country 
continues to rise, this conference report fails to adequately fund 
programs that work to alleviate poverty. Despite the evidence, this 
conference report cuts Head Start funding and freezes funding for 
programs such as the Community Service Block Grant and LIHEAP.
  As the number of Americans without health insurance sets new records 
every day, this conference report is cutting funding to programs that 
provide healthcare assistance to the uninsured. It eliminates the 
Healthy Communities Access Program and imposes drastic cuts to Maternal 
and Child Health funding and Rural Health Outreach. These cuts are in 
addition to $11 billion in cuts to Medicaid that are included in the 
majority party's reconciliation bill that may be voted on later today.
  As the number of Americans unable to find a job continues to rise 
this conference report issues devastating cuts to initiatives that help 
put dislocated workers back in the labor force. Currently, 7.4 million 
Americans are unemployed, yet this conference report cuts Unemployment 
Insurance and Employment Services by $141 million.
  At a time when this country should be investing in education and 
human capital, this conference agreement cuts $784 million from No 
Child Left Behind. It cuts funding for Even Start and Safe and Drug 
Free Schools, and freezes funding for adult education. These cuts are 
in addition to a reconciliation bill that cuts $14.3 billion from 
student aid for college students.
  Mr. Speaker, I came to Congress to find solutions to problems not 
make them worse. We have a responsibility to ensure that all Americans 
have an opportunity to share in America's prosperity. It is 
irresponsible that we approve this conference report that cuts and 
eliminates essential programs when there is such an obvious need for 
the services they provide. I cannot in good conscience vote for this 
conference report and I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, the fiscal year 2006 Labor, Health and 
Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations is not 
just an underfunded bill but is harmful. A bill which should be a 
stepping stone towards providing good education, employment 
opportunities and access to affordable health care, instead takes away 
important safeguards upon which Oregonians and Americans depend. It is 
another example of how out of touch the Republican leadership is with 
the rest of the Nation.
  This bill shortchanges education programs and imposes a burden on our 
college students. At a time when the global economy demands a highly 
trained, educated workforce, we are making it more difficult for our 
students to succeed by cutting financial aid programs, impacting over 
90,000 Oregonians who are borrowing money to attend college. Oregonians 
have already been saddled with at least a $1,000 increase in college 
tuition over the last year. And while there are over 55 million 
children in public schools nationwide and State budgets are already 
stretched thin, No Child Left Behind funding is cut by $784 million.
  Students are not the only ones feeling the squeeze. Several health 
care programs are threatened or eliminated in the legislation. While 
over 600,000 Oregonians are without health insurance, this bill 
essentially eliminates many of the safety net clinics and community 
health centers on which uninsured people depend. We may end up seeing 
more people in emergency rooms with severe conditions that could have 
been prevented with regular access to health care.
  With over 7 million Americans out of work and over 100,000 Oregonians 
unemployed, the bill cuts the Department of Labor by $430 million. 
Without assistance the gap between the wealthy and the less fortunate 
will continue to widen. Americans deserve better and it is 
irresponsible to say that these eliminated programs and funding cuts 
are the only way to solve our budgetary mess.
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition 
to the conference report of H.R. 3010, the Labor-Health and Human 
Services-Education Appropriations bill

[[Page H10527]]

