mr. chairman , i rise in strong opposition to the labor-hhs-education appropriations bill today . 
this bill grossly underfunds key domestic priorities in education , health , human services , job training , public broadcasting , and the list goes on and on . 
appropriations bills typically include at least a slight increase in spending from the following year to make up for inflation , if nothing else . 
instead , this bill actually cuts spending below last year 's level by $ 1.6 billion . 
the cuts are so plentiful that it is hard to put together a concise statement highlighting my rationale for voting no . 
president bush and the republicans in congress proudly proclaimed their support for improving our nation 's education system when they passed the bipartisan no child left behind law . 
ever since that time , they 've been avoiding putting the dollars behind that commitment . 
today 's bill is another example of this retreat . 
the bill before us underfunds no child left behind by $ 13.2 billion . 
it also goes on to freeze funding for after-school programs even though only 38 percent of eligible programs can obtain funding at these levels . 
it also shortchanges special education for 6.9 million children by failing to meet our government 's commitment to idea . 
head start , a program well-documented in its effectiveness , fails to obtain the resources necessary for it to give a step up for millions of eligible children . 
the bill is no better when it comes to important health care priorities . 
president bush has gone out of his way to emphasize his commitment to ending aids around the globe . 
but , when it comes time to turn that sound bite into reality , he and his party turn their backs . 
this bill eliminates funding to the global fund to fight hiv/aids and freezes almost all funds in the ryan white aids programs which provide services to people suffering from hiv and aids here at home . 
at the same time the bill wastes $ 115 million on unproven abstinence only education programs . 
this bill eliminates funding for hhs health professions training programs , slashes funding for public health efforts to increase preventive care , eliminates the healthy families communities access program aimed at helping local advocates and governments develop solutions to cover the uninsured , and provides the smallest increase in 36 years for the nih . 
on the human services front , this bill fails to provide needed funds for child care . 
for the 4th year in a row , it freezes federal funding for the child care block grant even though millions of low-income families can not afford adequate , safe child care for their children . 
it also cuts vital funding for low-income home energy assistance . 
and , it slashes funding for the community services block grant which provides funds to local communities to help them provide basic services to low-income families . 
the provision in this bill that has received the most public attention is the provision to gut $ 100 million in funding for public education . 
i 'm pleased that we passed an amendment on the house floor to eliminate that cut . 
so , we 've protected pbs , npr and other public broadcasting initiatives for now . 
but , make no mistake about it , the republicans want to go much further than reducing funding . 
much like they 're working to privatize medicare and social security , they would happily turn our airwaves -- which are public space -- over to the private sector as well . 
these are a sampling of the many reasons i oppose the bill before us today . 
i urge my colleagues to join with me in voting `` no '' on the wrongheaded priorities of the republican majority . 
health , education and human services are core responsibilities of our federal government . 
this bill fails on all fronts . 
