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

Floor Speech

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 5894, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The bill before us today is unprecedented in many unfortunate ways. This bill makes devastating cuts across some of our most vital government agencies; it decimates education spending, abandons low-income workers and college students, stifles medical innovation, and harms women's health.

This bill was pulled from consideration on the House Floor because Republicans do not have the support within their own Conference to pass this legislation. It is another example in a long line of Appropriations failures by House Republican leadership, where there has been no effort to find middle ground and find a bipartisan path forward.

Let me begin with House Republicans' unilateral decision to skip the full committee markup for this bill and for the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Act. House Democrats were denied the opportunity to debate, amend, and mark up H.R. 5894 in committee. This bill is so deeply unpopular that Republican appropriators did not want to go on the record in committee in support of its deep cuts to our nation's education, workforce development, and public health funding.

Not only have House Republicans deviated from the longstanding committee process, but they have taken the unheard-of step of adding partisan riders to the bill and report in advance of consideration on the House Floor. Democratic appropriators had no say in their inclusion--in fact, we only saw these changes once they had been made public. The report is not amendable on the House Floor, so there was no recourse in challenging any of these new alterations beyond demanding they be removed in the conference process with the Senate.

Now let's talk about some of the policy decisions within H.R. 5894, starting with the astounding 28 percent cut to the Department of Education. This bill decimates support for children in K-12 elementary schools and early childhood education; including an 80 percent cut to Title I that is meant to help the most vulnerable students and school districts in our country.

I have heard from my constituents--teachers, principals, paraprofessionals, parents, and students--that we are facing a crisis in our classrooms. This bill does not address the teacher shortage or the extensive learning loss occurring in our schools post-COVID; and this bill does not help make college more affordable.

Instead, this bill makes devastating cuts to the bedrock of American education, leaves our teachers out in the cold without sufficient resources, and eliminates opportunities for students to access need- based financial aid for their postsecondary education. This bill also eliminates all funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including their educational programming for young children, Ready To Learn.

In addition to education spending cuts, House Republicans have also taken aim at workforce development. This bill eliminates funding for the Federal Work Study, Youth Job Training, and Adult Job Training programs, effectively denying job and employment training services to 420,000 Americans who face barriers to finding a good-paying job. House Republicans also cut $313 million from worker protection agencies like OSHA, putting hardworking Americans at risk at home in Minnesota and across the country.

This bill hurts the National Institutes of Health by cutting $2.8 billion from their topline budget, which will stymy medical innovation. It makes a $139 million cut to the National Institute of Mental Health at a time when our country is facing a mental health crisis. The bill also contains major cuts to the National Cancer Institute, hurting our research and treatment capabilities for those with cancer here in America and around the world.

Unsurprisingly, this bill also takes aim at 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 poison pill riders that further strip a women's right to make medical decisions about her own body with her doctor. H.R. 5894 prohibits funding to Planned Parenthood, eliminates funding for Title X Family Planning, and makes a $35 million cut to the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant.

Supporting our children and families is the bare minimum of what our government should do for its people. This bill fails at every level to do so. Instead of reevaluating their extreme funding bills and working together with Democrats to create legislation that will improve American lives, House Republicans are distracted by their own chaos and are intent on placating the most extreme in their caucus. For these reasons and more, I must oppose H.R. 5894 and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

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