Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (114th Congress)
[[{"fid":"67","view_mode":"full","fields":{"format":"full","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Rep. Rosa DeLauro","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Rep. Rosa DeLauro"},"type":"media","link_text":null,"field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"full","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Rep. Rosa DeLauro","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Rep. Rosa DeLauro"}},"attributes":{"alt":"Rep. Rosa DeLauro","title":"Rep. Rosa DeLauro","height":"100","width":"71","style":"float: left;","class":"media-element file-full","data-delta":"1"}}]]Rosa DeLauro (CT), Ranking Member
Barbara Lee (CA)
Jurisdiction
Department of Education
Department of Health and Human Services (Except Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry; Food and Drug Administration; Indian Health Services and Facilities; and National Institute of Environmental Sciences (formerly EPA/Superfund))
Department of Labor
Related Agencies
Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled
Corporation for National and Community Service
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
National Council on Disability
National Education Goals Panel
National Labor Relations Board
National Mediation Board
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
Railroad Retirement Board
Social Security Administration
"Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Mr. Secretary, for joining us this morning, most of all thank you for your leadership on behalf of American workers and their families.
"The Department of Labor exists to represent the tens of millions of families who form the bedrock of our society and the engine of our dynamic economy. It helps provide them with stability by protecting their wages, their working conditions, health benefits, and retirement security.
"The economic picture for these hardworking families is decidedly mixed. On the one hand, the unemployment rate has dropped dramatically. At the height of the recession, it peaked at 10.2 percent. Today, it is 5.5 percent.
"In each of the past 12 months, the economy has produced more than 200,000 new jobs – the longest streak of job creation in two decades.
"Thank you very much Mr. Chairman and good morning to everyone. It is a little earlier than we usually start these hearings, but this is such an important topic that it was important to all of us to have the opportunity for the full two hours with the distinguished panel. I am so thrilled to welcome Dr. Francis Collins, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Drs. Fauci, Volkow, Insel, Lorsch, and Gibbons, to discuss the 2016 budget request for NIH.
"First and foremost, let me just say thank you for your work. Every scientific discovery, every medical breakthrough, the research you support advances human knowledge, and it improves the quality of our lives, and most of all it saves lives. And as an almost 30-year survivor of ovarian cancer, I am alive today because to the Grace of God and biomedical research. When I was elected to Congress, I made supporting that research one of my top priorities.
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), at today's Labor-Health and Human Services-Education Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, called for more support for the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Administration for Community Living. Her opening remarks noted that SSA's operating budget, in particular, has been cut by more than $1.2 billion since 2010, after adjusting for inflation.
The below remarks are as delivered at the hearing:
"Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this hearing on a set of programs that provide critical support to our Nation's seniors and people with disabilities. Commissioner Colvin, Assistant Secretary Greenlee, we welcome you to the Committee. I am pleased you are here. I think this is a great opportunity to bring attention to and question you on your agency's important programs.
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.
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) examined the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) proposed 2016 budget with Secretary Sylvia Burwell today. Secretary Burwell testified before the subcommittee responsible for funding HHS today, on which DeLauro is the Senior Democrat, in Burwell's first appearance before an Appropriations subcommittee.
In her opening remarks, DeLauro highlighted two areas: