Further Conference Report on H.R. 3010, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006
FURTHER CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 3010, DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - December 14, 2005)
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Mr. WALSH. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Regula for his leadership on this bill. This bill, of all bills, has a very, very strong history of bipartisanship. One of the predecessor chairmen of this bill was a fellow named Bill Natcher who served with great distinction in this House for 40 years. Never missed a vote. And when he would get up and ask for bipartisan support for this bill, he would get it. As a member of the minority, for year after year I voted for this bill because it is the people's bill, because the needs of the American public are met by this bill. And the people who pay the taxes benefit in large part from the services and support programs provided in this bill. There are over 500 programs in this bill. It is a very complex bill, something that our chairman, Mr. Regula, understands better than anyone. And he knows this bill inside and out. So I would appeal to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to provide the same level of nonpartisanship that we did when we were in the minority.
The American public is very concerned about the level of acrimony and partisanship here in Washington today. Here is a day, here is a bill where we can set that aside and work together to provide a bipartisan vote to support this bill. Is it a perfect bill? No. But it is a good bill. And there is an old saying: Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. And this is a very good bill.
We do not have unlimited resources in this country. We have to make priorities. And Chairman Regula has done that. Under his leadership, and since our party became the majority party, we have doubled--doubled the amount of Federal aid to public education. We have doubled. That is an astounding number. And there is an even better one. We have tripled the funding for the National Institutes of Health, the institute that provides the research, that supports the research done at American colleges and research institutions around the country, that gives us, this country, the level of quality of health care that it has, the best in the world. So we not only have set these priorities in a very tough budget year, but he has increased funding. By making further changes in the bill, Chairman Regula has provided an additional $100 million for funding for special education to States.
Now, again, both parties have been very supportive over the years of the Individuals in Education Act. We, our party, I think, to our credit, have dramatically increased the level of funding in IDEA. The Democrats did their part. We are doing our part.
We have, again, increased LIHEAP, which is very important in my part of the country, in the Northeast. And community health centers, for the people who do not have health insurance in this country, here is an opportunity to help them, to provide health care, good solid health care that we all need. So I just hope that we can set partisanship and some of that acrimony that we all have to deal with on a daily basis down here; let us set it aside on this really good, solid effort, and let us all support this bill.
And I thank Chairman Regula for his leadership, and I am proud to be a member of this subcommittee.
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