Tom Harkin: “the spending package we are considering this week I think is a little bit unusual, to say the least. Five of the twelve…”

“the spending package we are considering this week I think is a little bit unusual, to say the least. Five of the twelve Appropriations subcommittees get detailed, full-length spending bills: Defense, Military Construction, Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Commerce and Justice. The other seven appropriations bills are basically on autopilot, continuing resolutions. So with a few exceptions, whatever the government spent last year on programs in these seven subcommittees the government will spend this year. I know for a fact this is not what the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee wanted. She fought hard for an omnibus that would have included all 12 spending bills. I am very respectful of that. She fought hard for it, but this is where we stand right now. I am speaking today because the programs under the jurisdiction of the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, of which I am privileged to chair, would be put on autopilot. I suppose it comes as no surprise I think that is a terrible mistake. The Labor-HHS bill--or Labor-H, as it is known in the terminology around here--is how we fund the National Institutes of Health, the preeminent biomedical research entity in the world. This bill is how we fund the child care and development block grant, which gives working families access to high-quality childcare.…”