Conference Report on H.R. 2055, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. I thank the ranking member. And I want to say a thank you to my colleague, Congressman Dicks, and to the chairman, Mr. Rogers, also to the staff, both majority and minority, for their tireless work in this effort, including David Pomeranz, Steve Crane, David Reich, Lisa Molyneux and Letty Mederos, Susan Frost as well. They did unbelievable work in this effort.

I rise in support of this budget for FY2012. It funds the government at a level consistent with the Budget Control Act without many of the damaging and extraneous ideological riders that marked earlier efforts.

Make no mistake, there are real cuts here, including hard cuts to vital programs like the LIHEAP program, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Still, I believe this legislation has been improved.

In terms of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, the agreement restores $2.9 billion in cuts made in the chairman's draft. These restorations are key investments in job creation, education, and the health and well-being of families that will lead us to recovery. We know, especially as over 13 million of our fellow Americans look for work, that investments in human capital like job training and reemployment services are part of the core, essential role for government. They help responsible people succeed. And I am pleased that this agreement restores the 74 percent cut to job training programs that was proposed in the original chairman's bill, which was never considered before the committee.

Health care is no longer shortchanged. With an aging population and a nursing shortage before us, we need to make wise investments in our health workforce. The programs that help to train primary care doctors, nurses, and other health providers, cut by 61 percent in the majority's draft, are now only cut by 6 percent. Funding for vital mental health services, once cut by 17 percent, are now only cut by 3 percent. And this agreement retains key investments in the Affordable Care Act implementation and in title X.

I'm glad to see the National Institutes of Health receive a funding increase of $299 million; and a new National Center for Advancing Translational Science, as proposed by Director Francis Collins, is established. NIH can now keep funding life-saving research and pushing the frontiers of medical knowledge.

Perhaps no other investments we make are as important as the ones we make in our children. This agreement includes a $16 million increase for the Childcare and Development Block Grant, providing desperately needed aid to working parents for safe and reliable child care. It provides a $424 million increase for Head Start, allowing our kids to continue a path to academic success.

It includes a $60 million increase to title I, supporting schools serving low-income children, and a $100 million increase to IDEA, supporting children with special needs.

One of the hardest issues for this conference has been Pell Grants. The agreement maintains the maximum grant amount of $5,550. For too many students I have met, even a $100 cut would have derailed their prospects for higher education. At the same time, we have made some targeted cost-saving changes to the program that should eliminate the funding shortfall for this year and perhaps next year as well.

I am pleased to see that the virtual elimination of the Corporation for National and Community Service proposed in the majority's draft has been rolled back. Instead of ending AmeriCorps, it will continue.

I intend to support this conference agreement and would encourage others to do so as well.

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