for Fiscal Year 2006. This bill and the Republican majority are out of 
touch with the needs of the American public.
  This legislation is a question of priorities. It is unconscionable 
that the Republican majority prepares to fund $70 billion in tax cuts 
with cuts to key education, job training and health care programs. With 
States across the country struggling to find the dollars to fully 
implement No Child Left Behind, this bill would cut No Child Left 
Behind funding by $784 million. With college tuition costs rising, this 
bill would freeze Pell grant funding at last year's level. With energy 
costs rising, this bill would also freeze Low-Income Home Energy 
Assistance funding at last year's level. With 7.4 million Americans out 
of work, this bill would cut $245 million for unemployment insurance 
and employment services programs.
  Additionally, this bill would provide the National Institute of 
Health, NIH, which works to research and combat diseases like cancer 
and chronic illnesses such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and ALS, with 
the smallest funding level increase in 36 years. This bill would also 
slash $31 million in funding for Preventive Health Block Grants and 
provides virtually no funding for new Community Health Centers. This 
bill fails to recognize the continued HIV/AIDS crisis by freezing 
funding on virtually all components of the Ryan White AIDS Care 
program, except AIDS Drug Assistance. In total, this bill ignores the 
health needs of Americans.
  This bill does not reflect the priorities of the American people. As 
Members of Congress, we cannot abandon our obligations to our children, 
to our parents and future generations by cutting vital programs to 
finance tax cuts bigger than we can afford. I urge my colleagues to 
reject the underlying bill and do better for the American people.
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, the vast education cuts brought before us 
today in this conference agreement and additionally in the budget 
reconciliation package that we may see today, are telling signs of the 
priorities of this Congress. These cuts demonstrate, far better than 
words ever could, that education is not a priority for this House.
  This conference agreement provides a mere $11 million increase for 
Head Start, a pivotal program for preschool-aged children in low-income 
families across the Nation. At current funding levels, Head Start 
serves approximately half of the children eligible for its services, a 
wholly inadequate proportion. This program, which has repeatedly been 
found to dramatically improve the academic performance of students 
deserves much more than an $11 million increase.
  The conference agreement cuts school improvement funding by 6 percent 
and flat funds teacher quality grants. These grants, which are used to 
recruit qualified teachers and support teacher development, are 
critically important to efforts to improve student achievement.
  Rather than strengthening the Pell Grant Program and increasing 
access to higher education for low-income students, the conference 
agreement maintains the current maximum Pell Grant of $4,050. At this 
level, the maximum Pell Grant only covers 39 percent of tuition at the 
average four-year public college, making a mockery of its status as the 
foundation of student aid for the poorest students.
  What are our priorities? The votes members cast today on this 
conference agreement and the budget reconciliation later today, will 
show their priorities. Do we place more value on tax cuts for the 
wealthy or the education of our students? I urge my colleagues to join 
me in prioritizing students' well-being and vote no on this conference 
report and on the budget reconciliation package.
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to oppose the Labor-HHS-Education 
conference report, which is the most recent evidence that working and 
middle class Americans are paying the price for the Republican economic 
agenda of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Not only does this 
immoral budget fail to provide for what the American people need now, 
it also fails to address what it will take to be economically 
competitive in the future.
  Overall, the conference report cuts education, health care, and human 
services by $1.5 billion from what was spent on these efforts last 
year. Meanwhile, Republicans will spend $11 billion this week on a 
capital gains and dividend income tax cut that will provide 53 percent 
of its benefit to people making more than $1 million per year. Their 
plan spends more on tax cuts this week alone ($70 billion) than on both 
the Department of Education and the Department of Labor ($68 billion) 
for an entire year.
  Funding for education is also cut by $784 million, the first time the 
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act will have been cut since the law was 
enacted. Title I, which is the core of NCLB's efforts to improve 
reading and math skills, receives the smallest increase in eight years. 
Because it fails to keep pace with our growing population, 3.1 million 
low-income children will be left behind.
