Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. ADERHOLT. 5894, and that I may include tabular material on the same.

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support this morning of H.R. 5894, the FY 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and related agencies bill.

This is my first year as chair of this very important subcommittee, and I am proud to be able to support programs that touch the lives of literally every American in one form or fashion.

Our Nation remains mired in high inflation, which was only worsened by the massive infusion of government spending, both during and immediately after the COVID pandemic. I have said on numerous occasions that inflation is a tax on every single American. Moreover, it is a tax borne disproportionately by low-income Americans.

We cannot continue to make our constituents pay for our reckless D.C. beltway spending. At some point, we must stop the out-of-control spending spree that we have seen over the past 2 years. This bill that is before the House this morning represents a clear first step toward returning to fiscal responsibility while at the same time ensuring that funding for critical and high-priority functions are maintained.

Yes, the bill before us today reflects the challenges in achieving deficit reduction solely through reductions in discretionary spending. To be honest, a $60 billion cut to social spending programs in this bill requires scrutiny and priority setting.

Over 50 programs are proposed for reduction and another 60 programs are eliminated. Most of those that are eliminated are unauthorized or they have expired authorizations. Title I grants to States are cut by almost 80 percent, or more than $14 billion.

While title I grants do support school districts everywhere, including rural districts and the districts back in Alabama that I represent, these funds disproportionately support big city public schools, those same public schools that failed to educate the most vulnerable children that were entrusted to them by closing their doors for almost 2 years during the pandemic.

It is estimated that over $20 billion in unspent funding still remains available from those funds that were provided during the pandemic to these schools. Until this funding--over $21 billion--is drawn down and used responsibly, the Federal Government should not continue to make further investments in these failing schools.

At the same time, the priorities of this bill are biodefense, programs that support rural America, targeted education programs, including those for children with special needs and congressional oversight responsibilities.

The bill also maintains support for Pell grants and language to ensure borrowers can quickly resume payments of their student loans following the recent Supreme Court decision.

Other programs for certain vulnerable populations, such as Americans with disabilities, older Americans, and foster children, are maintained at current levels.

Childcare block grants, which provide vouchers for families to choose childcare settings of their choice, are maintained at $8 billion.

In response to this administration's executive branch overreach, this bill prohibits funding for programs focused solely on diversity, equity, and inclusion. It eliminates funding for Planned Parenthood and other controversial grantees. It also protects religious freedom and values by stopping the administration's regulations that would require schools to allow biological boys to compete against girls in women's sports programs and prohibiting any Federal funding from going toward enforcing gender identity politics or social, hormonal, or surgical interventions to look like the opposite sex.

The bill prohibits funding for controversial ideologies like critical race theory. These radical views do not belong in public schools. Schools should be teaching our children how to think, not what to think.

The bill maintains the longstanding Hyde amendment to ensure that taxpayer funds are not used for abortion on demand and that no one is forced to participate in an abortion or refer for one under any Federal program.

The bill also makes sure that taxpayer funds are not used to circumvent State laws restricting abortion and also ensures that Federal research funds are not used on human fetal tissue obtained from an elective abortion.

Furthermore, the bill before us also includes provisions preventing this administration from moving forward with job-killing regulations that relate to independent contractors, joint employer status, and federally forced wage rates for agricultural workers. The administration's regulatory agenda is stifling small businesses, which should be an incubator for innovation.

To protect against man-made pandemics, the bill prohibits any funding from going to EcoHealth Alliance, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or any lab located in Russia or China. The bill also prohibits funding from being used for any gain-of-function research, which was being used on bat coronavirus prior to the COVID pandemic, and it prohibits enforcement of the CMS COVID vaccine mandate on healthcare workers.

In closing, Mr. Chairman, in addition to thanking everybody that has had a part in this, I want to say a special thanks to the chair of our committee, Chairwoman Granger, and also my fellow subcommittee members and their staff. I certainly also thank the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee staff on both the Democrat and the Republican side, as we have had to work through this bill over the last several months. I just appreciate everyone's hard work and input as we have moved forward on this.

Mr. Chairman, I look forward to the debate today, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chair, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Carl).

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of these remarks from my friend and colleague from Alabama (Mr. Carl).

