Date: 1996-07-10
Speaker: JOHN EDWARD PORTER (republican)
Chamber: H

and our distinguished ranking member. Mr. DAVID OBEY. of Wisconsin. for their hard work and doing what they could to craft such a bill within the subcommittees inadequate allocation. While there are some things that we can be especially pleased with in this bill. there are a number of others where we should be extremely concerned. For example. we can be pleased about the fact that the bill includes an $820 million increase for furthering biomedical research and restoring the infrastructure at the National Institutes of Health. a $75 million increase to further disease prevention and health promotion activities at the Centers for Disease Control. a $37 million increase to expand higher education opportunities for disadvantaged students under the Trio programs. a $45 million increase for Job Corps. and a $33 million increase in health professions training to ensure a cadre of health care providers to meet the Nations health care needs especially in urban and rural underserved areas. While we can be pleased with these investments. we must be equally disturbed by the major shortfalls in H.R. 3755 which threaten the quality of life for the most vulnerable among us. For example. the bill eliminates funding for the Healthy Start Program. This is a program which is designed to improve the Nations infant mortality rate. It is appalling that the United States. ranking 22d. in fact has the worse infant mortality rate among industrialized countries. The Healthy Start demonstration projects have proven their effectiveness in reducing infant mortality. As such. I cannot understand how my colleagues on the other side of the aisle can label themselves as "prolifers" and then zero out funding for this highly successful prolife programwhich is designed to save the lives of babies. Now is the time to provide the resources needed to begin to implement and to apply the Healthy Start Programs lessons learned to other communities that have a dramatically high rate of infant mortality. For the sake of families across this countrywe now know what works--lets use it. Mr. Chairman. H.R. 3755 falls seriously short on addressing the needs of our Nations youth. Funding for the Summer Jobs Program is $171 million short of the amount needed to just support the same number of summer jobs as in fiscal year 1996. As a result. nearly 80.000 kids who need and want to work would be denied that critical opportunity. Outofschool youth are hit even harder. as the bill virtually ignores their employment training needs at a time when we know that education and skills matter most in todays job market. The Youth Employment Training Program was gutted in the past rescission and appropriations cycle. and is now flat funded at $127 million. Substance abuse treatment is cut by over $38 million. With respect to atrisk youth alone. 5 million individuals will be denied the substance abuse prevention services they desperately need. The dramatically high rate of unemployment among outofschool youth and the high rate of teen pregnancy are two of the most significant problems confronting this country. consuming scarce resources. and compromising our youths future. We can and must do something to effectively address each of these ongoing problems. They are too costly in terms of human capital and monetary expenses to ignore. Mr. Chairman. H.R. 3755 also fails our Nations school children. jeopardizing their academic future. At a time when school enrollments are on the rise. and are in fact the highest in history. the bill freezes funding for teaching assistance in basic reading and math under the title I Grants to Local Education Agencies Program. Funding for Safe and Drug Free Schools is cut $25 million below the current funding level despite the increase of crime and violence in our Nations schools. Funding for training and advisory services associated with carrying out title IV of the Civil Rights Act is not only frozen. but is also 48 percent below the Presidents fiscal year 1997 budget request. In addition. no funding is provided for the Womens Educational Equity Program. These two programs are critical to ensuring educational equity for minorities and women. The bill also eliminates funding for Goals 2000. which is designed to assist and provide communities critical resources needed to raise education standards and childrens academic achievement. Funding for these five programs alone falls nearly a billion dollars below the Presidents fiscal year 1997 funding request level. and $375 million below the current funding level. The bill also threatens seniors quality of life by short funding lowincome home energy assistance. the Administration on Aging. and the National Senior Volunteer Corps. Funding provided for these three programs alone falls over a billion dollars short of the administrations request. At a time when we speak of the critical need to insure personal responsibility. H.R. 3755 is weak on addressing the needs of families. Funding for the mandatory Social Services Block Grant Program and the child care development block grant are $320 millionand $98 million respectively short of the administrations request. These resources are desperately needed by working poor families who not only need to work but equally important want to continue working. In addition. funding for the Centers for Disease Controls National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Program is cut $2.6 million. These funds are critical to further research on the prevention and control of fires. poisonings. and violence including homicide. suicide. and domestic violence. Programs under the auspices of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration are also especially hard hit by H.R. 3755. The over $38 million cut in substance abuse treatment is compounded by the fact that funding for treatment was gutted 60 percent in fiscal year 1996. and that for treatment demonstrations was cut 57 percent. As a result of the dire funding situation. with respect to atrisk youth alone. 5 million individuals will be denied the substance abuse prevention services they desperately need. In total. funding for these four programs alone is $670 million below the administrations request. and over $70 million below the current funding level. Mr. Chairman. each and every day. parents across this country continue to raise their children telling them to get a good education. work hard. and play by the rules. and you will succeed. H.R. 3755 denies these kids access to many of the most critical tools they need to succeed. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote "no" on H.R. 3755 in its current form.