[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 49 (Monday, March 26, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H1559-H1563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
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CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS ALTERNATIVE 2013 BUDGET
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Harris). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 5, 2011, the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands
(Mrs. Christensen) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the
minority leader.
General Leave
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask unanimous consent
that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their
remarks and to add any extraneous material on the subject matter of the
Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands?
There was no objection.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, soon we will be called upon to vote on
a budget for 2013. Budgets are supposed to be a statement of our values
and our vision, and this is the case with the Congressional Black
Caucus budget. The values that we support in our budget are American
values. As it says in the title, it restores America's promise and
invests in our future.
And at this time, I would like to yield to the person who leads us in
developing the Congressional Black Caucus budget and who has done so
for several years, one of the senior members on the Budget Committee,
Congressman Bobby Scott of Virginia.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I thank the gentlelady for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, we have difficult choices to make when it comes to
addressing our budget deficit, but the Republican budget makes the
wrong choices by deeply cutting vital programs like Medicare, Medicaid,
education, job training, and transportation to pay for massive tax cuts
that primarily benefit the wealthiest Americans.
Our Nation's communities of color have been hardest hit by the
effects of the Great Recession, and the Republican budget does little
to address the priorities of these communities. Even
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as our Nation's economy has created nearly 3.9 million private sector
jobs since February 2010, communities of color still are experiencing
disproportionately higher rates of unemployment, home foreclosure,
educational disadvantages, and economic hardship. As a result,
vulnerable communities are increasingly relying on public programs to
meet their basic needs.
With the passage of the fiscal year 2011 continuing resolution, then
the Budget Control Act of 2011 and the fiscal year 2012 Consolidated
Appropriations Act, these same vital programs have been slashed and
targeted with even deeper cuts in the House Republican budget even as
tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans are extended without problems.
The Congressional Black Caucus has a long history of submitting
fiscally sound and morally responsible alternatives to budgets proposed
by both Democrat and Republican Presidents. The CBC alternative budget
for fiscal year 2013 continues that long tradition, putting forth a
plan that reduces the deficit over the next decade. It alleviates some
of the harm inflicted by the Budget Control Act, and increases economic
opportunities and job creation by ensuring sustained investments in
education, job training, transportation, infrastructure, and advanced
research and development. The Congressional Black Caucus budget
proposes significant increases in these functions of the budget for
fiscal year 2013 to further accelerate our economic recovery and ensure
a recovery is felt in every corner of our Nation. At the same time, the
CBC budget protects and enhances the social safety net that saved
millions of families from poverty during the Great Recession.
Unlike the proposed Republican budget, the CBC budget does not
significantly reduce Medicaid or cut food assistance or force seniors
to contribute more of their hard-earned money towards their health care
expenses by dismantling Medicare and other vital support services. The
CBC budget achieves all of this by making tough but responsible
decisions to pay for tax cut extensions by making our tax system
fairer, closing corporate loopholes and preferences that have
contributed to the loss of American jobs.
Deficit reduction and the path of fiscal responsibility must not be
on the backs of our Nation's most vulnerable citizens. We cannot win
the future by leaving our most vulnerable behind. Our success as a
Nation is interwoven in the success of every community, and this goal
is reflected in the Congressional Black Caucus alternative budget for
fiscal year 2013.
Now let me go through some of the details of the budget, because many
of the budgets that have been presented in the past have missing
numbers or unspecified cuts or things that you know aren't going to
happen. These are our recommendations for a budget and where we are on
the bottom line.
The CBC budget assumes as its baseline all of the President's
spending and revenue assumptions. The CBC budget then not only extends
certain tax cuts but also pays for all of the tax cuts for hardworking,
middle-class Americans, and then it enacts tax reform measures to pay
for the extension, raising nearly $4 trillion in new revenue over the
next decade.
We do that by:
Reining in Wall Street speculation with a financial speculation tax
that will raise approximately $840.9 billion over 10 years;
Ensuring Wall Street bankers pay the same tax rates as working
Americans by taxing carried interest, dividends, and capital gains as
ordinary income, which will raise almost $1 trillion over 10 years;
Enacting the Buffett Rule and adding a millionaire surcharge similar
to the legislation that was in the House version of the Affordable Care
Act. That will raise approximately $600 billion over 10 years;
Closing certain tax loopholes and preferences. There are so many of
them that, by closing those loopholes and deductions, we can raise $1.3
trillion over 10 years; and
Ending the mortgage interest deduction for vacation homes and yachts,
which will add a few billion dollars over 10 years.
