Ralph Regula

Mr. REGULA

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman, we are in opposition to the amendment. There is no universal mental health screening in this bill. Secretary Leavitt has made it clear there is nothing like this under consideration. It is an amendment that is not needed because it addresses a problem that does not exist. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the DeLauro amendment raises serious constitutional concerns under the due process clause because it effectively repudiates the government's contract with Wal-Mart. The DeLauro amendment would cause the government to breach its contractual agreement with Wal-Mart. As a result of the government's breach, Wal-Mart would be released from obligations under the agreement, including its obligation to implement numerous measures that go beyond what the law requires to prevent future child labor violations. For example, Wal-Mart would no longer be required to provide additional training to Wal-Mart managers regarding the requirements of the child labor laws, would no longer be able to discipline managers who fail to comply with the child labor laws, would no longer be required to post warning stickers on all equipment the Secretary has designated as hazardous for the operation by minors, would no longer be able to perform quarterly self-audits of all of its stores for the duration of the agreement, and it would not stop Wal-Mart from receiving advance notice of most investigations. The 15 days is a common practice in this type of thing. I think whether you disagree or agree with the settlement that was made between the Department of Labor and Wal-Mart, let us not get into the business of second-guessing it and, in the process, create a lot of additional problems and, in fact, it would be detrimental to the employees in terms of what has been agreed to in the settlement of this issue. For this reason, I would oppose the amendment, and I hope my colleagues would do likewise if we do have a vote on this. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. There are dozens of these settlements made every month. If we get into the role of trying to second-guess and to pass judgment on them, there is no end to it. I think what we know of the merits of this is something that the Department of Labor worked out with Wal-Mart. This is not an uncommon thing to give 15-day notice. In fact, it is almost a standard procedure. I say to my colleagues, we do not belong in involving ourselves, or this body, in trying to second-guess the judgment that has been made by the Department of Labor. I am sure they acted in good faith to protect the rights of children, to protect the rights of people that work at not only Wal-Mart but other similar types of employment. Therefore, I would urge my colleagues to reject this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for his comments. And I do agree that funding gifted and talented education in this country is an important mission. We must continue to provide support for our brightest students to succeed, especially in the areas of math and science. I hope the gentleman understands that with such a tough budget allocation, we did not have the resources to support everything we would have liked to have done, including some important and successful programs like the Javits program for gifted and talented students. I will work with the gentleman from Illinois to address this issue in conference.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Obviously this is a Committee on Ways and Means and Committee on Energy and Commerce issue. But let me point out that this amendment will prevent seniors from getting essential coverage information, and that is important. They want to know what their coverage is. They want to know what the coverage will be under the new medical services. This enrollment starts in less than 5 months, and I think this would be a poor time to take away the ability to give seniors information about the new drug benefit. We have a lot of, a considerable amount of money in this bill to provide the necessary employees to disseminate information, take phone calls from seniors who want to find out about the Medicare Modernization Act, and to deprive the CMS of the ability to meet this need would be a serious problem for seniors. Let us give them every chance to call and to find out about the new Medicare Modernization Act. Let us not in any way limit the availability of information and the access that seniors should have to information about this possible benefit. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I just want to point out to my colleagues that are listening to this debate that the senior organizations want beneficiaries to have access to the new drug benefit. This is why the AARP, the Seniors Coalition, the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, the National Kidney Cancer Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Chamber of Commerce, and many others oppose this amendment. I would think that Members would take that into consideration because these cover a broad spectrum of opinions on this and they universally agree that this is a bad amendment. For this reason I urge Members to vote against it when we have the opportunity to do so. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, in response to the gentleman's comments, I would point out that we do have a modest increase in this program, and we will be sensitive to the gentleman's concerns in conference as we try to balance out all of the challenges that we have in this bill in terms of the resources available.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise and report the bill back to the House with sundry amendments, with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill, as amended, do pass.

Mr. REGULA

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, let me say at the outset here that the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and I have had a discussion about the possibility of trying to finish this bill today. We want to make every effort to do so. And that will depend, of course, on what kind of cooperation we can get on amendments. Also, I am going to ask unanimous consent to move the issue of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to come up as the first issue as there is a lot of interest in this. We will try to limit time on both sides and give people a chance to vote on this. So all of that is an effort to expedite today's proceedings.

