[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 27 (Friday, February 18, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E298]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             FULL-YEAR CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2011

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                               speech of

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 18, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1) making 
     appropriations for the Department of Defense and the other 
     departments and agencies of the Government for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes:

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 1, the 
Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011. This ill conceived 
bill imposes draconian spending cuts that harm working families and, if 
implemented, could cause 1 million Americans to lose their jobs. Even 
worse, this bill hampers our country's ability to compete with other 
rising world powers, like China and India, by imposing draconian cuts 
to education, research, and infrastructure investments.
  At a time when education is critical to thriving in our global 
economy, the Republican led House is undermining America's future. 
Specifically, today's legislation would reduce the Pell Grants award by 
$845, causing over 9.4 million college students to suffer from 
increased levels of educational debt. Additionally, 218,000 children 
will be immediately dropped from Head Start program and 7,000 special 
education teachers will lose their jobs. House Republicans also want to 
reduce job training programs by $3.6 billion, cutting training for more 
the 200,000 Americans who lost their jobs in this ``Great Recession.''
  H.R. 1 will cut $740 million in WIC nutrition assistance and thus 
cause thousands of low-income children to lose access to nutritional 
foods and health coverage. During one of the coldest winters in memory, 
Republicans propose to cut $400 million to the low-Income Home Energy 
Assistance Program--literally leaving many of our fellow citizens out 
in the cold. They also would abolish Title X funding, thus cutting 
life-saving health services such as HIV testing, cancer screening, 
blood-pressure testing, and contraceptive services to more than five 
million low-income women, the majority of whom are uninsured. $1.3 
billion is cut from Community Health Centers, which would deny care to 
over 3.2 million Americans. Lastly, 75,000 homeless veterans would lose 
their housing vouchers under this bill.
  With the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the 
Democrats boldly showed that investing in America's infrastructure 
could put America to work, while laying the groundwork for future 
private sector investment. With this measure, Republicans would seek to 
undo that commitment and move our country backwards with billions in 
cuts to transportation funding. H.R. 1 would cut $2.5 from high speed 
rail projects that have been already awarded and eliminate funding for 
High Speed Rail Corridors. It would also eliminate 750 fewer wastewater 
and drinking water projects. 25,000 TIGER Surface Transportation 
Projects would be terminated.
  During the Great Depression, conservatives advocated for reduced 
spending at a time when the government needed greater investments in 
job creation. This unfortunate decision prolonged that economic malaise 
and resulted in untold levels of human suffering by millions of 
Americans. With H.R. 1, today's conservatives are simply repeating 
these failed economic policies. We cannot allow this. Republican ``No 
Jobs Agenda'' to succeed. I encourage my colleagues to oppose this 
legislation.

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