The bill also protects Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food
assistance, welfare under TANF, unemployment insurance, and other vital
safety net programs that are hit hard by the Republican budget.
We restore important funding for programs that were cut under the
Budget Control Act, cancel the sequester for security and nonsecurity
programs, match the Democratic alternative budget on defense, and
invest another $153 billion over the next decade in vital programs that
will accelerate our economy and support hardworking American families.
We do that by increasing the maximum Pell Grant by $1,000, to a total
of $6,500. We invest an additional $25 billion above the President's
budget in education and job training in 2013 alone. We also continue
unemployment benefits and provide benefits for those who, through no
fault of their own, have been unemployed for more than 99 weeks. We
invest an additional $50 billion in job creating transportation and
infrastructure programs in 2013, alone, and $155 billion above the
President's budget over the next decade. We match the independent
budget for Veterans Affairs, as recommended by a coalition of veterans'
groups. We invest $12 billion more in advanced research and development
programs like NASA, the Department of Energy, and the National Science
Foundation, which will create jobs now and in the future. We have
additional funding for housing, foreclosure assistance, and other
important programs and community development. We provide an additional
$10 billion in vital health care programs, such as community health
centers. And we create a public health insurance option under the
Affordable Care Act, giving American people a real choice when the
exchanges come into effect by allowing them to pick, as one of their
choices, a public option. Adopting a public option has been scored as a
$100 billion savings over 10 years because those programs will cost
less.
When the dust settles, the CBC budget will reduce the deficit by an
additional $769 billion as compared to the Republican budget over the
next decade. Let me say that again. We will reduce the deficit by an
additional $769 billion compared to the Republican budget over the next
decade. It is more fiscally responsible. It addresses the needs of our
public, and, therefore, I would hope that we would adopt the
Congressional Black Caucus budget and not the Republican budget that
will be presented on the floor.
And I yield back to the gentlelady from the Virgin Islands.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congressman Scott. Thank you for your
leadership over all of these years in developing such a responsible
budget. The CBC is proud to offer that as an alternative again this
year.
Now I would like to yield to Congresswoman Marcia Fudge of Ohio, who
is a member of the Education and the Workforce Committee. She is a
strong advocate for education and closing the achievement gap and for
many of the safety net programs that we protect in this budget.
Ms. FUDGE. I would like to thank my colleague, Representative
Christensen, for her work and continuing to anchor this CBC hour. I
think it is very, very important. She is very special because she is
determined to make sure that the United States knows that we, the CBC,
are fighting for them every day. And I thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the devastating impacts that the
Republican budget would have on the middle class and American workers,
as well as students, seniors, and the poor.
A budget, Mr. Speaker, is a reflection of priorities. It exemplifies
objectives and goals. The Republicans' priorities are clear: cut taxes
for the most wealthy Americans while achieving deficit reduction
through drastic spending cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, and other
important programs. The Republican budget would abandon the economic
recovery we are in and implement policies that ship American jobs
overseas.
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It would assume deep cuts in transportation spending next year,
ignore job creation, and reject sensible proposals for economic growth
and future competitiveness.
The Congressional Black Caucus will present a budget this week--thank
you to my colleague, Mr. Scott--that
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would protect seniors who rely on Medicare, the disabled who need
Medicaid, and the unemployed who would go hungry without SNAP. It would
support our economy through investment in transportation and
infrastructure and would encourage American innovation. The Republican
budget would reject investments in innovation by cutting funding for
research and development. It would ignore the benefits of these
investments on future generations.
Should the Republican budget go into effect, we would miss a great
opportunity to support American innovation and to develop emerging
technologies that create the jobs of the future. In addition, the
Republican budget would fail our students by proposing drastic cuts
that would devastate education funding and increase costs for college
students. It would allow higher interest rates on student loans
starting this year and eliminate the income-based repayment plans that
help graduates manage their loans.
In contrast to the Republican budget, the CBC budget would increase
the maximum Pell Grant by nearly $1,000 and invest an additional $25
billion above the President's budget in education and job training in
fiscal year 2013, alleviating State and local education budget cuts and
protecting jobs for teachers.
Even the middle class is not spared from the Republican cuts. The
Republican budget would outsource jobs through tax policies. It would
actually encourage multinational companies to ship thousands of jobs
overseas while costing the American economy billions of dollars.
