[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 199 (Friday, December 23, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2339]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONFERENCE REPORT OF H.R. 2055, CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2012

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                               speech of

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 16, 2011

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, the legislation we are being asked to 
vote on today will fund the rest of the federal government through 
September 30, 2012 and provide $8.1 billion for disaster aid and 
recovery assistance. The bills before us are the result of a long, 
drawn out and at times contentious process, and the outcome is very 
much the product of hard fought compromise. In candor, this package 
contains a number of provisions and policy choices that I would not 
have made and do not support. But I recognize that is the nature of 
compromise.
  On a positive note, the bill adheres to the bipartisan $1.043 
trillion topline agreement from the Budget Control Act. With our 
national debt now topping $15 billion, it is important that we continue 
to maintain fiscal discipline. Additionally, the bill provides modest 
increases to a number of key federal investments. The Title I education 
program to help our kids gain proficiency in reading and math is funded 
at $14.5 billion, which is $60 million above the FY 2011 level. Special 
education gets a $100 million boost for a total of $11.6 billion to 
help our schools meet the educational needs of all our students. Head 
Start is funded at $8 billion, which is $424 million more than last 
year. And the National Institutes of Health receives a $299 increase to 
sustain its lifesaving research. Renewable energy research and 
development is level funded at $1.8 billion, small business loans 
receive a $123 increase, and the maximum Pell Grant is maintained at 
$5550 so that more of our young people can pursue their dream of a 
higher education.
  These are all genuine achievements in our current fiscally 
constrained environment and deserve to be applauded.
  On the other hand, this bill continues the current majority's 
relentless and misguided attack on the Environmental Protection Agency, 
which has already seen its budget slashed by 18 percent over the past 
fiscal year. To feed the extreme right's ideological fervor, today's 
legislation targets the EPA Administrator's office with a 33 percent 
cut, slashes clean air and climate research and decreases the job-
creating Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water revolving funds by $101 
million. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Americans across 
the political spectrum want clean air and clean water, and they are 
depending on their government to provide it to them. While some in 
other party might think this is good politics, it is terrible policy 
for the American people. With winter approaching, the Low-Income Home 
Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP, is inadequately funded at $3.5 
billion. And despite the elimination of ideologically driven policy 
riders on priorities like health care and Wall Street reform, this 
appropriations legislation still includes too much policy interference 
on issues ranging from reproductive health to workplace safety to light 
bulb efficiency standards to climate change.

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