  A program for which I have consistently advocated is Mathematics & 
Science Partnerships. Under this program, grants are first made to 
states, which, in turn, make grants to partnerships that must include a 
state agency; an engineering, math or science department of a college 
or university; and a high-need school district. Grantees use these 
funds to establish rigorous math and science programs; recruit math, 
science and engineering majors into teaching; and improve the teaching 
skills of math and science teachers. Without significant investment in 
math and science education, we will not be competitive with countries 
like China who are graduating nine times the number of engineering 
students that we are producing in America. Unfortunately, this 
conference report appropriates $6 million less than the House passed 
earlier this year and $85 million (32 percent) less than the 
President's request.
  Also important for long term economic competitiveness is the 
Educational Technology State Grants Program. Like math and science 
partnerships this program received $25 million less than the House 
bill, $150 million (35 percent) less than the Senate bill, and $221 
million (45 percent) less than the current appropriation. This is 
exactly the wrong direction to be taking the country. We can not stay 
globally competitive if we are not teaching our children the skills and 
knowledge they will need to be the innovators of tomorrow.
  Education for the disabled is also slashed. This bill cuts the 
Federal share of special education costs from 18.6 percent in FY 2005 
to 18.0 percent by providing the smallest increase for the Individuals 
with Disabilities Education Act in a decade. The bill provides $4 
billion less than Republicans promised for IDEA.
  Similarly, the bill cuts $17 million for vocational education. This 
cut will force local school boards to raise funds or cut other services 
to make up the shortfall. This will not prepare our children with the 
high tech vocational education they will need to obtain a job that pays 
well but for which a college degree is not necessary.
  With 7.4 million Americans out of work it is unclear to me why 
Republicans are cutting the Community College Initiative. This 
initiative would train workers for high skill, high paying jobs, yet it 
is being reduced by $125 million, denying this assistance to 100,000 
Americans of a continued education to help them get a new job. This 
bill also cuts job search assistance through the Employment Service by 
$89 million (11 percent) and unemployment insurance by $245 million (7 
percent), eliminating help for 1.9 million people.
  This bill is no better for those attending college full-time. Despite 
the fact that higher education is increasingly expensive, the majority 
has decided not to increase the maximum Pell grant. Rather it is being 
frozen for the fourth straight year, and no new funding is provided for 
any other student financial aid and support programs, even though 
college costs have increased by $3,095 (34 percent) since 2001.
  College students are not the only ones left out in the cold by this 
bill. Families and seniors who cannot afford to pay the expected 46 
percent increase for natural gas and 28 percent for home heating oil 
this winter will have to get by without energy assistance from the 
federal government. For some reason Republicans have refused to 
increase funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program 
(LIHEAP), which helps keep the heat on for people who cannot otherwise 
heat their homes in winter.
  As this bill hurts families' ability to pay for college and heat 
their homes, it also deals a blow to their ability to receive 
healthcare. Nearly 46 million Americans are without health insurance, 
yet Republicans provide virtually no funding for new Community Health 
Centers beyond the amount approved last year. They also eliminate the 
Healthy Communities Access Program altogether along with the state 
planning grants to improve health care coverage. Where do the 
Republicans find the moral justification to cut these programs while 
planning to pass another $70 billion tax cut for the top 1%?
  The bill does little to prepare for long-term healthcare concerns or 
invest in medical research. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is 
cut $249 million (3.9 percent). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) 
receives a (0.7 percent) increase--its smallest increase in 36 years, 
and not enough to keep the number of research grants from declining for 
the second year in a row. How are we supposed to remain the world 
leader in health research with funding numbers like this?
  I believe American leadership is fueled by national investments in an 
educated and skilled workforce, groundbreaking federal research, and a 
steadfast commitment to being the most competitive and innovative 
Nation in the world. We must make the decision now to ensure that 
America remains the world leader in innovation and competitiveness. 
This bill takes us in the opposite direction.
  America's global leadership in technological advancement and 
innovation is being seriously challenged by other countries. The 
warning