By contrast, the CBC budget would ensure that Wall Street bankers pay
the same tax rates as working Americans by taxing carried interest,
dividends, and capital gains as ordinary income. The CBC budget would
close corporate tax loopholes, adding approximately $1.3 trillion in
revenue over 10 years.
Just like last year, the Republican budget would end the Medicare
guarantee and shift costs to seniors. Rather than having the guaranteed
coverage of benefits, seniors would receive a voucher. Yet the voucher
will not grow as quickly as health care costs--simply shift costs on to
seniors. As the AARP pointed out:
The premium support method described in the Republican
proposal would likely ``price out'' traditional Medicare as a
viable option, thus rendering the choice of traditional
Medicare as a false promise.
The CBC budget would support our seniors, working Americans, and the
middle class. And the CBC budget will reduce the deficit by an
additional $3.4 trillion as compared to the President's budget over the
next decade.
The Republican budget would repeat last year's attempts to
drastically reduce SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, for struggling
families. It would slash SNAP funding by roughly $130 billion over 10
years and completely eliminate categorical eligibility. SNAP is
currently serving 47 million people, nearly three-quarters of whom are
families with children. Throwing people off the rolls would make it
practically impossible for people to afford a nutritionally sound diet.
For 2 years in a row, we've seen Republican priorities in the
Republican vision for the Nation. Mr. Speaker, the Republican budget is
the wrong plan for American workers; it is the wrong plan for families
trying to put food on the table; it is the wrong plan for unemployed
Americans; the wrong plan for students; and the wrong plan for seniors.
I urge my colleagues to support the budget presented by the
Congressional Black Caucus and to vote ``no'' on the proposed
Republican budget.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congresswoman Fudge, and thank you for
your strong defense of programs for children, for our seniors, and for
families across this country.
I would now like to yield such time as he might consume to
Congressman Danny Davis, a strong fighter for health equity, for
justice in our criminal justice system. He is a valued member of the
Ways and Means Committee.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. First of all, I want to thank the gentlelady
from the Virgin Islands for her leadership in convening and anchoring
these sessions that we hold each week. I also want to commend and pay
tribute to Representative Bobby Scott for the tremendous leadership and
work that he provides each year in helping the Congressional Black
Caucus analyze, synthesize, and look seriously at how we move forward
as we prepare a budget.
As has already been indicated, budgets are indications of
priorities--what is it that you're really hoping to do; what do you
really hope to accomplish. And so this budget I view as a tremendously
positive alternative to any of our budgets that I have seen at this
time. So I rise in strong support of the Congressional Black Caucus' FY
2013 alternative budget.
February's job report reveals 3 months of strong jobs growth in
America. And while there is a sigh of relief for millions of consumers
and the unemployed moving from the sidelines in search of work with
hopes that their prospects will improve, there is little change for the
5.4 million long-term unemployed, 8.1 million involuntary part-time
workers, and marginally attached individuals no longer in the labor
force who wanted and were available for work and who looked for a job
at some point during the last 12 months.
And so it becomes obvious that any budget should have at its core
job-creation opportunities so that people can experience this
opportunity, or this commodity, that we call work.
Appearances of an economy poised for growth does little for
underserved minorities residing in disinvested communities blighted
with high rates of joblessness, poor-performing schools, poverty, and
crime. Indeed, the promise of a new day and new hopes are few and
far between for poor and low-income workers, generally, and returning
citizens with barriers to employment in particular.
Indeed, over the past decade, the poor in America have gotten poorer.
And, of course, the wealthy have gotten wealthier. Those called
``middle class'' have been squeezed to the point where they're
teetering and certainly could go in either direction, that is, up with
the right kinds of opportunities and down with the wrong kinds of
opportunities.
I don't believe that we can afford in good conscience to continue to
turn a blind eye to census figures and monthly data reports of the
economic injustices and suffering being imposed upon a growing number
of people. Moreover, we cannot continue to hold a great Nation hostage
for the sake of a few while millions suffer. If we're truly going to
address the crisis in America and put all Americans back to work and
reduce poverty, we must create a mixture of universal and targeted
programs capable of weathering political obstacles.
The Congressional Black Caucus alternative budget is a means to this
end. Indeed, the CBC budget safeguards investment in public education,
Pell Grants, and transportation vital to equipping minority youth and
adults with skill sets so that they can obtain and maintain access to
gainful sustainable employment in our ever-changing global economy; and
also by renovating and building new schools and investing an additional
$50 billion in transportation and infrastructure in 2013 and $155
billion above the President's budget over the next decade, repairing
and building bridges across lakes, rivers, and streams, but also
bridges to opportunity.
