Department of Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. I rise in strong opposition to this continuing resolution. It makes permanent, deep, indiscriminate, and harmful across-the-board cuts--cuts that will cost our country hundreds of thousands of jobs, and will hamstring our economic recovery. It will cost 750,000 jobs, according to the Congressional Budget Office and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

If you vote ``yes'':

You vote for $400 million in cuts to Head Start--70,000 children will lose access;

You vote to slash $282 million from job training programs;

You vote to cut $731 million from Title I grants--that means 2,500 schools will be forced to stop providing this crucial aid to 1 million children;

You are voting to cut over $580 million from special education grants--that shifts the cost of 300,000 students with special needs to State and local education agencies;

You vote to cut $115 million from child care at a time when only one in six of the children eligible for child care assistance are receiving it--30,000 more kids will lose this aid;

You vote to starve implementation of the Affordable Care Act at a time when the health reforms we passed are being implemented;

You vote to cut funding for vaccinations and cancer screenings.

These cuts only add to the deep cuts that have already been made: $12 billion since 2002 have been made to labor, education, and health programs, in addition to which the Budget Control Act added another $9 billion, and this resolution will add $7 billion more in cuts to what are critical priorities for this Nation.

We cannot shortchange all of these fundamental priorities. It is time for this institution to exercise its moral responsibility. Use our budget as a vehicle for job creation and economic growth. I urge my colleagues to oppose this dangerous resolution.

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