Sen. Feinstein opposes FY06 Labor/HHS/Education Conference Report

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from the Democratic Daily
Dec. 15, 2005

Feinstein Announces Opposition to Labor/HHS Conference Report

- Bill fails to adequately fund health, education, and workforce programs -

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today announced she would oppose the FY06 Labor/HHS Conference Report. Senator Feinstein criticized the bill for cutting total health funding by $466 million, cutting total education funding by $59 million, and slashing millions of dollars from various federal workforce programs.

“This bill shortchanges American families,” Senator Feinstein said. “The cuts in this bill for vital health, education and workforce programs are a direct result of the agenda of this administration and the leadership in Congress: to pass tax cuts for the wealthy and reconciliation bills that actually worsen the deficit, all the while doing nothing to address the long-term fiscal picture of entitlement spending.”

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Feinstein decried the harmful impact these cuts would have on programs for No Child Left Behind, biomedical research, pandemic flu preparedness, and job training, among others. Specifically this bill:

· Cuts No Child Left Behind by $779 million or three percent and shortchanges the authorized funding level for No Child Left Behind programs by $13.1 billion,

· Cuts Even Start literacy programs that help disadvantaged children and their parents increase their English skills by 56 percent, from $200 million to $100 million,

· Provides a less than one percent increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health and cuts the number of new research grants that NIH can fund by 355, from 9,612 to 9,257,

· Cuts $120 million in pandemic flu preparedness funding, and

· Cuts job training programs, dislocated worker assistance, and employment services by $530 million.

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(Sen. Feinstein's complete statement for the Congressional Record is included at the link.)

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