Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at the Subcommittee Markup of the 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Funding Bill
WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) delivered the following remarks at the subcommittee’s markup of the fiscal year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies funding bill:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a pleasure to be with you both, Chairman Aderholt and Chairman Cole.
I want to express my appreciation for the staff on both sides of the aisle — in particular, I want to say thank you to Stephen Steigleder, Philip Tizzani, Jackie Kilroy, and Laurie Mignone on the minority staff. I also want to thank the majority staff — Kathryn Salmon, Emily Goff, James Redstone, Kirk Boyle, Jaime Varela, and Matthew Kleinman.
I think it comes as no surprise that I oppose the bill before us, which would cut funding for education, health care, and labor programs by $24 billion—more than 10 percent. But before I dive into the details of why this bill would be disastrous for American families, I want to talk about the bigger picture—about what is happening in the country at this moment.
Right now, the actions of this malicious and vindictive administration are hurting the middle class, the working class, and the vulnerable across every single one of our districts and taking us back decades.
Americans are struggling with the rising costs of everyday necessities. They are living paycheck to paycheck. But the President and House Republicans are not laser-focused on the cost-of-living crisis. They are making it worse.
Right now, the Trump administration and House Republicans are working to dismantle our health care and public education systems.
In their first six months in office, Republicans passed a bill to cut nearly a trillion dollars from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, which will take away health care coverage from more than 15 million people. A more than $500 billion cut to Medicare is approaching, harming America’s seniors. They slashed nutrition benefits for poor families, which will lead to an additional 1 million kids going hungry.
All to pass trillions of dollars in tax cuts for big corporations and billionaires, adding four trillion dollars to the national debt over the next ten years.
At the same time, President Trump and House Republicans are marching toward their goal of shutting down the Department of Education and turning public education into a for-profit enterprise.
In March, President Trump signed an executive order seeking to eliminate the Department of Education. Elon Musk and DOGE fired or pushed out half of the Department of Education’s workforce.
OMB Director Russ Vought illegally froze billions of dollars in funding for education programs that every one of our districts rely on — like afterschool learning programs. Teacher training programs. English-language learning and school enrichment programs.
And now, Republicans are eviscerating our public health system and promoting Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine ideology.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used to be the crown jewel of public health information and guidance on vaccines that saved so many lives in this country. Now it is being taken hostage by liars and conspiracy theorists.
On August 8, the CDC—still reeling from mass layoffs—was horrifically attacked by a shooter whose mind had been twisted by misinformation about Covid vaccines. He murdered a police officer — Officer David Rose, a Marine veteran.
During the attack, CDC staff who were picking up their children at day care laid on top of their kids to shield them from bullets.
The police found more than 500 shell casings. Weeks later, there are still bullet holes in windows and shards of glass in CDC offices.
How has RFK Jr. responded? Last week, at a news conference in Texas, he doubled down on vaccine conspiracies and faulted CDC for listing vaccines among the top 10 advances in medical science.
RFK Jr. has no scientific or medical expertise. He pushes deadly conspiracies and spreads lies and misinformation. We know his agenda — he wants to take away lifesaving vaccines from kids and from families.
RFK Jr. fired all 17 independent scientific advisers on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Policy, or ACIP, and replaced them with anti-vaccine acolytes. He hired an unqualified and discredited vaccine skeptic as a top adviser on vaccine policy.
Just last week, President Trump fired the CDC Director, Dr. Susan Monarez, for refusing to rubber-stamp RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine agenda that will hurt millions of our children.
On the same night, three of CDC’s foremost experts on influenza, respiratory diseases, and infectious diseases chose to resign rather than go along with RFK Jr.’s unscientific and dangerous demands to restrict access to lifesaving vaccines for children.
As Dr. Demetre Daskalakis said in his resignation letter: “Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.”
And as Dr. Debra Houry said in her resignation letter: “Vaccines save lives — this is an indisputable, well-established, scientific fact.”.
And, according to a bipartisan group of nine former CDC Directors, who served under both Democrats and Republicans, “Families with low incomes who rely most heavily on community health clinics and support from state and local health departments will have fewer resources available to them. Children risk losing access to lifesaving vaccines because of the cost… This is unacceptable, and it should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings.”
