Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006 -- (Senate - November 18, 2005)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. REED. Mr. President, the instructions that the Senator from Pennsylvania sent to the Chair, in my understanding, would designate the full amount of LIHEAP funding that is currently in the appropriations bill as emergency spending.

I understand the motivation. This bill is underfunded. There are valuable programs that need additional resources. Both the Senator from Pennsylvania and the Senator from Iowa strove mightily to try to provide those resources. They are attempting today to try to free up about $2 billion to classify some money as emergency spending, LIHEAP money. I understand the motivation, but I think it is extremely poor policy.

This LIHEAP program is composed of two components. There is a regular formula program which each and every year every State in this country depends upon to provide heating and cooling assistance to its citizens.

The application process begins before the heating and cooling season. It is usually conducted from community action centers. This whole infrastructure suddenly now is going to be declared an emergency process. That would send a terrible signal throughout this country about our commitment to low-income heating assistance. It would open a situation of uncertainty and a situation that would be counterproductive to helping poor people struggling with heating bills in the winter and cooling bills in the summer.

This would, again, in my view, create a terrible precedent. We have over the last several weeks in this Chamber supported funding of LIHEAP, not on an emergency basis, but on a full authorization basis of $5.1 billion. We did it last evening. Unfortunately, because of procedural obstacles, we needed 60 votes. Last evening, a majority of this Senate voted to increase LIHEAP funding to $5.1 billion, offsetting it by a temporary windfall profits tax. Previously, even a larger majority of the Senate voted simply to appropriate $5.1 billion. Today we are on this floor saying not only are we not talking about $5.1 billion, we are talking about the regular formula money in the regular program suddenly is an emergency. That is not the emergency funding that LIHEAP sometimes gets. This funding supports year in and year out the needs of people who we know have low income. They are seniors, they are disabled, and they are low-income working families, and they will anticipate heating and cooling bills. There is no emergency here.

One of the real problems is, because we call it an emergency, no funds can be disbursed until the President declares an emergency. When will that declaration take place? Will it take place in August so these community action agencies can start requesting applications, processing applications, or will it take place in October or November or January? If it does, then this is going to cause chaos.

We were looking weeks ago at the chaos caused in the wake of Katrina because Federal programs were not realistically grounded in what was happening. This policy is going to throw a monkey wrench into the normal operations of the LIHEAP program.

It also sends a terrible signal, if it is adopted, because we are saying that no longer do we have a regular program committed to helping poor people--seniors, the disabled--with their heating and cooling bills. What we have is something that may or may not exist every year.

I know people will stand up and say, Oh, come on, the reality is they are going to have to declare it this year as an emergency. I do not entirely agree. But more importantly, when next year we are looking, under excruciating budget pressure, for additional resources, there will be the susceptibility to taking this approach, saying we will use this gimmick again. I suspect the administration--I am not the expert in budgets, but I expect the administration will say: This is a great deal they have handed us. We can send up the programs we like in the regular budget and say all of this LIHEAP is just emergency.

I am terribly concerned about this. Again, we have spent the last several weeks in this body, on a bipartisan basis, a majority of our colleagues saying not only is this not an emergency program, this is a program that should be funded even more than $2.1 billion.

So I must express my deep opposition to this proposal. I immensely respect Senator Harkin and Senator Specter. I know they are laboring under excruciating budget constraints that are squeezing out money for programs that are necessary for America's families, America's children, America's health care, America's future. But in this desperate moment, it is not a time to undercut a program that serves every State in this country well and serves people who need help, particularly as this winter approaches. I reserve the remainder of my time.

http://thomas.loc.gov/