[[Page H10528]]

signs could not be clearer. The rest of the world is increasing its 
capacity, its investments, and its will to catch up with us. We cannot 
ignore this challenge. Americans again must innovate in order to create 
new thriving industries that will produce millions of good jobs here at 
home and a better future for our children. Today this bill moves us 
further away from achieving this goal.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, today we have some very clear choices. It 
is not every day that we face such black and white options--often the 
issues we debate on this floor have many shades of gray.
  But today, there is no confusion, there is no muddying of the issues, 
and there is no way to mask the harm this bill would do: cut education 
spending for the first time in a decade, slash funding for worker and 
youth training, and provide no increase for home heating assistance for 
low-income families.
  Today, we have a choice. We can pass a bill that will be detrimental 
to our children's future; that will hurt students in need of financial 
assistance to go to college; that will not help families struggling to 
pay their heating bills; and that will severely hinder research and 
preventive health efforts. Or we can reject this bill and demand 
something better for American families.
  We have heard that this bill is the result of priorities. Well, this 
is one point where I agree with my Republican colleagues. This bill is 
the result of priorities. The wrong priorities, Mr. Speaker.
  When the Republican leadership of this Congress is content to spend 
more on tax cuts than on the entire Department of Education or Labor;
  When we can spend $70 billion in tax cuts but cannot provide children 
the access to technology or advanced science and math instruction they 
need to compete in today's world;
  When we can give millionaires a break but cannot provide students 
even a meager increase in Pell Grants to help them pay for the rising 
cost of college;
  When we can shell out billions in tax breaks to oil companies but 
cannot help those in need prepare for what is expected to be one of the 
costliest winters yet; it is clear that Republicans have the wrong 
priorities in mind.
  Mr. Speaker, our Nation's children should not have their education 
shortchanged because the administration had to scrounge around for a 
few million here and there to pay for tax cuts that benefit a small 
minority in this country.
  At a time when people are losing faith in their government and their 
leaders, when they are asking for honesty and looking for answers to 
their everyday needs, this bill provides no answers. This bill tells 
them to go it alone. Mr. Speaker, America deserves better than this.
  Vote no on this conference report that shortchanges and unfairly 
punishes everyday Americans.
  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the Labor, 
Health & Human Services and Education Appropriations bill before us. 
This bill quite simply fails to address the priorities of the American 
people.
  My concerns about specific cuts in this bill are many. It cuts 
funding for No Child Left Behind, an already vastly underfunded 
mandate; it fails to offer even the small increase in the maximum Pell 
Grant that was established in the House bill; and it sets a funding 
level for the National Institutes of Health that would decrease the 
number of federal research grants for the second year in a row. The 
consequences of this bill are far-reaching. Major cutbacks in the areas 
of education and health care will have a tremendous economic impact on 
our Nation.
  I would like to speak briefly about what my constituents have told me 
is important to them. Rhode Islanders, like all Americans, are 
concerned about health care. I have heard from many of them in recent 
weeks, in opposition to the devastating cuts to the Title VII health 
professions programs. While the Administration has made it clear that 
Community Health Centers are a priority to them, this bill nearly 
eliminates the very programs that health centers rely on to recruit 
nurses to work in areas that are facing acute professional shortages 
and train medical students to work with underserved populations. With 
45 million uninsured Americans, we cannot afford to eliminate programs 
targeted at meeting the needs of the uninsured or remove the support 
systems that exist for those doctors and nurses who are serving in 
areas where there is a shortage of professional health services.
  Rhode Islanders are also concerned about unemployment. With 7.4 
million unemployed Americans, this conference agreement cuts critical 
services for the unemployed, including job training grants and 
unemployment insurance offices. Adult Training Grants, which provide 
training and related education and employment services to economically 
disadvantaged adults, are cut by $31 million--providing the lowest 
level of funding for these training grants in a decade. Youth training 