ACIP is scheduled to meet this month to consider recommendations for an array of vaccines, including Hepatitis B, Covid, RSV, and the combination vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella.
Senator Cassidy, Chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, has called for the ACIP meeting to be postponed. Senator Cassidy said, “If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership.”
I agree — the ACIP meeting must be postponed. All original ACIP members must be reinstated. Moreover, if they are not, it is imperative that RFK Jr.’s hand-picked anti-vaccine members of the Committee be replaced immediately by true immunization experts.
RFK Jr. was never qualified to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. He should be fired immediately.
Now, we have the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill before us, which continues the Republican assault on education, health care, and workers.
Once again, this bill decimates support for public schools, students, and K‑12 school teachers. It abandons college students and lower‑income workers trying to gain an education or advance their career for their chance at the American Dream.
Overall, the bill cuts the Department of Education by $12 billion, or 15 percent, including a $4.7 billion cut to Title I, which will take at least 72,000 teachers out of low-income classrooms.
Hard-working families pay taxes and send their children to local public schools, but this bill says we cannot afford to put a teacher in their child’s classroom.
English language acquisition funding to help more than 5 million English learners nationwide is eliminated, disadvantaging and discriminating against students who primarily speak another language, hurting their future ability to compete and succeed in the American economy.
Supporting Effective Instruction State grants – which provide professional development opportunities for educators – are completely gone.
Work-based financial aid from Federal Work Study for 220,000 students who need it to help finance their post-secondary education is cut by $450 million – limiting their potential earnings and future success in the job market – and need-based financial aid for more than 1.6 million low-income students who use Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants to finance their education is completely eliminated.
I find it ironic that this bill was released on Labor Day.
It slashes worker protections and abandons the working class — allowing corporations to exploit American workers’ safety and rights — and promotes cheap foreign labor.
Overall, it cuts the Department of Labor by 30 percent — eviscerating job training programs by more than 50 percent, and eliminating funding for Adult Job Training, Youth Job Training, and the Job Corps program, destroying job training and career development opportunities for more than 300,000 adults and more than 150,000 young adults.
And, once again, the majority’s bill would harm women’s health, children’s health, and public health, surrendering the safety and wellbeing of the American people to multiple health crises.
It completely eliminates funding for HIV/AIDS prevention at CDC, a cut of more than $1 billion, and cuts HIV/AIDS treatment under the bipartisan Ryan White program by more than $500 million.
The first Trump administration proposed a new initiative to end the HIV Epidemic. The second Trump administration — on the other hand — has abandoned the fight.
The bill would eliminate funding for Title X Family Planning, which would be the end of support for preventive health care services, including contraception and cancer screenings, for 2.6 million low‑income women and men. And it would eliminate funding for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program.
It also eliminates the Tobacco Prevention programs, as well as gun violence prevention research. Just days after a horrific school shooting while children were praying in church.
The bill cuts NIH research funding by nearly $500 million. This comes as Russ Vought has cancelled previously awarded grants, throwing away potential life-saving cures or treatments, and wasting millions of dollars in the process.
It is sad because it was not long ago that I worked on a bipartisan basis with Chairman Tom Cole — for eight straight years — to provide annual funding increases for NIH research.
Biomedical research used to be a bipartisan priority in Congress. Sadly, those days seem to be gone.
And in keeping with the majority’s other partisan bills, this bill includes the usual poison pill riders, including multiple provisions that target abortion rights and reproductive health care services. Policy riders in the bill create an open season for discrimination against LGBTQ individuals, and they prohibit policies and programs intended to promote diversity in the federal government.
I am truly exasperated that the majority is taking this subcommittee, the Congress, and the American people down this path once again.
I would urge my Republican colleagues to say: enough. Stop supporting anti‑vaccine lies. Stop cutting Medicaid. Stop destroying public education. Stop hollowing out our health care and public school systems.
This 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill only deepens the harm wrought on the middle class, working class, and vulnerable Americans.
I cannot support this never-ending attack on our health care and public school systems and our workers.
I urge my colleagues to vote no. Thank you, and I yield back.
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