Date: 2011-02-14
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the gentlelady for yielding and thank her for leading. As I see my colleagues on the floor. let me just try to focus on one or two points. And maybe on this Valentines eveningI think a lot of our colleagues who were fortunate enough to have their spouses here rushed off. and were delighted. Let me wish everyone a happy Valentines Day. And let me wish my husband in Texas. far away. a happy Valentines Day. But he might not be having such a good Valentines Day because he is in higher education. And. frankly. this CR is going to put more than a dent. It is going to put a real bite. This is an effort to show you what progress weve made. Private sector employment has increased for 12 straight months. Private employers added more than 1.3 million jobs in 2010. But they have to have an educated workforce. And. as you can see. were going up. The cup is half full and not half empty. But when you have the numbers that Im about to relate to you. where youre seeing Pell Grants cut 15 percentMr. Speaker. I met with my universitiesthe University of Houston. Houston Community College. Lone Star. Texas Southern University. and if there was one thing that they emphasized it is the equal opportunity that is provided to all students through a Pell Grant. If we are to go with the CR as it is. were talking about a reduction in the middle of the school year of $5.550 to $4.705. Do you know what that does to a student? It doesnt tell them. Let me try to ramp up my extra job. It says. I am dropping out. You know what happens to the workforce? It disappears. And so I am concerned that we are in this predicament. So let me tell you something else. I have been a strong champion of the COPS On the Beat program. And we have seen evidence of the fact that we have gained in the downsizing. or the decreasing. of crime. The proposed CR will cut $600 million in funding to communityoriented policing. And. of course. what will happen is 3.000 fewer officers. You can be assured Houston. Texas. which got their first COPS grants just a few months ago. that I worked very hard on. will be one of the victims of that. Let me just conclude by suggesting that one of the points my good friend the assistant leader made. community health clinics is not a partisan issue. It is to give access to all communities. and particularly rural communities. Im from Texas. One of the reasons I fought so hard for community health clinics. particularly under the Bush administration. I actually talked to former President Bush and one of our encounters was to challenge and to encourage how we could in fact secure. if you will. more funding for Texas for community health centers in the rural areas. Im glad we worked together. and actually weve seen a rampup. And weve seen a rampup with the Affordable Care Act. which helps to provide the kind of. if you will. health care for those in faraway communities where there are not enough doctors. Finally. may I say to you that to cut the National Science Foundation is terrible. It doesnt make any sense. And I would offer to say that this is about work. Health care. cops to make it safe. Pell Grants to train the 21stcentury workforce. I know there are colleagues on the other side of the aisle that will work with us to get this CR where it needs to be. I. too. am for a reasoned budgetcutting that we need to do. I did it in years past. We balanced the budget in 1997. We can do it again. I. frankly. believe we should not cut into the very quality of life that is so needed. Let me thank my good friend and the Congressional Black Caucus. working with my other colleagues to ensure that we stand for job creation. investing in job creation. Unfortunately. the CR. as it stands todaythe continuing resolution. for those who are not sure of what that isis not going to work. Lets invest in America. H.R. 1. the Continuing Resolution making appropriations to fund the federal government through September 20. 2011 contains some very deep cuts that will be very hurtful to many Americans. especially those who are the most vulnerabledisadvantaged women and families. children. minorities. and the elderly. The proposed cuts in the CR will have a disproportionate affect the lowincome and minority portions of our population. As we face a large deficit and growing debt. we know that cuts will have to be made. And yes. some of those cuts will be painful. However. we must be careful not to place added burdens and cause greater harm to those Americans who are the most vulnerable in need of our support the most. The proposed CR calls for a 15% reduction in funding for Pell grants. Such a cut will reduce the maximum Pell grant award from its current level of $5.550 to $4.705. This would present a serious problem for institutions of higher learning. but more importantly. it creates a major hardship on students. Current students who receive Pell grants would have to figure out a way to come up with nearly an additional $1.000 in order to continue their education. Students who have been accepted to school and have received their financial aid packages are also put in a position that would force them to find and secure additional funds for their schooling. Pell Grants provide the basic foundation of federal student aid and help more than 8 million students afford to attend college. To some of us. $800-$1.000 may not seem significant. However. to a student who qualifies for Pell grant assistance. and who relies on those funds. this would be a great hardship. potentially forcing students to take time off from their schooling. The proposed CR will cut $1.3 billion of funding previously allocated to support Community Health Centers. These types of facilities are widely utilized in low income areas and oftentimes. are the backbone of health care services in the areas in which they are located. Without them. quality health care for many poor and disadvantaged Americans will be out of reach. Although my Republican colleagues claim that the proposed CR will not cut precious education funding. there are. in fact. significant cuts that will have a detrimental impact on educationespecially higher education. Many fellowships offered at institutions of higher education are funded by competitive and noncompetitive grants issued by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Cutting funding to these organizations will impose a great hardship on students striving to educate themselves in order that they can be competitive in a global economy. Under the proposed CR. NSF funding would be cut by $139 million. Under the proposed CR. NIH funding would be cut by $1 billion. The proposed CR will cut nearly $2 million dollars from the Minority Business Development Agency. The proposed CR would cut $600 million dollars from the Community Oriented Policing Services programs (COPS). Such a cut would require a complete elimination of the hiring programs. Over the years. COPS has funded the hiring of more than 122.000 state and local police officers and sheriffs deputies in communities across America. This proposed cut will prevent the hiring and rehiring of over 3.000 fewer law enforcement officers. The public safety of our communities is important. and during these tough economic times as we recover from one of our countrys worse recessions. every job counts. We can not afford cuts that will cost jobs for hardworking American people. Another instance where the CR disproportionately affects our lowincome. minority population is the cut to WIC funding. The current CR calls for a huge cut. $758 million. to funding for the WIC program. which supplements nutrition for lowincome and disadvantaged women and children. Under the proposed CR. the entire Title X provision. which funds family planning resources such as Planned Parenthood. would be eliminated. a cut of $327 million. Family planning funding has been an essential tool for many communities. especially in low income areas. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). we set aside funds to help invigorate the economy across various areas. These funds were intended to be used over a number to encourage the continued growth of the economy. However. under the proposed CR. any unobligated or uncommitted stimulus funding would be eliminated. The cut of $1.1 billion. or 14% below the FY2010 appropriation ($7.2 billion in FY2010) and more than $500 million below FY2008. would translate to a massive loss of comprehensive early childhood services. causing more than 200.000 children across the country to be kicked out of the Head Start program. This further reduction is catastrophic and will also put thousands of Head Start teachers out of work and into the unemployment lines. Additionally. this funding level would mean cuts to research grants. training and technical assistance grants and monitoring activities.