Washington, DC (February 14, 2006) – Today, Congressman Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) testified before the House Budget Committee to discuss the impact of the President’s proposed FY07 budget on the people of the 15th Congressional District. Congressman Hinojosa’s remarks focused on three areas: Education, Health and Economic Development.
Included in the President’s proposed budget were severe cuts to education programs such as GEAR-UP, Even Start and dropout prevention; cuts to healthcare such as Medicare, diabetes research and prevention, and other preventative health programs; and, programs encouraging development and home ownership in low-income and Rural America.
Below are excerpts from Congressman Hinojosa’s testimony.
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“The federal budget is our most direct and telling statement of the nation’s values and priorities. Unfortunately, when the people of my congressional district – hard working people – many who live in rural areas – most of whom are Hispanic – look at the federal budget, they do not see their values reflected in the budget; and they do not see their community’s well-being and prosperity treated as a national priority.
“Nothing demonstrates our misplaced national priorities more than our failure to invest in education – particularly our failure to invest in the key programs that are making a difference in the Hispanic community.
“Our Census figures tell the story. Hispanics are now the largest minority group in the country. Hispanic children are now second to only non-Hispanic whites in our nation’s schools. By 2010, Hispanics will be the largest minority group in our nation’s workforce. Yet Hispanic children are the least likely to attend preschool, the most likely to dropout of school before earning a high school diploma, and the least likely to earn a college degree.
“Strengthening educational opportunities for Hispanic Americans from pre-school through graduate school must become a national priority. Literally, our future depends on it. Unfortunately, the opposite has been true.
“For the first time in 10 years, the federal support for Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) has been reduced, in spite of the fact that half of all Hispanic college students attend HSIs. For the first time in ten years, funding for Title I, the cornerstone of the No Child Left Behind Act has been cut. TRIO programs have been put on the chopping block.
“Even Start, which provides literacy services to low-income families, over half of whom are Hispanic, has been slashed by more than 50 percent. Programs for English language learners and migrant students have been cut for the third year in a row. These cuts are coming at a time when the Department of Education estimates that there are 5.4 million English language learners in our schools and projects that the number will double by 2025.
“Unfortunately, the President’s budget calls for an even greater assault on Hispanic education programs with cuts of $2.1 billion to education overall – a reduction of 3.8 percent from last year. These cuts include the elimination of key programs such as dropout prevention, GEAR UP, and the TRIO programs of Upward Bound and Talent Search.
“Without these investments, our nation will no longer be economically competitive in the future.
“In addition to creating an educated workforce, we also need a healthy workforce if we are to remain competitive. Unfortunately, many people in my district do not have access to quality healthcare, particularly those in rural communities. Rural communities suffer from a lack of trained medical personnel because they cannot compete against urban wages and benefits at a time when we are facing a national shortage of nurses and allied health professionals. Yet the President’s budget eliminates health profession training grants and slashes funding by 83 percent for rural health activities.
“… [T]he 2007 budget cuts critical diabetes programs at the Center for Disease Control that bridge the gap between theoretical research at the National Institutes of Health and real community based treatment.
“The Centers for Disease Control will also lose $290 million in funding for programs like the Preventative Health and Social Services Block Grant, Emergency Medical Services for children and the Universal Newborn Screening even while we all know that early prevention can save billions in future health costs.
“Provider cuts in Medicare will make it more difficult for my seniors to find a physician to treat them and higher co-pays will make even Medicaid unavailable to thousands of my constituents. My returning veterans from Iraq will have difficulty accessing services because VA funding is $10.1 billion below what is needed to maintain its 2006 purchasing power. This will severely impact the VA’s ability to treat new veterans.
“Finally…Rural America truly is the heartland of this great country. It is up to all of us here in Congress to ensure its continued vitality. The President’s fiscal year 2007 budget seems geared to do just the opposite.
“The $2.77 trillion budget that the President sent to us last week cuts $1.5 billion from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The President is proposing these cuts despite a recent HUD report finding that 5.18 million very low-income families have critical housing problems. It seems illogical at best for the Administration to be recommending a reduction of $1.5 billion in funding for HUD’s housing programs when HUD itself is aware of the need to do just the opposite - to increase funding for critical housing needs.
“…We need to begin increasing funding for lowest income seniors and people with disabilities. This budget adds insult to injury by targeting seniors and people with disabilities twice for reduced assistance: first by reducing funding for health care and again by substantially reducing not only the funding for housing programs but the availability of key programs to those most in need. This budget is far from being compassionate.
“One of the programs that is fundamental to the success of rural cities is the Community Development Block Grant Program. The President’s budget proposes cutting the CDBG program by 20 percent – from $3.7 billion to $2.975 billion…State and local authorities rely on those grants for a variety of purposes.
“In the aftermath of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, Texas needs a considerable amount of CDBG funding. Following Hurricane Katrina, Texans were more than happy to open our hearts, our homes, our communities and our resources to the evacuees of Hurricane Katrina, and we remain committed to helping them in any way we can. However, we need the federal government, particularly HUD, to provide us with greater assistance.
“Recently, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson announced the allocation of $11.5 billion in disaster funding to be divided among the five Gulf Coast states impacted by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma…Unfortunately, Texas received only $74,523,000 from HUD despite its request for approximately $1 billion in assistance. In response, the Texas Delegation sent a letter to HUD Secretary Jackson requesting a detailed explanation of the Department's allocation of CDBG funds. The Secretary himself has yet to respond.
“The Rural Housing and Economic Development (RHED) Program, the Housing Assistance Council (HAC), and the National Community Development Initiative (NCDI) are all key programs for Rural America. The President’s budget has either zero-funded or eliminated all of them. Furthermore, the President’s budget has proposed no funding for the construction of low-income housing, and the budget calls for the elimination of all funding for the construction or preservation of affordable housing units in rural areas. This is at best irresponsible.
“One ray of hope lies in the fact that the proposed budget maintains the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Program. However, it reduces this important program 85 percent, from its current funding of $46 million to a mere $8 million for Fiscal year 2007. The cuts speak for themselves.
“Last year I fought to keep the Resource Conservation and Development Program (RC&D) intact, and prevent closure of Farm Service Agencies, and yet again the President is recommending consolidating funding for the programs. Farmers and ranchers are the backbone of our economy, and we need to do all we can to support them, not continue slashing programs that assist them.
“All of these programs directly help low-income and rural communities across the country. At a time when we need to maintain funding for CDBG, RHED, CDFI, HAC, and other low-income and rural housing programs, especially in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it’s a mystery to me that programs people rely upon to get back on their feet face such drastic cuts.
“Thank you for allowing me to testify here today. I encourage you to maintain and increase funding for programs that are essential to the education, health and economic development of our country.”