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The Congressional Black Caucus budget protects the health care safety
net programs that have been developed. It also protects Second Chance
funding while restoring funding to Department of Justice programs for
citizens who are returning home from jail and prison with serious
barriers to employment.
We hold these truths to be self-evident that if America is to become
the America that it has never been but the America that all of us hope
for and know that it can be, then we would take the principles encased
in the Congressional Black Caucus budget and comply those to whatever
budgets are ultimately passed.
So, again, I want to commend Mr. Scott, and I want to thank Delegate
Christensen.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congressman Davis.
I'd like to just say a few words about the Congressional Black Caucus
budget. I'm in strong support of this budget.
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As I said, it's a responsible budget that is a statement of our values
and priorities; and as the title says, it restores America's promise to
invest in our future.
Our budget, as Congressman Scott said, builds upon the President's
budget, and it would ensure that our children, our veterans, and
seniors are protected and adequately taken care of. We invest in
education and health care as well as in research and innovation. Our
budget provides revenue by enacting tax measures that are fair, that
close loopholes, and that protect tax cuts for hardworking, middle
class families while protecting vital safety nets that help the poor,
and it provides them with stepping stones out of poverty.
Those safety nets that we protect are, for example, Social Security;
Medicare; Medicaid--a critical program; the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program, SNAP; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families,
TANF; and many, many others. It does all of that while reducing the
deficit by an additional $3.4 trillion compared to the President's
budget.
Our budget stands as a direct contrast to the Republican Ryan budget.
The Ryan budget begins at the outset by breaking the hard-fought
agreement on caps set in the Budget Control Act in 2011. If they can't
keep their word on something that they forced an agreement on, then
what will they keep their word on? So the Republican budget begins
across-the-board cuts at 5.4 percent in 2013. They do not cut any
defense spending, as agreed to in the Budget Control Act; but in 2014,
they would reduce those caps 19 percent below the agreed-to cap in non-
defense spending over 10 years. And I guess they know that the Supreme
Court arguments made by those 26 States that began today against the
Affordable Care Act are not going to win the day, that the Court will
uphold the constitutionality of the law, and so the Republican budget
would repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Just take a look at what Republicans take out of health care. They
would cut funding for the Indian Health Service by 19 percent beginning
in 2014. That would greatly diminish access to health care for the
American Indians who already suffer disproportionately from many
diseases and, as a result, who have a very low life expectancy compared
to the white population.
In the Republican budget, there are cuts to funding for the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services which would make it very difficult
for that agency to meet its responsibilities in overseeing these
critical programs. There are also cuts to the Food and Drug
Administration, which would reverse what Democrats were able to do to
strengthen protections in food and medicines, and cutting back on those
programs would put the American public at an increased risk.
While in this difficult economic climate the President's budget
managed to fund NIH at its current level, the Republican Ryan budget
would jeopardize new research by cutting that budget; and that research
that would lead to innovations in medicine and improve lives would be
jeopardized. In addition, they cut WIC and turn SNAP into a block
grant, which weakens their ability to help those who increasingly find
themselves food insecure as the gap between the rich and poor has
widened and incomes have plummeted. And it cuts the Republicans'
favorite target, the EPA, which would reduce our investments in public
health and harm our ability to protect our public from air and water
pollution and land contamination.
On the other hand, our budget, the CBC budget, which is always a very
responsible budget--responsible to the American people and fiscally
responsible while providing more deficit reduction than the Republican
Ryan budget--still makes important investments that are critical to a
strong future, including in health care.
First of all, our budget upholds the Affordable Care Act and fully
funds it, but it takes it one step further by creating a public health
insurance option that by itself saves almost $103 billion in health
care costs over the next decade. It adds $10 billion to health care
funding in the 2013 budget, and that $10 billion more robustly funds
the following important programs, such as the AIDS drug assistance
programs, which have been underfunded for years, causing States to drop
persons from their rosters with HIV and AIDS or reducing the coverage,
reducing the benefits, and causing increasingly long waiting lists. It
also increases funding for Ryan White, the Minority AIDS Initiative,
and prevention activities for HIV, for STDs, for TB, and hepatitis.
Our budget funds the Office of Minority Health, which was expanded
and strengthened under the Affordable Care Act to improve health
equity. We expand and pay for oral health programs, for health care
facilities improvements and construction. We increase funding for the
maternal and child health in the Preventive Health Block Grant. We fund
the Physician-Scientist Training program, which brings underrepresented
minorities into health care careers both in the practice of medicine,
as providers, and in research. We provide additional funding for
substance abuse and mental health services administration.
