Velázquez on Fiscal Year Continuing Appropriations Act for FY2011

Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez delivered the following statement regarding the Fiscal Year 2011 Continuing Appropriations Act:

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

After five days, we are finally approaching the end of a futile exercise. None of the cuts we are debating will become law. The Senate has made clear this resolution is dead on arrival. The President has promised a veto -- with good reason.

For a long term economic recovery, American workers need training and education that enables them to compete. However, this spending bill cuts education drastically. In my district, it would deprive 22,000 families of almost $1,000 in Pell Grant assistance. Many of these New Yorkers would pay more tuition. Others would be prevented from obtaining their degree, altogether.

That's just one way education suffers. In my community, thirty-two Head Start centers offer early education services. New York City Head Start would lose almost $30 million in funding under this bill. As we build a workforce for the future, cutting services that prepare children to learn is not just immoral, it is unwise.

Other vulnerable citizens would be harmed. New York City would lose $4.4 million in funding from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, forcing the elderly and working families to choose between keeping the heat on and purchasing groceries.

HUD's public housing capital fund would be reduced by 40%. That money ensures elevators work, broken windows get repaired and hallways stay lit. New York City would also lose $129 million in Community Development Funds, resulting in 1,200 layoffs from the City's Department of Housing, Preservation and Development.

This is how you create jobs? I don't think so.

Instead of focusing on job creation, we have wasted a week on a bill that has no chance of being enacted and would cause job losses if it were signed into law. That makes nice politics for some Members of Congress. But the American people don't want politics, they want results.

I yield back.

Source