grants, which offer states the opportunity to develop on-the-job 
training and provide exposure to a wide variety of promising career 
paths for disadvantaged youth are cut by $36 million, offering 12,000 
less at-risk youth the opportunity to earn a high school diploma and 
find meaningful employment.
  When Congress passed H. Con. Res. 95, the Budget Conference Report, 
the Republican leadership set the stage for these devastating cuts. 
This legislation makes it clear that tax cuts for the wealthy will 
continue to be paid for by slashing programs that Rhode Islanders 
depend on.
  I urge my colleagues to reject H.R. 3010.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3010, the 
Fiscal Year 2006 Appropriations Act for the Departments of Labor, 
Health and Human Services and Education. H.R. 3010 severely cuts 
education, health care, and human services that are crucial to North 
Carolina and to the country.
  As the only former state schools chief serving in Congress, I know 
firsthand the devastating effects that these education cuts will have. 
At a time when we are asking our schools to do more than ever, H.R. 
3010 cuts No Child Left Behind funding by $784 million below last 
year's level and makes it impossible for our schools to meet high 
standards of accountability. These cuts will destroy the morale of our 
teachers, parents and students.
  America's working families are struggling to pay record costs for 
college costs for college tuition and expenses. Last November, 
President Bush made a campaign promise to increase funding for Pell 
Grants and invest in higher education. Unfortunately, this bill freezes 
Pell Grants and other student financial aid programs for the fourth 
year in a row, even though college costs have increased by 34 percent 
since 2001. America needs a highly trained and educated workforce to 
compete in the global marketplace of the 21st Century, but H.R. 3010 
slashes funding for education at all levels and strains school budgets.
  The failure of H.R. 3010 to represent the values of the American 
people extends beyond the walls of the classroom. H.R. 3010 slashes 
funding for community health centers that assist the almost 46 million 
uninsured Americans, and underfunds the Centers for Disease Control as 
we face the possibility of a flu pandemic. And as winter approaches 
with expected record prices to heat their homes, H.R. 3010 fails to 
increase funding for LIHEAP home heating assistance, which helps keep 
the heat on for low-income seniors and children.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3010 fails to represent the priorities of the 
American people. I urge my colleagues to vote against this bad bill and 
restore funding for essential services for our families.
  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the 
Conference Report on H.R. 3010. The fiscal year 2006 Labor-HHS-
Education Appropriations report before the House today shortchanges 
America's children, its families, its workers and its most vulnerable 
citizens.
  The Labor-HHS-Education bill embodies our priorities and values as 
Americans. In it, Congress provides the yearly resources needed to keep 
our families healthy, our children educated, our workers employed, and 
our most vulnerable citizens a productive part of our society. This 
bill is arguably one of the most important pieces of legislation 
Congress addresses each year.
  Chairman Regula understands this responsibility. He understands that 
this is ``the people's bill'', and he has worked hard to distribute the 
limited resources he was given in a fair and conscientious way. So my 
``no'' vote today should in no way be seen as a lack of respect or 
appreciation for the efforts of Ralph Regula, the chairman of the Labor 
HHS Appropriations Subcommittee.
  Chairman Regula and the staff of the subcommittee have worked within 
this tight budget allocation to address the needs and priorities of our 
states and communities as best they could under the circumstances. For 
example, the conference report includes increases in two critical areas 
to help infants and their families. The first is the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention's folic acid national education program. 
This program has been instrumental in the prevention of birth defects 
by encouraging women of child-bearing age to take the recommended 
amount of folic acid daily, thereby decreasing the rate of neural tube 
defects. The second increase is for the Health Resources and Services 
Administration's newborn screening program for early identification of 
infants affected by certain genetic, metabolic, hormonal and or 
functional conditions for which there are effective treatment or 
intervention. In addition, for the first time, this bill also includes 
programmatic funding for the national media campaign to fight underage 
drinking, which is being conducted by the Ad Council. I thank the 
committee for helping our country make progress in these critical 
public health areas. The presence of these and a small number of other