And we finally provide adequate funding for the National Institute on
Minority Health and Health Disparities at NIH. We also restore funding
for the REACH program, a very important program that assists racial and
ethnic minority communities to develop programs and unique approaches
to health care just uniquely for those communities.
We fund many, many other health-related programs and services. And
still, with all of that, we reduce that deficit by $3.4 trillion over
the next 10 years. Those health provisions, as well as those in
education, in research and innovation, and in the protection of the
safety net programs and tax fairness, those in the CBC budget make it
one that is clearly a statement of our values and priorities, a
statement of America's values, values that everyone in this body should
support.
At this time, I would like to yield again to our leader on the budget
in the CBC, Congressman Bobby Scott.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I thank the gentlelady from the Virgin Islands
for her very strong statement.
Mr. Speaker, we have tough choices to make; and when we start the
discussion with how much people will get in tax cuts, you know the rest
of the discussion will not be serious. We have decided if you're going
to have tax cuts, if you're going to extend them, they have to be paid
for. That is the historic contrast between the CBC budget and the
Republican budget.
Now, Mr. Speaker, when people say we have to cut Medicare, they
should look at the Republican budget because the only reason you have
to cut Medicare is to fund the tax cuts. If you do not extend the tax
cuts, you don't have to cut Medicare. When the same budget includes
massive tax cuts and cuts in Medicare, people ought to notice that if
you don't have the tax cuts, you don't have to cut Medicare.
Now, the Republican budget has virtually dismantled Medicare. It
provides a voucher, but I think they like to call it--what?--a premium
support something or other. Basically, you dismantle your right to
Medicare, and you get some money to go see if you can buy some
insurance in the private market. It turns out that the amount of money
you're given--I'll call it a voucher--will be about $6,000 short of
what you need to get the equivalent of Medicare coverage. That's where
the savings is. You don't reduce the cost of health care; you just
shift it over to the seniors.
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Now, one of the ways they try to convince people to go along with it
is they tell people who are paying attention, those over 55, they say,
well, it's not going to apply to you. We will continue to plan for
about 10 years, and then we'll inflict this scheme on everybody else.
Some people over 55 say, well, that's good, I don't have to worry
about it. Well, actually, people over 55 do have to worry about it
because the people making the promise that you will be able to have a
Cadillac Medicare program when people coming behind have a little motor
scooter for their health care, and you think people are going to pay
taxes, when they're going to get a motor scooter, for your Cadillac
plan--I think the idea that they're going to continue paying those
taxes are remote.
You have to notice that 10 years from now, when the decision gets
made to
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start to inflict this scheme on the younger people, the people who will
be keeping the promise for those over 55 aren't the ones that made the
promise. They will be new representatives who don't have any commitment
to keeping that promise. In fact, election after election, some of the
younger people may ask, well, are you going to continue taxing me to
support a Medicare program when all I'm going to get is a voucher? I
want to know which one of the candidates will either cancel the
Medicare for everybody and have everybody get this little voucher
thing, or continue the Medicare program for everybody. I want to know
if anybody up there is going to tax me for a Medicare program that I'm
not going to get. And after five election cycles, the people that
survive that will be the ones dealing with the promise that others
made.
I doubt if any of them will be able to sustain that kind of pressure.
When the time comes, either everybody will get this little voucher
thing or everybody will get a Medicare card. The idea that some will
get a nice, big Medicare package and everybody else coming behind get a
little piece of voucher and think that's going to be sustained for any
length of time, I think they've got another thought coming.
So people ought to recognize that even those over 55 have to protect
Medicare. And the reason it's being cut is so that millionaires can get
their tax cuts. You let those millionaires' tax cuts expire, you don't
have to cut Medicare.
Now, as the gentlelady from the Virgin Islands said, we have a
responsible budget. We name the cuts that are made. We name the taxes
that will be affected. And you can see exactly what we're doing.
Unfortunately, in the Republican budget, you get these unspecified
cuts, 19 percent on average. Well, you know it's not going to be on
average. It's not going to be across the board because some programs
won't be cut. You're not going to cut the FBI by 19 percent. You're not
going to cut Federal prisons by 19 percent. So all those that you don't
cut you end up having to double up to meet your number, you've got to
double up on the next one.