Hospitals in Alabama and, really, across the Nation are facing financial pressure because of healthcare disparities created by a specific Medicare regulation called the Medicare area wage index, as Mr. Carl just mentioned.

The wage index system is broken. It is punishing cost-effective hospitals in so many rural areas. Despite increases in labor costs, the wage index in these States consistently decreases over the years, and the decline is projected to continue.

I thank the gentleman from Alabama for raising this issue here today. Although this is primarily under the jurisdiction of the authorizing committees, I am proud that this bill includes provisions drawing attention to this very important issue.

I hope that, moving forward, Congress can work to address this long- broken system, which is continuing to create serious challenges for our rural hospitals and their communities.

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Steube).
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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chair, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Ciscomani), a member of our Appropriations Committee that has been very helpful on this bill that is before us today.

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chair, I thank Mr. Ciscomani for his comments.

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 5894--Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024.

House Republicans had an opportunity to engage in a productive, bipartisan appropriations process, but instead are wasting time with partisan bills that cut domestic spending to levels well below the Fiscal Responsibility Act agreement and endanger critical services for the American people.

As with all the additional appropriation bills that have been up for consideration on the House Floor, I strongly oppose the passage of this bill for a myriad of reasons.

The 2024 Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act provides $163 billion, which is a 28 percent cut of $64 billion, and brings us back to a level unseen since 2008.

This dangerous and irresponsible legislation would do the following:

Decimate support for children in K-12 elementary schools and early childhood education.

Abandon college students and low-income workers trying to improve their lives through higher education or job training.

Stifle lifesaving biomedical innovation by cutting funding for cancer research, mental health research, and neurological research, and by slashing funding for advanced research projects intended to develop new cures and therapies.

Surrender to ongoing public health crises in mental health, opioid use, HIV/AIDS, and health disparities.

Harm women's health by cutting programs that support maternal and child health, eliminating programs that provide access to health services and contraception, and adding numerous partisan and poison pill riders related to abortion and reproductive health.

This bill is out of regular order. It was never marked up and considered in the House Appropriations committee.

There is no example of this happening in the last 20 years.

House Republicans are stripping $63.8 billion away from Texas, making it harder for Texans to access education, health care, employment, and more.

I think we can all agree children are our future and that we should invest to make our future better and brighter.

As Chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I am extremely passionate about the wellbeing and education of children.

Which is why I offered the Jackson Lee Amendment No. 51 as incorporated in the En Bloc.

Despite the horrible provisions throughout the entirety of this appropriations bill, the Jackson Lee Amendment No. 51 as incorporated into En Bloc Amendment is an important amendment that would increase by $2 million the Head Start Act, including Head Start partnerships.

One of the objectives of the Congressional Children's Caucus is to ensure that all the children in this country have an opportunity to receive an education, including early childhood development.

Head Start helps all children succeed, especially vulnerable children.

If we continue to underfund education in the United States, our children will suffer, we will dismantle public education, and we will be weaker as a nation.

This legislation would kick teachers out of classrooms.

The United States is already in a teacher shortage and this bill would cut another 22,300 teachers from Texas schools due to cuts from Title 1.

This bill would severely impact teachers and students all over the state of Texas, where the Texas Education Agency has already decided to unnecessarily takeover Houston ISD.

Houston ISD is the largest school district in the state, with a student population of more than 200,000, according to a breakdown by the Texas Tribune.

A TEA takeover would have a negative impact on each Independent School District (ISD) because a board of managers are not elected, and they don't have to answer to the constituents in those districts.

State takeovers in other districts have led to school closures, layoffs, and no improvements in test scores.

The vast majority of school districts that have been taken over by state agencies (TEA included) have not improved but declined.

TEA has no experience managing a district of 200k-plus scholars and we should not suffer as the guinea pigs.

Texas is behind the national average of how much the state spends per student in the classroom.

More specifically, data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that Texas spends $3,000 less than the national average.

We have to stop the State from intermeddling and overstepping into our educational systems--causing further harm and damage to our communities.

This legislation will make cuts to schools and communities that are already suffering.

With the pandemic, burnout and the rise in the cost of living, teachers are already struggling, and this bill will only add to that.

