Press Release : Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro issued the following statement on President Trump’s recent step to unlawfully eliminate the Department of Education:

WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro issued the following statement on President Trump’s action to unlawfully eliminate Education employees’ positions:

House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro is warning of the fatal consequences of self-appointed president Elon Musk’s sabotaging of the National Institutes of Health. By slashing NIH’s workforce, President Trump and unchecked billionaires are blocking the development of cures and treatments for diseases and health conditions that affect millions of American families.

House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro is warning of the fatal consequences of unelected billionaire and self-appointed president Elon Musk’s crippling of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By slashing CDC’s workforce, President Trump and unchecked billionaires are leaving Americans more exposed to disease, illness, and death.

House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro is raising the alarm on President Trump’s reported plans to sign an illegal Executive Order to dismantle public education – a move right out of the Project 2025 playbook. Elon Musk has already taken the first step to dismantle the Department of Education by canceling more than 100 education contracts and awards supporting special education, teacher recruitment, and other topics. This move from Presidents Musk and Trump will hurt children, students, families, and parents in every corner of the country.

President Trump’s Administration is imposing a new policy to cap indirect costs for National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants at 15 percent, which would cut billions of dollars in funding for life-saving research to develop cures and treatments for diseases. Under the leadership of House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, Congress enacted a provision that has been included annually in appropriations bills since 2018 that explicitly prohibits any Administration from making these changes.

U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, joined Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Related Agencies Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, in calling out the Trump Administration for the chaos and confusion they have unleashed by pausing communications and critical work, groundbreaking research, and funding for programs Americans rely on at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The legislators also demanded answers from the Trump Administration on the funding freeze that has impacted Medicaid, Head Start and other vital services in their states.

Washington, D.C. — Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, alongside Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee; Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education; and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee sent a letter warning against the Trump administration’s reported plans to unilaterally dismantle the Department of Education. The lawmakers asked the acting Secretary of Education for answers on recent actions taken by the Trump administration to put federal workers on administrative leave, coerce employees into leaving their jobs, provide access to students’ sensitive data, and illegally freeze vital funding.