Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi

Announces Funding Increases for Health and Education

December 19, 2001

WASHINGTON - Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-SF), a senior Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, successfully fought for significant increases in vital federal programs and for the creation of a new school safety initiative in the Labor-HHS funding bill. It passed the U.S. House of Representatives today by a vote of 393-30. "During this year’s budget debate, I have fought for increases in key programs that directly benefit San Francisco and are priorities for our community," said Pelosi. The following are the funding highlights:

• $23.3 billion (+ $3 billion) for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health;
• $2.1 billion (+$100 million) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant;
• $1.911 billion (+ $103 million) for HIV/AIDS care and services via the Ryan White CARE Act;$1.344 billion (+$175 million) for Community Health Centers;
• $1 billion (+$154 million) for 21^st Century After School Learning Centers;
• $927 million (+ $78 million) for domestic and global HIV prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC);
• $381 million (+ $31 million) for the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative;
• $192 million (+ $12 million) for the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program at the CDC;
• $73.2 million (+ $6 million) for Environmental Health at the CDC; and
• $10 million to create a new program that will provide funding to assist communities in implementing emergency response, evacuation and parental notification plans for schools and other community facilities where children gather.

^{Rep. Pelosi also praised the substantial increases for education that were included, “Although President Bush proposed the smallest increase for education in 5 years, this bill instead provides the largest funding increase in the history of the Department of Education.”}

The $6.7 billion increase for education programs includes significantly higher funding levels for the Title I program which provides supplemental resources to school districts that serve high numbers of disadvantaged students. It is estimated that these additional funds will result in an increase of nearly 30% in Title I funding for the San Francisco Unified School District. "The additional funding provided for disadvantaged students will give urgently needed resources to San Francisco and school districts across the country."

Pelosi secured an additional $4.15 million in funding for specific projects in San Francisco:

• $1,000,000 for the City’s Drug Treatment on Demand Program;
• $1,000,000 for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco to expand arts education programs at the DeYoung Memorial Museum;
• $800,000 for City College of San Francisco to establish the National Articulation and Transfer Network;
• $650,000 for the Department of Public Health to provide HIV care and related services through San Francisco General Hospital;
• $500,000 for the San Francisco Community Clinics Consortium for facility upgrades;
• $200,000 for the University of California to prepare and support students seeking to enter the nursing profession.

Pelosi also criticized House Republican negotiators for rejecting a Senate amendment that would have prohibited health insurers from imposing restrictions on mental health care that differ from limits on other care.

"Effective treatments are available for mental illness. By missing the opportunity to provide full mental health parity, we are forcing people to endure needless pain and debt. The Surgeon General has unequivocally stated that distinctions between mental and physical health care have no basis in science. Stigma and stereotypes are the only factors that have kept this inequity alive for so long," Pelosi said.

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