Without the support of our teachers, students will be left behind.

I also offered the Jackson Lee Amendment No. 24 as incorporated in the En Bloc.

Again, despite the horrible provisions throughout the entirety of this bill, the Jackson Lee Amendment No. 24 as incorporated into En Bloc Amendment is an important amendment that would increase and decrease by $2 million the National Cancer Institute in order to research triple negative breast cancer.

Breast cancer accounts for 12.5 percent of all new annual cancer cases worldwide, making it the most common cancer in the world.

This issue is extremely important, especially for the brave men and women in the military, who are up to 20-40 percent more likely to develop breast cancer.

There are few people in this country whose lives have not been touched by breast cancer.

Yet, there are persistent disparities in breast cancer incidence and death rates.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States for Black and Hispanic women.

Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer than women of any other racial or ethnic group.

Experts believe that it's partially because about 1 in 5 Black women is diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, more than any other racial or ethnic group.

Compared with non-Hispanic white women, Black women are less likely to receive guideline adherent care and have an approximate 2-fold higher mortality incidence, resulting in a disproportionately higher risk of death from Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

Triple Negative Breast Cancer (``TNBC'') is one of many forms of breast cancer and accounts for about 15-30 percent of all diagnosed invasive breast cancer cases in the United States.

Due to its aggressive behavior, TNBC grows quickly and is more likely to have spread at the time it is found and is more likely to come back after treatment than other types of breast cancer.

TNBC cells do not contain (are ``negative for'') three key receptors that medicines typically target in other types of breast cancers; therefore, there are limited treatment options that can be used to treat the cancer.

Patients with an early diagnosis can often be treated with chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery; however, the limited therapies available specifically addressing the management of TNBC has made treating this disease a challenge for clinicians.

Recent innovation in targeted therapies have fueled advances in the fight against TNBC.

Advances in breast cancer screening and treatment over the last few decades have reduced the overall breast cancer mortality rate, yet the disproportionate impact of TNBC on racial and ethnic minority communities raises considerations about the underlying determinants driving the disparities.

It is necessary to promote TNBC education, raise awareness about the disease-related disparities, and tackle inequities within the health care delivery such as inadequate access to screening, diagnostic testing, and care, to improve early detection and survival.

Providing the NIH with the resources necessary to research TNBC could save thousands of lives each year.

The Jackson Lee Amendment No. 24 would allow for more research so we can one day hopefully learn a way to reduce the number of Americans affected by breast cancer.

Additionally, I have introduced H.R. 225, the Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Research and Education Act of 2023, which focuses on expanding, intensifying, and coordinating programs for the conduct and support of research on triple-negative breast cancer, a type of breast cancer that is difficult to detect but disproportionately impacts African American and Hispanic women.

While these Jackson Lee Amendments are important, the negatives of this appropriations bill vastly outweigh these positive amendments-- which is why H.R. 5894 must be voted down.

Importantly, this bill is harmful for women's reproductive rights.

Access to abortion and fertility care is essential to a person's freedom, including for service members, to make decisions about their health and well-being, and having control over their economic security.

Anti-abortion policymakers want to take away women's ability to make personal decisions about their health and safety.

We must defend their freedom to control their own bodies, lives, and futures.

The shameful attacks on women's reproductive health rights make it crystal clear: anti-abortion lawmakers will take any action to ensure people cannot access abortion care.

Anti-abortion lawmakers are pushing an extreme agenda to take away service women's freedom and autonomy, all while trying to claim they support women's rights.

Access to reproductive health care, including abortion and fertility care, is critical to our democracy and overall well-being as a free nation.

As policymakers, we must ensure that all Americans can access abortion care without barriers.

We aren't truly free unless we can control our own bodies, lives, and futures.

Our laws and policies should protect our rights, not try to control and dehumanize us.

This bill will undoubtedly have a devastating impact on all Americans.

As we know, the National Institutes of Health has had major progress in human health advances, promising medical findings, and research insights.

Yet, significant cuts to NIH make maintaining American research and development leadership worldwide more challenging at a time when competitor nations are increasing their support for biomedical research.

