Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the Department of Education

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's hearing on the fiscal year 2025 budget request for the Department of Education:

Thank you, Chairman Aderholt, for holding this hearing on the 2025 budget for the Department of Education.

And thank you to our witness, Secretary Cardona, for appearing today and thank you for your public service, and your dedication to investing in and improving outcomes for our nation's youth.

When Secretary Cardona and President Biden took office over three years ago, students and families were facing unprecedented disruptions to their education.

And indeed, learning loss and chronic absenteeism are still critical challenges we must work diligently to resolve.

But thanks to the leadership of Secretary Cardona and President Biden, and investments made by the House Appropriations Committee, schools now have essential resources to support student academic recovery, address mental health needs, and tackle nationwide teacher shortages.

We increased financial aid to help students pay for college, and we invested in colleges and universities so students from diverse backgrounds all have a fair shot at a high-quality postsecondary education.

And thanks to the Administration's historic success in cancelling student loan debt, four million Americans living paycheck to paycheck under the weight of burdensome and oftentimes overwhelming debt are feeling major relief to their household's bottom line, helping families with the high cost of living.

Students and families do not just need help to pay tuition. Housing, food, and transportation expenses are staggering – nearly one in three college students experience food insecurity – and so any assistance we can provide will continue to make education more affordable and more accessible to hardworking Americans.

The strength of our great country and the resilience of our democracy depends on how well we prepare our next generation with the knowledge and skills necessary to face future challenges.

Which is why support for high-quality and affordable education is one of our subcommittee's most solemn responsibilities.

I was proud to work with Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate to complete our work on the fiscal year 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education funding bill.

I am proud that we protected the historic investments this subcommittee made in education programs during the first two years of the Biden administration.

Last year, House Republicans proposed a destructive 80 percent cut to Title I—the cornerstone of our federal investment in public education—which would have removed 224,000 teachers from classrooms serving low-income students nationwide.

We spent months communicating the devastation this would bring to urban, suburban, and rural communities across the country, which is why I am so proud that we not only beat back these cuts, but we passed a bill that increased Title I by $20 million.

Despite the tight fiscal constraints that were placed on us, I was also pleased to secure a $20 million increase for IDEA Grants to States to equip special educators with the tools they need to support students with disabilities.

And finally, I was particularly proud to secure at least $74 million in new awards, for a total funding level of over $170 million, for school-based mental health grant programs that were created by this subcommittee to advance my goal of making sure every child can count on the support of a qualified mental health professional at their school.

We also removed each of the dozens of poison pill policy riders proposed last year by the majority, including new riders that would have blocked access to student loan relief, new income-driven repayment options, and rules that would protect students who are victims of sexual assault.

I am proud of where we ended up with the 2024 appropriations bill, but there is still unmet need in education, which brings me to the President's budget for 2025.

The request for $82 billion for programs funded at the Department of Education will help support working- and middle-class families and help secure future opportunities for America's children, regardless of their socio-economic status.

Increases of $180 million each to Title I and IDEA Grants to States will build on the progress we made in supporting students with the highest needs.

And I am thrilled to see a $50 million increase to Full-Service Community Schools, a program I was proud to double in size to $150 million in fiscal year 2023, which we also protected in 2024.

And I was pleased to see the administration's proposal to shore up the Pell Grant, and avoid a devastating shortfall, with a plan to provide an additional $2.1 billion for Pell in fiscal year 2025 to support an increase to the maximum award.

Horace Mann called education, quote, "a great equalizer of conditions of men." End quote.

Indeed, a quality education which provides the knowledge and skills needed to solve complex challenges is the prerequisite to finding success in life.

It is therefore our duty to invest in every American child so that they may have the opportunity to reach their potential, achieve their dreams, and become the leaders of the next generation.

I look forward to securing this funding for students and families and helping to deliver on the Biden Administration's education goals for the American people.

Thank you, and I yield back.