Mr. REGULA. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, and my colleagues, I am pleased to present before the House today the fiscal year 2006 appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. By taking into consideration the priorities of the President and the Members of this House, we have produced a bill that meets the needs of all Americans. We are appreciative of the efforts of the leader of the House and the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), in providing a workable allocation for this bill. I would also like to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and expertise of my subcommittee staff, as well as the minority staff, in putting together this bill. Mr. Chairman, we have made a commitment to reduce Federal deficits. With the reduction in the budget from last year, support for Pell grants required by the budget resolution, and that was money that has been spent in years past that we had to pay in this bill, and new implementation and processing costs of the Medicare Modernization Act, we had nearly $2 billion less to spend on programs that were funded in fiscal year 2005. We made some tough decisions. We eliminated four programs and did not initiate eight new programs proposed by the President. But when looked at as a whole, this bill provides $142.5 billion to over 500 discretionary programs. It is a lot of money, and it does a lot of good. It is a responsible, fair, and balanced bill. I believe it does a good job in meeting the needs of the American people. Let me start with education. Earlier on the rule, I quoted from an editorial piece by David Broder today that in polling the American people, they said education was the number one reason for the success of this Nation. Education is essential to the preservation of democracy, and an investment in education is an investment in people. Mr. Chairman, Federal education spending has more than doubled since 1996, from $23 billion to $56.7 billion, as contained in this bill. Education funding in this bill for fiscal year 2006 is $476 million above the President's request. We added to his request. This is a significant commitment to the future of our Nation. However, we must be prudent in our funding priorities to ensure that these dollars are targeted to programs that most directly improve the education of our Nation's students. We have focused spending in this bill on the key areas that directly impact our children's education. First, and foremost, I believe that no child will be left behind if he or she has a quality teacher. Almost every teacher in our Nation's classrooms today is there for one reason: they care about children and want to help them reach their full potential. We applaud their hard work and dedication and support them in this bill by providing funding to encourage people to enter the field of teaching, and provide incentives for quality teachers to remain in the classrooms. This bill supports teachers and students by increasing funding for title I by $100 million. Title I provides additional resources to low-income schools, to help principals, teachers, and students close education achievement gaps. At the school level, Title I helps provide additional staffing, ongoing training, and the latest research, computer equipment, books or new curricula. That, coupled with strong accountability measures, helps disadvantaged children meet the same high standards as their more advantaged peers. I want to say that this bill really tries to help every individual to be sensitive to the needs of all people. We, this morning, and every morning when we meet, give the Pledge of Allegiance. We close by saying ``with liberty and justice for all.'' That is what we have tried to do here, because education does give people liberty, it does give them justice, and the same thing with medical research. Mr. Chairman, many of my colleagues spoke with me about the financial demands of special education on their local school districts. We also hear from parents about the need to support adequate special education funding to ensure their special needs children receive a quality education. In this bill, funding for special education is increased by $150 million, which brings its total to over $11 billion, a nearly 378 percent increase since the fiscal year 1996. I believe that quality of classroom teachers and principals is one of the most important factors that affects student achievement. This bill provides $100 million to reward effective teachers and to offer incentives for highly qualified teachers to be in our Nation's high schools, and particularly in high-needs schools. Mr. Chairman, science and technology have been and will continue to be the engines of U.S. economic growth and national security. Excellence in discovery, innovation in science and engineering is derived from an ample and well-educated workforce. To ensure competency in a rapidly changing global market, this bill provides $190 million for the math and science partnership program. This program supports State and local efforts to improve student academic achievements in mathematics and science by promoting strong teaching skills for elementary and secondary school teachers. Many of you already know that First Lady Laura Bush supports the Troops to Teachers programs, and has visited military bases to inform our troops about the opportunity to enter the field of teaching upon completion of their military service. With maturity, training in mathematics or science, and assistance in appropriate courses for teaching, members of our Armed Forces make outstanding classroom teachers. And in fields where we currently have teacher shortages, this bill provides $15 million for the Troops to Teachers program. During the 2001-2002 school year, approximately 42 percent of the Nation's schools were located in rural areas or small towns, and approximately 30 percent of all students attended these schools. The average rural or small town school serves 364 students, compared to 609 students served by the average urban school. The small size of many rural schools and districts presents a different set of problems from those of urban schools and districts. This bill provides over $171 million to meet the needs of schools in rural communities. TRIO, GEAR UP, Vocational Education State grants and adult education programs have strong support from Members of this body. These programs were proposed for termination in the President's budget. However, we have allocated over $3 billion for the continuation of these important efforts. Title III programs are designed to strengthen institutions of higher education that serve a high percentage of minority students and students from low-income backgrounds. Federal grants made under those programs go to eligible institutions to support improvements in the academic quality, institutional management, endowments and fiscal stability. Funding is targeted to minority-serving and other institutions that enroll a large proportion of financially disadvantaged students and have low per-student expenditures. Fiscal year 2006 spending for Title III programs is at $506 million; combined with the funding for Howard University, our commitment to minority serving institutions