Funding cuts will delay progress towards new cures, treatments, and diagnostics that benefit the nation and drive our biomedical innovation economy forward.

Beyond sustaining American leadership in biomedical research, the NIH is a major catalyst for local economies, directly and indirectly supporting over 560,000 jobs and producing $96.84 billion in new economic activity in FY22, equaling an economic return of $2.64 for every $1 in research funding.

This bill eliminates funding for the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (-$220 million), the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (-$165 million), and Community Health Centers Program (-$157 million).

The bill also cuts funding for the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund by 53 percent (-$32 million).

We have made significant advances in HIV/AIDS research and it would be devastating to cut back on the important work that is being done.

Rather than cutting billions of dollars for NIH-supported medical research occurring in nearly every congressional district across the country, the House should build on decades of strong bipartisan support and investment that has led to the lifesaving medications and treatments Americans rely on every day.

We must fund the NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services in order to research and solve conditions such as Triple Negative Breast Cancer, diabetes, and HIV.

This legislation would also impact Federal Work Study programs and Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants making it more difficult than it already is for college students to pay for a higher education and receive financial aid.

The elimination of these programs and the flat funding levels of Pell Grants for the first time since 2012 would create financial emergencies for low-income students.

Cutting these programs would not only drive-up student borrowing and potentially discourage the next generation of students, but it would also create a real and immediate financial shortfall for current low- income students who have rely on these programs to earn their degree.

This legislation would also take away funding from our elderly population.

Under the current LHHS bill there would be a $250 million dollar decrease to the Social Security Administration's customer service budget at a time when the agency continues to struggle to deliver timely and accurate service. This year saw continued record high hold times and wait times for disability claims.

The bill has a $15 million decrease for Elder Rights Supports, funding used to protect older Americans from elder abuse.

The Senior Community Service Employment Program would be eliminated. This program provides the opportunity for tens of thousands of older Americans to find work despite pernicious age discrimination.

This bill negatively impacts every single person in the United States from the youngest to the oldest.

This bill doesn't choose to impact just Republicans or Democrats.

We will all feel the severity of this bill if it is passed.

We cannot better the lives of everyday Americans with this terrible bill that eliminates much of the progress that has been made in education, public health, and the workforce.

This reckless underlying legislation would painfully impact the lives of millions of Americans by making disastrous cuts to programs that workers and families count on every day.

Instead of investing in America, Republicans would rather focus on advancing unpopular and dangerous right-wing priorities.

The proposal in front of us here today is not a reasonable middle ground, nor is it even a starting point for discussion.

I recognize that we are in the midst of austere budgetary and political times, however, we cannot continue to ignore the return on investment that advanced developments in health research, employment assistance, and education will yield to the American public.

I urge all my colleagues to oppose this dangerous and shameful bill.

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 864, I offer amendments en bloc.

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Murphy).

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chair, I yield 3 minutes to gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Harris), the chair of Subcommittee on Agricultural and also a member of our Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services.
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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chair, pursuant to House Resolution 864, I rise in support of the En Bloc Amendment incorporating the Jackson Lee Amendments No. 24 and No. 51 to H.R. 5894--Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024.

I thank my colleagues on the Rules Committee for making in order Jackson Lee Amendment No. 24 and No. 51 and for including them in the bipartisan En Bloc Amendment.

The Jackson Lee Amendments No. 24 and No. 51 are potentially life altering amendments in an unfortunate and distracting appropriations bill.

The Jackson Lee Amendment No. 24 as incorporated into En Bloc Amendment is an important amendment that seeks to increase and decrease by $2 million the National Cancer Institute in order to research triple negative breast cancer.

Breast cancer accounts for 12.5 percent of all new annual cancer cases worldwide, making it the most common cancer in the world.

This issue is extremely important, especially for the brave men and women in the military, who are up to 20 to 40 percent more likely to develop breast cancer.

There are few people in this country whose lives have not been touched by breast cancer.

Yet, there are persistent disparities in breast cancer incidence and death rates.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States for Black and Hispanic women.

Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer than women of any other racial or ethnic group.

Experts believe that it's partially because about 1 in 5 Black women is diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, more than any other racial or ethnic group.

