mr. speaker , i yield myself 10 minutes .  mr. speaker , let me stipulate from the outset that the gentleman from ohio is a good man , and i think , with some exceptions , he and i have priorities in this bill that are pretty much the same .  what i say is not in any way designed to be an attack upon him or his leadership of the subcommittee ; but the fact is that this subcommittee has been given an inadequate allocation and as a result , this congress is about to make a large mistake if it passes this bill because it will be shortchanging this country in terms of the long-term investments that we should be making in america 's working families and programs that are focused on the needs of america 's working families .  the gentleman argues that we ought to vote for this bill because if we do not , then the majority will bring forth a continuing resolution which will do certain bad things .  that is like saying , `` save us before we are irresponsible again. '' i really think we understand that what needs to happen to this bill is that it needs to be repaired , not further savaged ; and that is what we want to see done .  the reason we are in this fix is because the majority , just in the last week and a half , passed almost $ 70 billion in tax cuts and a very large percentage , approaching 50 percent , went into the pockets of the most well-off 1 percent of people in this country , people who make over $ 400 , 000 a year .  and then they pay for it , partially , by squeezing bills like this one .  let me make clear , this bill is virtually identical to the bill that the house rejected just a few days ago by a 209-224 vote on a bipartisan basis .  it has moved around a small amount of money in hopes of picking up a few votes because of an improvement in rural health care , but outside of that the bill is virtually the same .  i want to make clear when we vote against this bill today , we will be voting against it not just because we are unhappy with the $ 1.6 billion cut below last year that this bill represents .  to understand what this bill is doing , you must look at it in conjunction with the next step that the republican leadership of this congress has already announced that they intend to take , which is to further cut this bill by 1 percent across the board as they cut the entire discretionary budget 1 percent across the board .  that means that this bill will have a double hit .  that means in the end this bill , for 1 year alone , will be $ 3 billion less than was provided for these same programs last year .  over a 5-year period , because this sets us on a course , over a 5-year period if we pass this bill , we will wind up spending $ 15 billion less for programs in this bill than we would otherwise spend if we simply stuck to last year 's baseline .  in addition to that , 2 weeks ago our republican friends pushed through a package of rescissions and reconciliation actions which cut $ 33 billion out of programs that benefit the same people who are benefited by this bill .  they , for instance , cut $ 5 billion out of child support enforcement which will result in women in this country over the next 5 years getting $ 24 billion less in child support money than they are entitled to .  they are cutting over 200 , 000 kids off health care screening and cutting well over 200 , 000 families off food stamps .  they are saying to people on disabilities , `` sorry , but you are not going to get your full entitlement in your first check after you are declared eligible for disability. '' right now the law says that if you apply for disability and if you are adjudged to be eligible , when you get your first check , you will be paid retroactive to the date of application .  the bill that passed 2 weeks ago on this floor , the reconciliation bill , said , `` sorry , folks , if you are declared eligible , you will get only the first 2 months ' entitlement in that check ; the rest will be strung out over a period of months. '' the only reason the government saves money under that plan is because people will die before they get what they are entitled to get .  so this house has already taken all of those actions which will cut the assistance to middle-income families and poor families in this country by $ 33 billion , and then this bill over the next 5 years will wind up imposing an additional $ 15 billion cut in resources provided over that time .  and as far as i am concerned , it is ironic that this is happening at christmastime .  usually , mr. speaker , at christmastime , we fill children 's stockings .  this time around , in sort of `` scroogenomics '' fashion , we are emptying those children 's stockings and instead moving that money into the pockets of some of the wealthiest people in this country .  i do not think that is a way to live up to the christmas spirit .  i want to point out what some of the real reductions will be .  we have 55 million children in public schools .  state budgets are stretched thin .  and yet , no child left behind funding in this bill is cut $ 779 million and would be cut $ 1 billion after the 1 percent across-the-board cut is imposed .  pell grants : both parties go home and tell people how much we want to help families who are trying to send their kids to colleges .  the college board spelled out that in the last 5 years , the cost of a 4-year public education has increased by $ 3 , 100 .  the president 's response to that was to add $ 100 to the pell grant maximum grant .  so he proposed a $ 100 solution to a $ 3 , 100 problem .  house republicans said , `` oh , no , that is too much. '' so , originally , this bill cut that to $ 50 , and then the conference came back with nothing , zippo .  so the congress is doing nothing to ease the squeeze on families trying to send their kids to college .  and in the reconciliation bill which they passed just 2 weeks ago , they are making that problem , over the next 5 years , $ 12 billion worse or , i am sorry , $ 8 billion worse for those same families by raising fees , raising interest rates on student loans .  and then they say that they are friends of education .  if you take a look at education technology , this bill cuts that program by $ 221 million or 45 percent .  if you take a look at low-income heating assistance , we have a need to at least double that program , given the fact that we have these huge increases in natural gas prices and home heating-oil prices .  in fact , this bill freezes low-income heating assistance .  and with the 1 percent across the board that is contemplated that will be on top of this freeze , you will wind up actually reducing money for low-income heating assistance .  our republican friends say , `` oh , well , we are going to try to add $ 1 billion in the reconciliation bill. '' but we are already told that there is less than a 50/50 chance that reconciliation bill will even be passed before congress leaves here for the holidays .  then if you take a look at the international labor affairs program , the program which is supposed to protect american workers ' wages by seeing to it that they do not have to compete internationally against slave and child labor , that program is being cut by $ 21 million or 22 percent by this bill and the across-the-board cut that will shortly follow .  community health centers : everybody on both sides of the aisle talks about how important they are .  but there is virtually no funding for new community health centers beyond those approved last year .  and the majority , in this bill , eliminates the healthy communities access program , $ 83 million gone that helps provide health care to persons who do not have any or who do not have health care .  so i would say simply , mr. speaker , this bill is highly inadequate .  it short sheets america 's future .  it does not make the investments in health research , in education , in worker training that any civilized , healthy leading society would make .  we do not meet our obligations in this bill , and i would urge a no vote .  and i would urge that the majority go back to the drawing board , give this bill a better allocation and live up to the expectations of the american people .  