Further Continuing Appropriations, Fiscal Year 2007

FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS, FISCAL YEAR 2007

* Ms. DELAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this continuing resolution and want to thank the Chairman, Mr. OBEY, for his leadership and that of his staff. Indeed, in the last few weeks alone, I think we have seen more leadership and more courage than we saw at any time in the last 6 years. You made hard choices--unpopular choices. But you took the first steps toward restoring fiscal discipline and order to a process that for too long had been broken.

* And so, Mr. OBEY, I want to thank you--for reminding us that our first obligation is not to the special interests, but to the American people. To the business of governing responsibly. I am honored to call you my Chairman.

* Mr. Speaker, this bill is only being considered for one reason and one reason alone--and that is because when the Republican majority left town last year they did so without passing a single domestic appropriations bill. No funding for health care. No funding for our veterans or our seniors. That is what the taxpayers' hard-earned dollars got them last year--nothing.

* And so, I would say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle--you had your chance to make this an open, transparent, functioning process. You had your opportunity to crack down on earmarks and special interests. You had that opportunity last year--for the last 6 years. And you squandered it and left a mess.

* This bill is but the first few steps Democrats are taking toward cleaning up the mess left by the previous majority. It is by no means a perfect process. We are under no illusions. But by suspending this institution's broken earmark process, we have an opportunity to look toward next year with some optimism. Indeed, we used this opportunity to strengthen our capacity to respond to the needs of the public and restore funding to a few key priorities that had for too long been neglected by the previous majority.

* This is true in area after area--first and foremost, with respect to our troops. Under this bill, men and women wounded in action in Iraq and Afghanistan will receive the health care they need, as will 325,000 additional veterans. We have restored some funding for Head Start and early childhood education, for special education and for Pell Grants which will help 5.3 million students pay for college. And by providing an additional $125 million for the President's underfunded, undermanned No Child Left Behind program, we can begin to help 6,700 underachieving schools turn around. So, too, are we restoring funding to the National Institutes of Health, which the previous majority cut for the first time in 36 years. This bill supports an additional 500 research project grants, 1,500 first-time investigators, and expands funding for high risk and high impact research--the future of medicine.

* As the chair of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, I am pleased we were able to hold the line on rural development programs which provide assistance for rural utilities systems, business development, community facilities and housing--programs that otherwise would have seen draconian cuts under the President's FY07 request. We provide $65 million to help us counter the avian flu threat. And having been alarmed by breakdowns in our food safety and drug safety processes these last few years--from Vioxx to spinach--I am pleased we were able to provide some increases in this bill to help us begin to restore public confidence in these areas--at the USDA and FDA.

* Indeed, Mr. Speaker, with this bill, we are sending the same message to the American people about their Congress. And so, I want to again commend my friend and chairman, Mr. OBEY, for doing remarkable work under the most difficult circumstances imaginable. It is time to put the public interest before the special interests. And with this bill, we take the first steps necessary to doing that. It is about time.

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