Barbara Lee: “I thank Chairwoman Lowey for her leadership, for yielding, and for her tireless work day and night on behalf of the…”

“I thank Chairwoman Lowey for her leadership, for yielding, and for her tireless work day and night on behalf of the American people. As a member of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, I am really pleased to see such a comprehensive bill that strongly invests in our communities. For example, there is a $150 million increase for HIV research at NIH and an $8 million increase to the Office of Minority Health to ensure decreases in health disparities for our communities of color. We have a $92 million increase to Historically Black Colleges and Universities' and Hispanic-Serving Institutions' undergraduate programs to help improve higher education access for our students of color. Also, it is important to recognize the $65 million increase to the Education Innovation Research grants for computer science for young girls and students of color, and the $9 million increase for teen pregnancy prevention and the $114 million increase to Title X Family Planning, both programs providing evidence-based, comprehensive sex education. Also, as the proud vice chair of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee, we increased the Global Fund. It remains, of course, at 33 percent, sending an important signal, in terms of our leadership to international partners, that we intend for the United States to stay in the leadership to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic.…”