Compared with non-Hispanic white women, Black women are less likely to receive guideline adherent care and have an approximate 2-fold higher mortality incidence, resulting in a disproportionately higher risk of death from Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

Triple Negative Breast Cancer (``TNBC'') is one of many forms of breast cancer and accounts for about 15 to 30 percent of all diagnosed invasive breast cancer cases in the United States.

Due to its aggressive behavior, TNBC grows quickly and is more likely to have spread at the time it is found and is more likely to come back after treatment than other types of breast cancer.

TNBC cells do not contain (are ``negative for'') three key receptors that medicines typically target in other types of breast cancers; therefore, there are limited treatment options that can be used to treat the cancer.

Patients with an early diagnosis can often be treated with chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery; however, the limited therapies available specifically addressing the management of TNBC has made treating this disease a challenge for clinicians.

Recent innovation in targeted therapies have fueled advances in the fight against TNBC.

Advances in breast cancer screening and treatment over the last few decades have reduced the overall breast cancer mortality rate, yet the disproportionate impact of TNBC on racial and ethnic minority communities raises considerations about the underlying determinants driving the disparities.

It is necessary to promote TNBC education, raise awareness about the disease-related disparities, and tackle inequities within the health care delivery such as inadequate access to screening, diagnostic testing, and care, to improve early detection and survival.

The Jackson Lee Amendment No. 24 would allow for more research so we can one day hopefully learn a way to reduce the number of Americans affected by breast cancer.

Additionally, I have introduced H.R. 225, the Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Research and Education Act of 2023, which focuses on expanding, intensifying, and coordinating programs for the conduct and support of research on triple-negative breast cancer, a type of breast cancer that is difficult to detect but disproportionately impacts African American and Hispanic women.

The Jackson Lee Amendment No. 51 as incorporated into En Bloc Amendment is an important amendment that seeks to increase and decrease by $2 million the Head Start Act, including Head Start partnerships.

I think we can all agree children are our future and that we should invest to make our future better and brighter.

As Chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I am extremely passionate about the wellbeing and education of children.

One of the objectives of the Congressional Children's Caucus is to ensure that all the children in this country have an opportunity to receive an education, including early childhood development.

Head Start helps all children succeed, especially vulnerable children.

If we continue to underfund education in the United States our children will suffer, we will dismantle public education, and we will be weaker as a nation.

This legislation would kick teachers out of classrooms.

The United States is already in a teacher shortage and this bill would cut another 22,300 teachers from Texas schools due to cuts from Title 1.

This bill would severely impact teachers and students all over the state of Texas, where the Texas Education Agency has already decided to unnecessarily takeover Houston ISD.

Houston ISD is the largest school district in the state, with a student population of more than 200,000, according to a breakdown by the Texas Tribune.

A TEA takeover would have a negative impact on each Independent School District (ISD) because a board of managers are not elected, and they don't have to answer to the constituents in those districts.

State takeovers in other districts have led to school closures, layoffs, and no improvements in test scores.

The vast majority of school districts that have been taken over by state agencies (TEA included) have not improved but declined.

TEA has no experience managing a district of 200k plus scholars and we should not suffer as the guinea pigs.

Texas is behind the national average of how much the state spends per student in the classroom.

More specifically, data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that Texas spends $3,000 less than the national average.

We have to stop the State from intermeddling and overstepping into our educational systems--causing further harm and damage to our communities.

This legislation will make cuts to schools and communities that are already suffering.

With the pandemic, burnout and the rise in the cost of living, teachers are already struggling, and this bill will only add to that.

Without the support of our teachers, students will be left behind.

I recognize that we are in the midst of austere budgetary and political times, however, we cannot continue to ignore the return on investment that advanced developments in health research and education will yield to the American public.

For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support the bipartisan En Bloc Amendment incorporating my amendment, the Jackson Lee Amendments No. 24 and No. 51.

While the negatives of this appropriations bill disappointingly outweigh my positive amendments, I respectfully ask my colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment notwithstanding my strong opposition and encouragement to vote down the underlying bill.

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

The motion was agreed to.

Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Van Drew) having assumed the chair, Mr. Calvert, Acting Chair of the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5894) making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes, had come to no resolution thereon.

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