Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at the Full Committee Markup of the Fiscal Year 2027 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Funding Bill

WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee, gave remarks during the full committee markup of the fiscal year 2027 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies funding bill. Below are excerpts from her opening statement, as delivered. Her full remarks can be accessed here.

I oppose the bill we are considering today. Americans struggle to afford everything from gasoline to groceries; from utilities to health insurance; from mortgage payments to medical bills. But instead of doing anything to address the affordability crisis, this bill makes the problem even worse.

Thanks to the president’s signature piece of legislation – the One Big Beautiful Bill – healthcare costs are going up, and hospitals are shutting down. Fifteen million Americans will likely lose their health insurance, while the very wealthy and large corporations continue to rake in record profits and enjoy the benefits of their $4.5 trillion tax cut.

This bill cuts $8 billion – 10 percent – from the Department of Education. That includes a $2 billion cut to Title I grants, which will push 30,000 teachers out of their classrooms, and leave countless children with a worse education. 

It is a step down the path toward eliminating public education – that, I believe, is their ultimate goal. 

The recent Ebola outbreak threatens to become the deadliest in history. Because the Trump administration chose to dismantle USAID, to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, and to drastically scale back our global health footprint, this outbreak has a significant head start. 

Humanitarian aid workers are trying to contain the outbreak without adequate personal protective equipment, in active combat zones, waiting days just to get test results back. We are in this position because this administration tore apart our existing programs. Now we are facing the consequences.

The bill cuts funding for Title X Family Planning, leaving 2.6 million men and women without access to preventive care services and contraception. It eliminates the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program entirely. And it includes dozens of partisan provisions that target reproductive health care access. 

Even now, years after Roe was overturned, and reproductive healthcare has become much more difficult and even dangerous to access in much of the country, this bill would restrict access even further – no matter what state you live in.

This bill cuts $2 billion in operations funding from the Affordable Care Act marketplace, threatening health care coverage for millions of Americans. Even if you qualify for an affordable plan through the program, you will have a harder time accessing it. 

Additionally, the bill does nothing to protect nonpartisan research from the political influence of the president and his allies. Since they took office, this administration has been taking steps to condition grant funding based on political preference. They have imposed purity tests, holding up crucial support for critical research at NIH, for example, simply because it included the word “gender.” 

Now, they are trying to formalize this process by issuing a new federal regulation, subjecting all grant making across the government to political interference. Not peer review, not objective merit, not empirical evidence – just personal political preference. This cannot be allowed to happen. We must exercise our power of the purse.

Taken together, the bill undermines education, jeopardizes public health, and limits workers’ opportunities. It does nothing to address the rising cost of living, while stripping away crucial support that helps families who are navigating the affordability crisis.

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