[[Page H10529]]

positive programmatic funding levels, however, is simply not enough to 
warrant approving this conference report.

  Mr. Speaker, the constraints placed on this bill by the budget 
priorities and decisions of the Republican leadership are not worthy of 
this House and the values of the American people. I voted against the 
House bill when it came to the floor in June precisely because it fell 
so short of meeting the needs of America's children, families and the 
most vulnerable among us. I had hoped that the bill would be improved 
in the conference. It is unfortunate, however, that in this conference 
agreement, the way they chose to improve overall programmatic funding 
from the original House Bill levels was to take resources away from 
other priorities and community needs.
  This report and its funding decisions do not stand in isolation. They 
reflect the misguided priorities of a Republican leadership that has 
continually put the interests of the wealthy and the privileged before 
the needs and priorities of working and middle-class Americans. This 
Labor-HHS-Education conference report is a direct result of an economic 
agenda of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and it weakens 
America's future by under-funding key education, health and human 
services programs. If approved, this bill will impose cuts to essential 
programs important to Americans in at least three major areas.
  First, this conference agreement significantly shortchanges our 
nation's workers. The bill cuts labor programs $430 million below the 
FY 2005 levels. Training and employment services for the 7.4 million 
Americans who are unemployed are funded well below the FY05 levels. 
This includes a $31 million cut to Adult Training Grants, a $36 million 
cut to Youth Training Grants; and a $141 million cut to Unemployment 
Insurance Offices. The U.S. Employment Service Office, which matches 
job seekers with job openings, is slashed by 10.5 percent, and the 
report freezes funding for dislocated and older workers. In addition, 
the bill slices International Labor Affairs, the program that helps 
eradicate abusive child labor practices and protect worker rights. by 
21 percent.
  Secondly, this report is simply a reaffirmation of the 
Administration's hollow commitment to education, slashing the No Child 
Left Behind funds by $784 million below the FY 2005 level. It cuts the 
Education Technology Block Grant program that provides access to 
technology in schools by a shocking 45 percent from last year's level. 
It reduces the Even Start program supporting services for low literate 
and low-income families by 56 percent. And as a final point, it 
shortchanges our children with disabilities by funding IDEA at $4 
billion below the Republican promise to put special education on a fast 
track to full funding.
  Finally, the report is particularly devastating to the health of 
Americans. Some of its most significant cuts are directed towards the 
critical programs that provide a health care safety net for the 
uninsured. The conference agreement provides $34 million less than the 
House passed bill and $89 million less than the Senate bill for grants 
to Health Centers for services to the uninsured. The Maternal and Child 
Health Block Grant is cut by 3 percent, reducing its true per capita 
purchasing power by almost 20 percent below the FY 2002 level. The 
conference agreement terminates the Healthy Communities Access Program 
that makes grants to local hospitals, health centers and providers so 
that they can provide better integrated systems of care for the 
underinsured and uninsured. Lastly, as if cutting services wasn't 
enough, the conference agreement virtually decimates the Title VII 
Health Professions Training programs, cutting overall funding from $300 
million in FY 2005 to $94 million in FY 2006.
  Mr. Speaker, these drastic reductions to critical programs are not 
necessary. Ranking Member David Obey has consistently laid out a 
common-sense approach to this problem. By simply reducing the tax break 
for those with incomes greater than $1 million, we could add funding 
for No Child Left Behind programs, maintain college affordability by 
increasing the money for Pell grants, shore up our health safety net 
programs, and rebuild our public health system to respond to pandemics 
and possible terrorist attacks. But these fiscally responsible efforts 
by Mr. Obey and the Democrats have been defeated by the Republican 
majority at every turn. The result is this grossly underfunded bill 
which we are considering today.
  In the end, this Congress will be judged by how well we have served 
the needs of all our citizens and communities. As a result, this Labor-
HHS-Education Bill will not reflect kindly on us. We can and must do 
better for the future of our families, our children, our workers and 
our most vulnerable citizens.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Terry). Without objection, the previous 
question is ordered on the conference report.
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the conference report.
  Pursuant to clause 10 of rule XX, the yeas and nays are ordered.
  Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, this 15-minute vote on adopting the 
conference report on H.R. 3010 will be followed by a 5-minute vote on 
passage of House Joint Resolution 72.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 209, 
nays 224, not voting 1, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 598]

                               YEAS--209

     Aderholt
     Akin
     Alexander
     Bachus
     Baker
     Barrett (SC)
     Bartlett (MD)
     Barton (TX)
     Bass
     Beauprez
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (UT)
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonner
     Bono
     Boozman
     Boustany
     Bradley (NH)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Burgess
     Burton (IN)
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Camp
     Cannon
     Cantor
     Capito
     Carter
     Chabot
     Chocola
     Coble
     Cole (OK)
     Conaway
     Crenshaw
     Cubin
     Culberson
     Cunningham
     Davis (KY)
     Davis, Jo Ann
     Davis, Tom
     Deal (GA)
     DeLay
     Dent
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Doolittle
     Drake
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Ehlers
     English (PA)
     Everett
     Feeney
     Ferguson
     Flake
     Foley
     Forbes
     Fortenberry
     Fossella
     Foxx
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Gallegly
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gingrey
     Gohmert
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Granger
     Graves
     Green (WI)
     Gutknecht
     Hall
     Harris
     Hart
     Hastert
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Hostettler
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hyde
     Inglis (SC)
     Issa
     Istook
     Jenkins
     Jindal
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Keller
     Kelly
     Kennedy (MN)
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kline
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     Kuhl (NY)
     LaHood
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Lucas
     Lungren, Daniel E.
     Mack
     Manzullo
     Marchant
     McCaul (TX)
     McCotter
     McCrery
     McHenry
     McHugh
     McKeon
     McMorris
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Miller, Gary
     Musgrave
     Myrick
     Neugebauer
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Osborne
     Oxley
     Pearce
     Pence
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pitts
     Poe
     Pombo
     Porter
     Price (GA)
     Pryce (OH)
     Putnam
     Radanovich
     Regula
     Rehberg
     Reichert
     Reynolds
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Royce
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Saxton
     Schmidt
     Schwarz (MI)
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simpson
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Sodrel
     Souder
     Sullivan
     Sweeney
     Tancredo
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thornberry
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Turner
     Upton
     Walden (OR)
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Westmoreland
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson (SC)
     Wolf
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                               NAYS--224

