Date: 2005-06-24
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. today we will vote on H.R. 3010. the Labor. Health and Human Services. and Education bill for fiscal year 2006. On behalf of the educators. administrators and students in Dallas. Texas. I would like to express my strong opposition to the education appropriations outlined in this measure. The inadequate overall funding in H.R. 3010 completely undermines the public prioritization of education as a paramount concern. Make no mistakethese education cuts come as no surprise. Beginning with the passage of the House budget resolution for FY 2006. my Republican colleagues have shown their true intentions with regard to education funding. As passed. the budget resolution provides $56 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education. This is a $530 million. or 0.9 percent decrease over the current fiscal year (FY 2005). This is the first time in over a decade that total education funding has been cut. Although our children have no legislative voice. they represent our Nations future and deserve our investment in their education today. As it stands. H.R. 3010 would cut funding for reading tours. teacher quality initiatives. bilingual instruction. class size reduction. school modemization. violence prevention initiatives. afterschool services and many other vital programs. Specifically. the House LaborHHSEducation Appropriations bill would cut. No Child Left Behind by $806 million (3.3 percent) below the current level. Under this bill. the NCLB funding shortfall will be $13.2 billion next year and over $40 billion since enactment. The bill also cuts the $603 million increase the Administration proposed for Title I to help lowincome children improve their reading and math skills to only $100 million. The Administrations request was already inadequate. However. under this bill. Title I funding will be $9.9 billion below NCLBs funding promise for FY 2006. The bill freezes After School Centers. virtually for the fourth year in a row at $991 million even though only 38 percent of all after school applications nationwide could be funded last year. We are turning away children even though more than 14 million kids are unsupervised after school each day. It slashes Education Technology by $196 million (39.5 percent) on top of a $196 million cut last year. One in four states have no other dedicated technology funds to track NCLB student achievement data. improve teachers use of technology. and close the achievement gap through online learning. It eliminates Comprehensive School Reform grants to 1.000 highpoverty schools by eliminating the program. Rigorous independent evaluations have shown that comprehensive school reform models such as Success for All. Americas Choice. High Schools That Work. First Things First. and Talent Development are making a significant difference in helping schools implement integrated. schoolwide reform strategies. This bill turns its back on these schools. The bill cuts investments in teachers. It freezes the main NCLB program to put a qualified teacher in every classroom--Teacher Quality State Grantsat $2.9 billion for the 3rd consecutive year of a freeze or cut. The bill denies 80 percent of the Administrations $500 million request to provide an incentive for the best teachers to teach in the most challenging highpoverty schools. It cuts funds requested for math and science teachers by $79 million (29 percent). It even cuts teacher training in American history by $69 million (58 percent). It freezes Impact Aid payments to 1.300 school districts for over 1 million military and other Federallyconnected children. funding Impact Aid at approximately 35 percent below the maximum payments authorized for FY 2006. The bill also freezes flexible innovative education grants. English language training. civic education. State assessments. and rural education. Some of these programs have been frozen for four years in a row. Although the Republican Majority promised lowincome students a $100 increase in the maximum Pell Grant in the 2006 Budget Resolution. this bill provides only half that. The $50 increase would offset only 2 percent of the additional $2.300 in fouryear public college costs since 2001.. If enacted. H.R. 3010 would be a grave disservice to our children and the future of our Nation. For these reasons and more. I oppose the unsatisfactory education funding levels in this appropriations bill. Unfortunately. underfunded education initiatives is not the only problem with this bill. The bill disinvests in job training and help for the unemployedcutting these programs by $346 million below the current level while 7.6 million Americans remain out of work. Finally. this legislation lacks appropriate funding levels for in the human services area. the Committee cuts in half the Community Services Block Grant. a program aimed at helping the poorest people in our communities who often have no other place to turn. This is an improvement over the Presidents plan to abolish the program entirely. but it still leaves more than 1.000 local community services agencies seriously short of resources to assist lowincome people. The purpose of this block grant is to provide flexible funds to meet whatever a local community considers their most important needs. whether it be for job training. emergency food aid. programs for lowincome seniors. or home weatherization. The bill also cuts the LowIncome Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by almost $200 millioneven though theres no reason to expect that we wont have another winter of skyhigh heating oil and natural gas prices. Over the past four years. the average cost of heating a home with oil has almost doubled. and the share of that cost covered by the average LIHEAP grant has fallen by half. from 49 percent to 25 percent. Clearly. I cannot support this bill as written. In its current form. this legislation is nothing less than an insult to the American people. It inadequately- and irresponsibly allocates money to Labor. Health and Human Services. and Education. However. should this bill return from the Senate with the appropriate funding levels. I will gladly support it. I sincerely hope we can work out the problems and pass a responsible bill that responds to the needs of our children. workers. and elderly citizens.