News
October 30, 2007
investing in america's priorities
Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who lost an arm in combat during World War II, has wisely said that while the Defense appropriations bill defends America, the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill defines America.
As chairman of the Senate subcommittee that writes that latter bill, I know exactly what Senator Inouye is talking about. Our bill funds essential, life-supporting, and life-saving services for millions of people across this country. It pays for everything from cancer research to Head Start to home heating assistance for the poor. It defines Americans as a caring, compassionate people.
In addition to funding national programs, this bill also invests in a number of important Iowa initiatives. It includes $7.5 million for the Harkin Grants program, which gives Iowa schools funds to repair, construct and modernize facilities. It contains $2.3 million to construct and expand Community Health Centers that offer quality health care to Iowa families in need. Several other key health care, job training, and education initiatives that help Iowans build a better life would receive much-needed funding in this bill.
On October 24, the Senate passed the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008 with a strong, bipartisan vote of 75 to 19 (five more Senators who would have voted “yes” were absent). But there’s a problem. Even before I brought this bill to the floor, President Bush threatened to veto it because it included a provision to expand embryonic stem cell research, and includes $11 billion in funding above the amount he requested.
I have done my best to accommodate the President. To that end, I removed the stem-cell provision from the bill before bringing it to the floor. This is a core priority for me and many other Senators. But I took it out of the bill in order to meet the President half way.
However, I could not yield to his proposed cuts to essential programs. His budget would have cut cancer research and other medical research at the National Institutes of Health. It would have cut thousands of children from the Head Start program, and thousands of families from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. It would have completely eliminated the Community Services Block Grant, the safety net that includes job training, housing, and emergency food assistance for our most needy citizens, including seniors and people with disabilities.
Bear in mind that the President recently sent up a new funding request that brings war spending next year to nearly $190 billion, mostly for Iraq. The Congressional Budget Office now estimates that the war in Iraq will cost a staggering $1.9 trillion through the next decade. Yet President Bush is threatening to veto this bill over $11 billion in funding for education, health, biomedical research and other domestic priorities that have been short-changed in recent years. This is simply not reasonable.
I have urged the President to take a fresh look at this bill. There has been so much division and partisanship in Washington in recent months. But this bill offers a great opportunity for us to show the nation that we can resolve our differences with compromise and bipartisan goodwill. The Senate has come together in a strong, bipartisan fashion, and we have met the President half way. I urge him to respond in kind by signing this bill into law. This will allow us to define America as a compassionate nation – and to do so with a united voice.