exceeds $747 million. The sharp rise in college costs continues to be a barrier to many students. Pell grants help ensure access to postsecondary education for low- and middle-income undergraduate students by providing financial assistance. This bill increases the maximum award of a Pell grant to $4,100, the highest level in history. As required by the budget resolution, the bill provides $4.3 billion to retire the shortfall that has accumulated in the program over the last several years because of higher-than-expected student participation in the program. And, that is good, that more students are participating. Health care is a critical part of the Nation's economic development. To assist in protecting health of all Americans and provide essential human services, this bill provides the Department of Health and Human Services over $63 billion for fiscal year 2006. Mr. Chairman, similar to the Department of Education, we have more than doubled the funding for HHS since 1996 from $28.9 billion in fiscal year 1996 to $63.1 billion in this bill. At the forefront of new progress in medicine, the National Institutes of Health supports and conducts medical research to understand how the human body works and to gain insight into countless diseases and disorders. It supports a wide spectrum of research to find cures covering many medical conditions that affect people. As a result of our commitment to NIH, our citizens are living longer and better lives. In 1900, the life expectancy was only 47 years. By 2003 it was almost 78 years. And I am sure that it would be even more today. The 5-year doubling of the NIH budget completed in fiscal year 2003 both picked up the pace of discovery and heightened public expectations. We now expect NIH to carefully examine its portfolio and continue to be a good steward of the public's investment. Funding for NIH has increased by over $142 million, bringing its total budget to $28.5 billion. It is certainly a serious commitment to health research. All the information and advances we have gained from NIH would be useless if it does not make its way to health care providers and individuals, those most responsible for their own health. Thus, the work for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, better known as CDC, is critical to protecting the health and safety of people both at home and abroad. Infectious diseases such as SARS, West Nile Virus, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis have the ability to destroy lives, strain community resources, and even threaten nations. In today's global environment, new diseases have the potential to spread across the world in a matter of days, or even hours, making early detection and action more important than ever. As the CDC director, Dr. Gerberding, and National Institutes of Health director, Dr. Zerhouni, have said, infectious disease and bioterrorism are one of the greatest threats to our safety and security today. CDC plays a critical role in controlling these diseases. Traveling at a moment's notice to investigate outbreaks both abroad and at home, CDC is watching over these particular and dangerous medical issues. Recognizing the tremendous challenges faced by the CDC, we have provided nearly $6 billion for their budget in fiscal year 2006. Mr. Chairman, as you know, many of the community health centers have served as America's health care safety net for the Nation's underserved populations. Health centers operating at the community level provide regular access to high-quality, family-oriented, comprehensive primary and preventative health care, regardless of ability to pay, and improve the health status of underserved populations living in inner-city and rural areas. The health centers' target populations have lower life expectancy and higher death rates compared to the general population. These patients have less purchasing power and many are unable to afford even the most basic medical or dental attention. In 2003, the Community Health Centers served more than 12 million patients and I am sure many more in the last couple of years. Funding for the community health centers is $1.8 billion; again, an increase of $100 million over last year. Children's hospitals across the Nation are the training grounds for our pediatricians and pediatric specialists. Many of these hospitals are regional and national referral centers for very sick children, often serving as the only source of care for many critical pediatric services. This bill provides $300 million to train these important caregivers who will care for America's youngest population, its children. The AIDS Drug Assistance Program for funding is increased by $10 million and brings the Ryan White AIDS program total to over $2 billion. The increase in funding assists those infected with the virus in receiving vital medical attention. We have provided nearly $6.9 billion for Head Start, a program designed primarily for preschoolers from low-income families. Head Start promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program ensures that low-income households are not without heating or cooling, and provides protection to our most vulnerable populations: the elderly, households with small children, and persons with disabilities. The funds are distributed to the States through a formula grant program and we have provided nearly $2 billion for fiscal year 2006. Mr. Chairman, our society is judged not only by the care we provide to our young, but also how we treat our elderly. We owe a profound debt of gratitude to a generation of older Americans whose hard work, courage, faith, sacrifice, and patriotism helped to make this Nation great. Funding in the nutrition programs, including Meals On Wheels for the elderly, are increased by over $7 million. This bill provides nearly $1.4 billion to the Administration on Aging to enhance health care, nutrition, and social supports to seniors and their family caregivers. The Labor Department. We ought to support the aspirations of people: good health, security, meaningful work, creative and intellectual pursuits. The Department of Labor places a key role in many important worker training and protection programs. Therefore, we have restored funding to core job training and employment assistance programs. A number of communities continue to experience plant closings and other layoffs, and we understand the need to support dislocated worker training programs that can assist workers return to gainful employment. In this bill we restore funding for dislocated worker assistance programs to over $1.4 billion, an increase of $62 million over the budget request. The Job Corps program provides a comprehensive and intensive array of training, career development, job placement and support services to our disadvantaged young people between the ages of 16 and 24. Many people who enroll in a Job Corps Center never completed their high school education and may have other barriers to sustaining a job. This program ensures that disadvantaged young people are afforded an opportunity to successfully participate in the Nation's workforce. For fiscal year 2006 this bill provides over $1.5 billion for this program, an increase of $25 million over the President's request.

