Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Chairman, I want to begin by saying how much I, frankly, appreciate the gentleman's amendment.
Many programs in this bill, frankly, were eliminated or substantially reduced to stay within the allocation, which, as I know my good friend knows, was $5 billion below the FY 2017 enacted level. Some other programs, including job training programs for youth, were reduced by relatively modest amounts, again, to stay within the allocation. The total amount in the bill for youth job training grants is $832 million, a reduction over last year of just 4.5 percent.

While I support the job training grants and programs in question, I oppose the amendment out of concern that the offset to the Department of Labor's administration account will be too hard to absorb, including the administrative reductions already included in the bill.

I will commit to my friend that we will try to work with him through the process and see if there is some way that we can get these funds restored going forward.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Chairman, I want to begin by thanking my friend for the amendment, quite frankly. And while I understand and share many of the gentleman's concerns, most of the accounts that this amendment reduces have already been reduced in the bill. The allocations we are working on required us to find efficiencies and savings wherever possible.

I believe that cutting the administrative accounts in this amendment by another 10 percent would unnecessarily increase the risk of significant disruption of services, and oversight responsibility the agencies in this bill are charged with.

While I oppose the amendment for these reasons, I want to pledge to my friend that I will continue to work with him and others to identify specific areas where additional efficiencies and savings can be realized. And I know my friend also feels strongly about entitlement reform, where the real money is, and I look forward to working with him on that as well.

But in the meantime, Mr. Chairman, I must urge the rejection of the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Chairman, I want to begin by saying how much I regret-- I know my friend regrets that our good friend wasn't here to offer her amendment here this evening, and I appreciate my good friend from Wisconsin stepping up and doing that. He is a very valued member of this subcommittee, and one who contributes mightily to its deliberations.

I certainly understand the concern of some with the relatively modest reductions in this bill at labor enforcement agencies at the Department of Labor. It has been the subcommittee's policy for many years to protect workers' health and safety by increasing funding for compliance assistance, and reducing enforcement activities. That is exactly what this bill actually does.

I appreciate that the subcommittee has had to reduce funding for many programs in the bill to work within its allocation. My concern with this amendment is the substantial offset of the department management funds at the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

Mr. Chairman, for that reason, I oppose the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman's amendment, and I agree that worker safety is one of the

[[Page H7281]]

Department of Labor's most important functions. I think, however, we just disagree on the most effective ways the Federal Government can help with that effort. This bill actually increases compliance assistance programs at the OSHA to do just that, so I will oppose the gentleman's amendment which would offset the increases to OSHA enforcement by reducing critical compliance assistance efforts that many of our Members strongly support.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentlewoman's amendment, and I certainty support the Women's Bureau at the Department of Labor.

Many programs in this bill were eliminated or substantially reduced to stay within our allocation. In contrast, the Women's Bureau was reduced by a relatively modest $1 million. The administration budget request proposed reducing the Women's Bureau by $8.5 million, clearly a reduction the committee did not agree with in the bill.

I understand the importance of many of these programs, and these are some of the difficult decisions that have to be made to fund bipartisan priorities in this bill like increases in funding to the NIH and to TRIO and yet still stay within our allocation. I expect and hope that as the process moves forward and we negotiate a bipartisan funding agreement, we will have further discussions regarding the funding of the Women's Bureau.

Mr. Chairman, I regret having to oppose the gentlewoman's amendment at this time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Chairman, the gentlewoman from New York, representing the gentlewoman from New Mexico, raises a very important point.

The amendment offered is for an increase to a workforce training program. Our committee understands the value of this program, which is why we did not accept the administration's budget request which actually terminated the program. We were able to fund it, though, below last year's level.

Our committee received an allocation that was lower than fiscal year 2017, and as I have explained several times before and doubtless will again, we had to make some very tough decisions. I do pledge to work with the gentlewoman as we work toward the fiscal year 2018 final bill.

At this time, though, I must oppose the amendment and urge its rejection.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Chairman, frankly, there is considerable merit to the amendment the gentlewoman is suggesting.

The amendment offered is for an increase to the workforce training program. Our committee understands the value of this program, which is why we did not accept the administration's budget request, which terminated the program. We were able to fund it, though, below last year's level. However, I will certainly commit to my friend that we will work with her as we go through the process toward the final bill, and hopefully we can find a way to increase this at a later time.

At this time, however, Mr. Chairman, I must oppose the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank my friend for his amendment.

I wish I could support it, quite frankly, because I very much support Healthy Start and very much appreciate his support for that program.

[[Page H7284]]

As the gentleman knows, again, our subcommittee received an allocation below last year's level. As a result, we did not have the ability to increase funding for some programs, this one included.

The gentleman's amendment offsets the increase with a reduction in the resources for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out his responsibilities. A reduction of this size would hinder the Secretary's ability to administer the program effectively. For this reason, I oppose the amendment.

I want to assure my friend, as we work our way through this process, I am going to try and work with him to see if we can find a way to actually increase those funds, but at this point, we simply don't have them available.
For that reason, Mr. Chairman, I oppose the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Chairman, I have considerable sympathy with my friend's concerns. Frankly, I think he has certainly every right to be concerned about a hospital in his district. I certainly agree with an effort to put additional funding for the opioid epidemic, for pediatric cancer, and for Alzheimer's disease. These are all critical issues facing our country.

Nevertheless, I must oppose the amendment. The bill actually includes $126 million within the CDC for surveillance and prevention of opioid misuse, which continues the large increase provided in fiscal year 2017. The bill also provides a $1.1 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health, which includes a targeted increase of $400 million for research on Alzheimer's disease, as well as increases for each institute center, including the National

[[Page H7285]]

Cancer Institute, to support vital research on disease such as pediatric cancer.

Furthermore, the bill also continues to provide funds authorized in the 21st Century Cures Act, including $300 million for the Cancer Moonshot, and $500 million for opioid abuse.

Finally, the reduction of funding at CMS proposed by my friend would weaken the agency's ability to properly manage and administer Medicare and Medicaid. So for that reason, I must oppose my friend's amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentlewoman for working with us on this, and I want to assure that we will work with her. I appreciate her concern for the Community Services Block Grant program.

As my good friend from New York knows, that program was actually zeroed out in the administration's budget.

We replaced $600 million of $715 million, but it clearly is an important program to many Members on both sides of the aisle, has a superb reputation, and we are going to do everything that we possibly can to build upon that and get back to at least the fiscal year 2017 level.

The gentlewoman's leadership in this is greatly appreciated, and we look forward to working with her as we go forward.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentlewoman's concern. She is a very valuable member of the subcommittee.

This is an area in which she not only has considerable passion, but considerable expertise.

However, as the gentlewoman also knows, we have an allocation well below last year's level, and we had to make, again, a difficult decision.

Reduction of this magnitude of the Health and Human Services' administrative functions would eliminate the core funding for the Secretary's office completely, and for that reason I would oppose the amendment.

However, I want the gentlewoman and, certainly, our good mutual friend from Connecticut whom she is representing tonight to know that, as we work with our colleagues in the Senate on a bill to reach the President's desk, I intend to work on these issues with her and with my friends on both sides of the aisle to address the concerns that she raised in her remarks.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source