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baca
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Barrow
     Bean
     Becerra
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Blumenauer
     Boren
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (OH)
     Brown, Corrine
     Butterfield
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Cardoza
     Carnahan
     Carson
     Case
     Castle
     Chandler
     Clay
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costa
     Costello
     Cramer
     Crowley
     Cuellar
     Cummings
     Davis (AL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (TN)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Emanuel
     Emerson
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Fitzpatrick (PA)
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Gerlach
     Gibbons
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Herseth
     Higgins
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Israel
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick (MI)
     Kind
     Kirk
     Kucinich
     Langevin
     Lantos
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Leach
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lipinski
     Lofgren, Zoe
     Lowey
     Lynch
     Maloney
     Markey
     Marshall
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy
     McCollum (MN)
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McIntyre
     McKinney
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Melancon
     Menendez
     Michaud
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, George
     Mollohan
     Moore (KS)
     Moore (WI)
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Murphy
     Murtha
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Nunes
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Otter
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Paul
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)
     Pickering
     Platts
     Pomeroy
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Ramstad
     Rangel
     Renzi
     Reyes
     Rogers (AL)
     Ross
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruppersberger

[[Page H10530]]


     Rush
     Ryan (OH)
     Sabo
     Salazar
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sanders
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Schwartz (PA)
     Scott (GA)
     Scott (VA)
     Serrano
     Sherman
     Simmons
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Solis
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stearns
     Strickland
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thomas
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tierney
     Towns
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Wasserman Schultz
     Waters
     Watson
     Watt
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Wexler
     Wilson (NM)
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Boswell


                         Parliamentary Inquiry

  Ms. PELOSI (during the vote). Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary 
inquiry. Has it now been 30 minutes for a 15-minute vote?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Terry). Clause 2(a) of rule XX 
establishes 15 minutes as a minimum time. The rule does not state a 
maximum amount of time.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, how much longer will it take for the 
Republican leadership to pass this terrible attack on America's 
children?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman does not state a 
parliamentary inquiry.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, how much longer will you hold this vote 
open?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair intends to bring the vote to a 
close at such time as he believes that Members have finished voting.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, how many Members have not yet voted?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair has affirmed that the rules 
establish a minimum duration of the vote. The rules do not set a 
maximum duration. The Chair intends to bring the vote to a close at 
such time as he believes that Members have finished voting.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, is the vote being held open to change votes 
or are there Members who have not voted?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will leave the vote open until he 
believes Members have finished voting.
  Ms. PELOSI. I hope we will not be waiting too much longer, Mr. 
Speaker.


                         Parliamentary Inquiry

  Ms. PELOSI (during the vote). Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. Speaker, is it not a part of the rules of the House for Members 
who wish to change their votes for them to come to the well to change 
their votes and not keep the machines open to do that?
  Mr. Speaker, is it not further part of the usual procedure of the 
House for the Chair to announce the changes as they come in?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk has announced changes. The voting 
stations cannot accept further changes at this point. Any further 
changes must be made in the well.

                              {time}  1413

  Messrs. RUSH, HONDA and GUTIERREZ changed their vote from ``yea'' to 
``nay.''
  Messrs. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, HEFLEY, GINGREY, TANCREDO, FRANKS of 
Arizona, FLAKE, YOUNG of Alaska, JONES of North Carolina and Ms. HART, 
Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, and Mrs. CUBIN changed their vote 
from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
  So the conference report was not agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________