[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 154 (Friday, November 18, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S13350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  CSBG

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, no one is more committed to the 
Community Services Block Grant than I am. The Community Services Block 
Grant program helps to strengthen communities through services for poor 
individuals and families, assisting these low-income individuals to 
become self-sufficient.
  CSBG provides critical services to poor families throughout the 
country. Services offered by CSBG entities can help support these 
important social services programs such as: Head Start, Low Income Home 
Energy Assistance Programs, LIHEAP, weatherization, literacy and job 
training programs, child health care, after-school programs, housing 
and homeownership services, financial literacy and asset development, 
and food pantries and meal programs. In FY 2002, the 1,100 community 
action network served more than 13 million individuals in more than 4 
million families nationwide.
  Over the past few months, I have received dozens of letters from 
Community Action Agencies from across the country, thanking me for my 
efforts on behalf on the Community Services Block Grant. I, along with 
Senator Chris Dodd, spearheaded a letter, signed by 56 of our 
colleagues, Republicans and Democrats alike, urging Senate conferees to 
the Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations bill to uphold the Senate 
funding level of $637 million. I understand that the conference report 
on the Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations bill includes $637 million 
for CSBG.
  I hope that the conference report on the Labor/HHS/Education 
Appropriations bill will be enacted soon and that these vital resources 
will be directed to important services for low income individuals.
  However, I cannot support the Harkin amendment because if that 
amendment passed, it would result in an interruption of funding not 
only for CSBG, but for all the social spending programs that low income 
individuals depend upon. That is not a responsible course of action.
  We should not make support for CSBG a partisan issue--we should work 
together to enact the Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Conference 
Report so that money can be appropriately directed to fund these 
important services.

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