WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma) voted against the Republican Budget Conference report that was brought to the U.S. House of Representatives at 6:00 AM this morning. “This budget fails the American people and is unacceptable,” said Rep. Woolsey. The budget conference report passed the U.S. House of Representatives 216-213.

“Rather than investing in the education of our children, this budget continues tax giveaways to those already enjoying the comforts of great wealth,” said Rep. Woolsey. “Our grandchildren will be paying for these policies the rest of their lives. This is, without question, shameful.”

“House Republicans passed up yet another opportunity to lessen the burden on America’s families, this time, by adding more tax cuts to President Bush’s wealthy contributors, by leaving American schools with a deficit of over $26 billion in “No Child Left Behind” funding, also by underfunding vocational education programs and veterans programs -- with no plan to balance the budget in the foreseeable future,” said Rep. Woolsey.

“If we can cut taxes for the richest Americans, then we can afford to support families by ensuring that their children’s education is properly funded,” said Rep. Woolsey. “It is a matter of priorities. And there is no more important priority for the federal government than supporting working families and their children.”

While increasing the national deficit limit to a new high of $8.1 trillion, the Republican FY05 budget attacks children and families in five key ways:

· Shortchanges Title I funding in the Education Bill by $7.2 billion.
Nearly 5 million disadvantaged children will not receive critical education services, such as help to become proficient with reading and math they were promised under “No Child Left Behind.”

· Shortchanges “No Child Left Behind Act”(NCLB) by nearly $9 billion.
This will leave our schools with an over $26 billion deficit in NCLB funding compared to what was promised when the law was enacted.

· Shortchanges national job training and employment program by $70 million.
Even though the budget has an increase for programs under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), this still leaves WIA $70 million short of the funding level when Bush entered office.