Providing for Consideration of H.R. 3010, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3010, DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - June 23, 2005)
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(Ms. MATSUI asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)
Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter) for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the House is on schedule to pass all 10 appropriations bills necessary to fund the Federal Government. But the challenge we face is to do so under the tight constraints dictated by the budget resolution put forth by the Republican majority.
I believe a budget is a moral blueprint for the priorities of the Federal Government. But, sadly, this year's budget fails to address our Nation's most basic priorities and fails to plan for our Nation's future. And now, to the detriment of our appropriations bills and ultimately our country, we have become chained to its misguided priorities.
The long-term health of our Nation is being threatened at a time when we should be investing in it. Within 15 years, America's supply of nurses will fall almost 30 percent below the Nation's needs. Filling the registered nurse pipeline with new recruits requires sustained, aggressive funding over the long term. And I am disappointed to say that level funding in the bill for nursing programs will not do enough to reverse this demographic reality.
If we fail to support the backbone of this Nation's health care industry and ask our nurses to spread themselves even thinner, we risk everything that comes with it, including decreased patient safety and poor quality of care.
And we are failing in this bill to meet the needs of those individuals who most need the access to health care professionals. This bill guts critical funding from title VII programs which encourage health professionals to serve in underrepresented populations. I have seen the positive effects of this funding in my hometown of Sacramento. The UC Davis Medical Center uses title VII funds to train medical students to work through significant language or economic barriers in communities that have a host of otherwise treatable medical conditions.
And medical center fellows trained with these monies conduct cutting-edge research in health care disparities and how to improve cancer screening. Sacramentoans have been well served because of this investment in the health of the community.
But, again, title VII funding is eliminated in this bill without regard for these long-term impacts. And so, again, we see yet one more example of the misguided priorities contained in this year's budget.
Let me close by talking about this commitment to the future in a slightly different way. Growing up, I never doubted that I would have the opportunity to go to college. And never once did I doubt a doctor would be there when I fell ill.
But, Mr. Speaker, not all Americans are lucky enough to have these assurances. The way in which we as a Nation meet the gap between the world we want to raise our children in and the challenges of life speaks directly to the values we hold. This bill absolutely fails in that vision.
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