Providing for Consideration of H.R. 3043, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act...

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3043, DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008

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Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 547 provides for consideration of H.R. 3043, the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Act for 2008 under an open rule. Under this rule, all Members of the House are afforded the opportunity to offer any amendment that is germane and otherwise complies with House rules.

Mr. Speaker, the phrase most often associated with this bill has been ``feast or famine.'' For instance, Congress first doubled funding for the National Institutes of Health between 1999 and 2003 and then flat-lined the agency's funds since then. It was actually cut for the first time in history in fiscal year 2006.

In contrast, this year's bill sticks to the principle of sustainable growth in strategic areas: health research, worker safety and education. I would like to applaud Chairman Obey and Ranking Member Walsh for their hard work in crafting this fair and responsible blueprint for our Nation's future.

Nowhere is this broader strategy of sustainable growth more evident than at the NIH. The underlying legislation provides a modest 2.6 percent increase over last year's level. Such an increase is critical to maintaining America's global leadership in biomedical research. This research will expand the boundaries of human knowledge and keep America at the forefront of the field.

Unfortunately, low or frozen funding levels resulted in almost 1,300 fewer grants from 2003 to 2006. But this year's sustainable increase will allow those grants to expand responsibly.

In particular, I would like to thank the committee for its continued support of the National Children's Study. Its budget within the NIH is very modest, but its impact to children and families will be great. The study will examine environmental effects on childhood development, including autism, asthma and premature birth. For several years, I've been working with the committee and other Members to provide the study with proper support. I'm happy to report that the study has now received widespread and bipartisan support.

I'd also like to highlight the full funding of Ryan White AIDS programs within the bill. Cities and towns all across the country rely on these funds to provide vital health services to individuals with HIV or AIDS. With this funding, the victims of HIV and AIDS will have increased access to medications, primary care and home health care.

In addition to ensuring health care access and advancement, this bill also plans for our children's educational future.

We all realize that the cost of a college education is not getting any cheaper. In fact, it's growing by thousands of dollars a year. So I commend the committee's increase in the maximum Pell Grant by $390 to $4,700. It will permit over 5.5 million students to take advantage of this critical assistance, and it does so without having to reduce other student financial assistance programs, as the administration had proposed.

The underlying legislation also acts responsibly to prepare our Nation's students before they get to college by ensuring better performance at the K-12 grade levels.

Title I grants support schools in high-poverty areas, and they are the engine behind No Child Left Behind. Nonetheless, these grants have been flat-funded or even reduced in the past two school years. This has hindered the ability of title I schools to assist low-performing students. I commend the committee for increasing this fund so that nearly 55,000 title I schools can invest in their young people.

Make no mistake, in a world that increasingly depends on highly skilled employees, this legislation is an investment in the future of our students and in the future competitiveness of this Nation.

In conclusion, I urge all Members to support this rule and the underlying bill. It deals responsibly with the needs of our health care sector, our education system, and the labor market.

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

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Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I'd just like to make a few comments before I yield to the next speaker.

I'd like to say that the President's budget would have cut education programs, health care programs, energy assistance for seniors, avian flu by some $7.6 billion below last year after adjusted for inflation. This bill rejects most of those arbitrary cuts. As a result, some Members have criticized it.

But the bill only increases these funds by a modest 3 percent after adjusting for inflation and population growth. This increase puts the bill a full $2.9 billion below its funding level in 2005. It is interesting logic that when you're spending less than you did 2 years ago, it's out-of-control spending.

The subcommittee's ranking member testified to the Rules Committee last night that he would have written a very similar bill as Mr. Obey did had he been in the chairman's seat. And most of the amendments offered in committee were by the minority seeking to increase various funding levels in the bill.

This bill funds our Nation's health care, education and worker protection programs in a responsible, sustainable manner.

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