So we have no idea what's going to happen, other than all of these
kind of unspecified cuts. And hopefully everybody's thinking, well,
that's not going to be my program, that's not the one I depend on, when
in fact it might not only be 19 percent, it might be 20, 30, 40 percent
cuts in those programs.
The fact is that the Congressional Black Caucus budget is a
responsible budget, and it comes in almost $800 billion better on the
bottom line than the Republican budget that will be the alternative. We
have shown that you can be responsible, you can be compassionate, and
you can be fiscally responsible. That's the Congressional Black Caucus
budget.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you for summarizing that for us and for
pointing out the very important point that, in order to keep those tax
cuts for the millionaires, those programs that so many people in this
country, the poor and the middle class, depend on will be cut. That's a
tradeoff that this country should not be taking and we do not support.
So we are very pleased to present our budget. As I said, and as
Congressman Scott said, this is a very responsible budget that not only
invests in the future and keeps America's promise to its people, but it
saves money, $3.4 trillion over 10 years to reduce the deficit.
With that, we ask for the support of our colleagues, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of
the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) alternative budget.
The CBC Budget proposes an additional $10 billion in funding for
general Science, Space and Technology activities. Specifically, this
funding will apply towards agencies I oversee as Ranking Member of the
Committee, such as NASA; the National Science Foundation and NIST; and
to many programs we specifically authorized in the America COMPETES Act
and the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, including Noyce
Scholarships; the ADVANCE program for women faculty; Graduate Research
Fellowships; and many other important research and STEM education
related programs.
The CBC Budget also invests an additional $2 billion towards Energy
providing additional funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency
at the Department of Energy which also falls under my Committee's
jurisdiction.
We all know that our nation's future strength is directly dependent
upon our commitment to a robust science agenda. As Members of the
Congressional Black Caucus, we urge support for programs that broaden
participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, also
called STEM.
As we call for increased funding for programs which broaden
participation for STEM, we are concerned that the Administration's
FY2013 budget holds funding for these critical programs flat even as
other STEM programs grow and new ones are created. We remain concerned
that we still have not actually moved the needle much in terms of
participation in STEM by underrepresented groups nationwide.
Given the low participation by these groups in most STEM disciplines,
the changing demographics of this country are going to catch up with us
very soon with respect to having a STEM-skilled workforce for 21st
Century jobs. In some industries we are already seeing a troubling
skills gap that will only become worse if we don't broaden
participation in STEM by minorities, and women for that matter.
As the first African American and first female Ranking Member of the
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, broadening participation
in STEM remains a top priority of mine. Broadening participation is not
a minority issue or a gender issue, it is a national competitiveness
issue we all must work to address for our country's benefit.
The under-representation of women and minority groups in STEM fields
is a severe impediment to the formation of an adequate American STEM
workforce. The increased education and participation of this segment of
the workforce is essential to supplying the American economy with the
STEM expertise the country needs to innovate and remain competitive.
In 2008, the US Census Bureau recorded African-Americans, Hispanics,
and Native Americans as making up 28.2 percent of the US population,
and yet, these groups only represent a mere 10 percent of the science
and technology workforce. By the year 2050, minorities are predicted to
represent 55 percent of the college population.
As a Caucus we support funding increases in programs which broaden
participation in the sciences. Low-income and minority communities bear
a disproportionate share of the national shortfall of highly qualified
STEM teachers. Schools in these areas often lack adequate facilities
such as science laboratories and other college preparatory tools that
cultivate a hands-on, interactive learning environment.
Of great importance to us are funding and programmatic focus on high-
need areas, low-income populations, and underrepresented groups
wherever possible. We are pleased and supportive of the many provisions
within the America COMPETES Act Reauthorization of 2010 which will
result in improving the effectiveness and impact of activities to
broaden participation across the entire $6 billion in research grants
at the National Science Foundation. However, in order to expand
participation of minorities in the sciences we still have some work to
do.
We need to strengthen the capacity of community colleges in which
many of our students are enrolled. We need to award more grants
directly to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's)
involved in research collaborations, enabling these institutions to
build their research capacity in ways that serve their own faculty and
students best. We should provide more scholarships and other avenues to
decrease the financial burden many African American students
disproportionally face. Finally, we need to support programs which will
lead to more African American teachers and mentors.
Mr. Speaker, as you know my commitment to priorities of the
Congressional Black Caucus remains strong and as Ranking Member of the
Committee on Science, Space and Technology I look forward to continuing
to work with the Administration to identify solutions to new, or
persistent issues that threaten to set our nation back even as we
continue to look forward to our future.
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