Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006
DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - November 17, 2005)
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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I am sorry that the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) left the floor. The majority party neither funds the appropriate priorities in this bill nor meets its responsibilities for fiscal sound management of the Federal Government. It has taken this Nation $3 trillion into additional debt in the last 56, 58 months. During the last 4 years of the Clinton administration, we did not have to increase the debt once, not once.
Mr. Speaker, this appropriations conference report betrays our Nation's values and its future. It is neither compassionate, conservative nor wise, and I will vote against it.
Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, including my Republican friends on the Labor Health Committee, claim that there is little they can do to improve the funding levels in this key domestic program. They say that they have no options, no alternative, that they are only complying with the funding levels dictated by the Republican budget resolution, a resolution which results in an additional almost trillion dollars in additional debt.
But let me remind them, you voted for that budget resolution and you cannot have it both ways. You cannot vote for draconian cuts in April and disclaim responsibility when those cuts are enacted in November.
At a time when we should be striving to make American schools and American students the best and the most competitive in the world, this bill insures that our Nation falls further and further behind. Unconscionably, this conference report cuts the Federal investment in education below current levels by $59 million, for the first time in a decade. And it cuts funding for No Child Left Behind by $784 million, 3.2 percent cut, below the current level. This means that we have now reached a $40 billion cumulative shortfall below the amount we promised our children when President Bush signed this bill into law. We do nothing in this bill to make higher education more accessible.
In my State, and I am sure in the chairman's State, and the chairman I do not criticize. He is given what he is given and he does the best he can. But in my state, costs have gone up for college kids and their families. Despite the President's 2000 campaign promise to increase the maximum Pell Grant to $5,100, despite that promise, this bill freezes the maximum Pell Grant at over 25 percent below that, at $4,050. For the fourth year in a row, that promise has been broken, while tuition and fees have increased 46 percent since 2001.
However, the inappropriate funding levels in this conference report should not surprise anyone. They are the inevitable consequence, and I am glad my friend from Indiana has returned, because the budget deficits confronting this Nation and the underfunding of priorities in this Nation are the inevitable consequence of the fiscal policies of the Republican majority and this administration, policies that starve the government resources.
So let everyone here and everyone watching at home understand, the funding levels contained in this conference report are the direct consequence of the Republican Party's failed economic policies that have spawned record budget deficits. Why? Because the next bill that is coming down the line will cut taxes by some $70 billion. As the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) asked, is it saving money? It is not. And those failed policies are the proximate cause of this woefully underfunded and unacceptable conference report.
When we started on this budget disaster, Jim Nussle, Republican leader of the Budget Committee said this: ``We do not touch Social Security. It does not touch Medicare. In fact, this budget accomplishes the largest reduction of the debt held by the public in our history. The bill does not change in one way, shape or form. And by the end of 10 years, this budget will have eliminated the debt held by the public.''
In fact, it has taken, contrary to Mr. Nussle's representations, $3 trillion, with a T, additional debt has been accumulated under these budgets. All they do is underfund priorities and adopt fiscally irresponsible policies. What a shame for America. Together America can do better.
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