Lowey statement on HHS 2016 budget request

I'd like to thank Chairman Cole and Ranking Member DeLauro for holding this hearing today. Chairman Cole, welcome back to the subcommittee. It's been my pleasure working with you on these issues in the past, and I look forward to working together, with Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member DeLauro, to continue funding these important investments. And to Secretary Burwell, we are pleased to have you here today.

You come before us with a budget request of $75.8 billion, amounting to an increase of $4.2 billion in discretionary funding. Your request includes welcomed policy proposals that will fund medical breakthroughs, provide affordable child care for working families, and create jobs. The Department's budget is symbolic of the President's budget as a whole, in that it calls for investments in research, education, training, and infrastructure—all vitally important and interconnected. These investments are necessary not only to our health infrastructure, but are crucial in growing our economy and create jobs.

Throughout my time in Congress, federal funding for the National Institutes of Health has been among my top priorities. Your NIH budget would include an increase of $1 billion, resulting in 1,200 new additional competitive research grants in fiscal year 2016.

The NIH budget would make welcomed investments in advancing cancer treatments with a new Precision Medicine Initiative, and would increase funding for the BRAIN Initiative to research the workings of the brain and develop treatments to combat Alzheimer's Disease, autism, and other neurological and psychiatric conditions.

It would also better the lives of working families and provide children with the building blocks to succeed throughout their lives. I was very pleased to see the President's requested increase of $1.5 billion to expand Head Start to full-day, full-year services, and to expand Early Head Start programs for infants and toddlers.

The President has also called for the end of the mindless austerity of sequestration, urging Congress to replace it with more targeted spending cuts, program integrity measures, and the closure of some outdated tax loopholes.

The effects of sequestration were immense, and are still being felt. Across the government we see instances where training was postponed; routine investments were put-off; and research – especially the critically important research funded in this bill - was abruptly halted. It really was a worst-case scenario for many agencies, such as the NIH, and we have to make sure it doesn't happen again.

As we begin the annual process of crafting a budget resolution, a "fiscal blueprint", I know there will be many viewpoints represented in the debate. Many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will undoubtedly press on for additional cuts, to leave the outdated, sequester-level caps in place. But I think we all know now how dangerous that is, and how we must do everything we can to avoid a repeat of sequestration. We have forged compromise in the past. The Murray-Ryan plan was not perfect, but does provide a path forward for another budget deal. Without such an agreement, our appropriations process is deeply imperiled. Discretionary funding is falling to its lowest level, as a percentage of GDP, since the Eisenhower Administration.

We must again act to ensure reasonable allocations for the important programs and investments funded through the appropriations process, especially those under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee.

This bill provides critical federal funding some of the most important priorities of the American people – groundbreaking health and science research, valuable education programs and job training programs designed to keep this country globally competitive. The dollars we invest in these programs matter.

I look forward to your testimony today, Secretary Burwell, and to hear your agency's plans for the coming fiscal year.