Mr. REGULA. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman's comments and recognize this is a legitimate and important issue that needs to be addressed. The brave people who responded to the attacks on September 11 will always be remembered in the hearts of Americans, and I recognize that they need additional help. While there is concern about the dormancy of this funding over the last few years, and questions over whether or not the needs match the available funding, I am pleased to hear that the State of New York plans on starting an actuarial review to determine just how much money is needed to address the problem. In light of the gentleman's comments today, I will work with the gentleman, the administration, and the other body in an attempt to find ways of addressing these workers' needs as the bill moves forward. Over the long term, I look forward to examining the needs of 9/11 responders in light of the actuarial review results, and working with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Fossella) and colleagues from New York State to maintain Congress' commitment to these heroes.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I know that many Members support the Healthy Communities Access Program. I have seen an HCAP program in Ohio that seemed to work very well. The President's budget proposed to terminate HCAP; and given Members' interest in other programs that were not funded in the budget, we felt we had to accept the President's proposal to restore others, like the pediatric GME program. And, of course, we increased the community health centers programs. I will certainly try to work with our Senate colleagues to provide some funding for the HCAP in conference.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I have to reluctantly rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. He is a valuable member of our subcommittee and is certainly a strong voice for programs providing health care in rural areas. As the gentleman knows, we have tried to respond as much as possible within the constraints of the budget. That program seemed to be the highest priority rural health program for our Members. I realize the outreach program is popular among Members but we just felt we had to restore some of the other cuts proposed, like pediatric GME. Unfortunately, the offset in the amendment is unacceptable and any cut in OSHA would savage the agency's ability to maintain its safety programs. This is a clear example of we wish we had more money, but we do not, and we are trying to make the best use of what we have.

Mr. REGULA. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will yield, I am sympathetic. I come from a rural district myself and live on a farm, as a matter of fact. I understand what the gentleman is saying. He illustrates the fact that we have had to make very difficult priority judgments. Certainly I for one, and I know the gentleman from Wisconsin has a rural district, too, would be sympathetic to this in conference. We obviously cannot promise anything, but I hear my colleague's comments and his arguments and would certainly keep these in mind.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the debate on this amendment and any amendments thereto be limited to 10 minutes to be equally divided and controlled by the proponent and myself, the opponent.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).

Mr. REGULA. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the debate on this amendment and any amendments thereto be limited to 10 minutes, to be equally divided and controlled by the proponent and myself, the opponent.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.