Washington, D.C. - Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this FY 2006 Labor-HHS Conference Report.
Almost a month ago, this House rejected an earlier version of this legislation by a vote of 209-224 because it shortchanged the nation's critical education, health care and job training priorities.
Today we are being asked to pass judgment again on a virtually identical piece of legislation--as if shuffling $180 million between accounts in a $602 billion conference report can begin to compensate for the deficiencies in the underlying bill.
Mr. Speaker, the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill used to be called ``the people's bill.'' So what are the people getting today? Here's a sample from this legislation's Hall of Shame:
There are $779 million in cuts for No Child Left Behind, meaning 3.1 million kids won't get the reading and math help they were promised.
A freeze in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, LlHEAP--despite the 44 percent increase in natural gas prices and 24 percent increase in home heating oil prices expected this winter. This House has refused to provide sufficient help to families in need despite the fact that it voted a few months ago to give the oil and gas industry a $14 billion tax subsidy.
A cut in real terms from the budget of the National Institutes of Health that will result in NIH funding 505 fewer research grants than it did just two years ago.
A 5 percent cut in critical services for the 7.4 million unemployed and displaced workers left behind by our increasingly globalized economy.
Mr. Speaker, the list goes on and on.
While this conference report is not completely without merit--ranging from its increased funding for rural health to the reinstatement of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' women worker survey--its overarching trajectory falls far short of what our nation and its people deserve. I do not believe that it reflects the values and priorities of the American people.