mr. speaker , i rise in opposition to the conference report . 
this bill inadequately funds virtually every area of need . 
it slashes $ 1.5 billion from our country 's critical health , human services , education and labor programs . 
while the bush administration has never fully funded the no child left behind act , this bill goes a step further by actually cutting total federal education funding for the first time in a decade -- cutting no child left behind by $ 14 billion below the authorized level , slashing special education , safe and drug free schools , education technology grants and freezing the maximum pell grant award for the fourth year in a row despite rising tuition costs . 
while people are trying to get re-trained because their jobs have been outsourced overseas , this bill cuts adult job training by $ 31 million and youth job training by $ 36 million . 
at a time when we are trying to prepare our country for the aging of the baby boomers and threat of pandemic flu , this bill cuts funding for healthcare . 
it cuts the cdc 's budget by $ 249 million and provides the smallest percentage increase to nih -- less than 1 percent -- since 1970 . 
it does n't provide any money for pandemic flu preparedness and eliminates 10 critical health care programs , including trauma care and the health community access program and cuts the health professions training grants by 69 percent making it even harder to recruit qualified health professionals . 
the bill before us today would also freeze funding for the low-income home energy assistance , liheap , at $ 2.18 billion , counting both basic formula grants and emergency grants -- the fy 2005 level . 
liheap serves about 5 million households , the majority of which have at least one member who is elderly , disabled , or a child under age five . 
liheap appropriations have failed to keep up with rapid increases in energy costs over the past several years . 
the conference report is freezing liheap even though consumers are expected to pay 52 percent more for natural gas , 30 percent more for home heating oil , and 11 percent more for electricity this winter . 
back in august , the republican majority heralded the passage of their massive energy bill , a bill that contained $ 14 billion in tax breaks -- most of them for wealthy oil , gas , coal and nuclear industries . 
at the time , they argued that their bill was `` balanced '' because , among other things , it provided $ 5.1 billion in annual authorizations for the liheap program . 
but now , in this bill , we see that republicans are not willing to fully fund liheap . 
under this bill , the republicans would freeze liheap funding at last year 's level , despite the skyrocketing prices consumers will be paying for natural gas and home heating oil this winter . 
later today , the republicans will be bringing up their reconciliation bill , a bill that provides an additional $ 1 billion for liheap . 
but in the energy and commerce committee , the republicans voted against an amendment offered by the gentleman from illinois , mr. rush , the gentleman from texas , mr. green , and myself to increase liheap funding up to the full $ 5.1 billion level . 
the republican leadership is n't even going to allow democrats to offer an amendment to increase liheap funding up to that level . 
the republicans wo n't fully fund liheap because they have other priorities . 
their budget makes that quite clear . 
tax cuts for millionaires , tax cuts for the giant oil companies , weakening environmental regulations for their business cronies . 
those are the priorities for the republican-controlled congress . 
funding for education , health care and low-income home energy assistance so that seniors on fixed incomes , and poor families can heat their homes this winter , are not their priorities . 
i urge a `` no '' vote on this bill . 
