Veto Override of Labor-Health-Education Appropriations Bill : A Rejection of President Bush’s Misguided Priorities Washington D.C. – Today, Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, voted to override the President’s veto of H.R. 3043, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008. The final vote came to 277-141, failing to garner the necessary 2/3 vote needed. This bill would have provided much needed support for education of kids with disabilities, job training, families facing rising energy prices and improvement in healthcare. In response to the vote, Mr. Conyers made the flowing statement:

“A commitment to improving the lives of our workers, children, families and ordinary Americans seems to be something not shared by our President. This Administration apparently feels that while it is necessary to spend $12 billion a month in Iraq, the Federal Year 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill is just $9.8 billion too expensive and needs to be vetoed. He believes that an extra $10 billion to provide grants to low-income children for after school programs, increasing the purchasing power of Pell Grants, fund job training programs for dislocated workers and helping families facing rising energy prices with the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is just wasteful spending.

The President, in an attempt to burnish his credentials as a bona fide fiscal conservative, now seems to know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. I wonder where this conservatism was from 2001 through 2006, when the Republican-led Congress went on a deficit financed spending spree with our national treasury taking the United States from a $5.6 trillion, 10-year surplus, to a $2 trillion, 10-year deficit.
H.R. 3043, would have made long overdue investments in education, worker safety and health care for our citizens. I will keep working with my colleagues to provide support for our workers, children, and families and to reject the President’s misguided priorities by putting the needs of the American people first.”

This bill would have provided assistance for our children, family, and workers by:

o Rejecting the President’s $291 million cut and instead provides an increase of $509 million over 2007 for Individuals with Disabilities Act. This investment reverses a two-year decline in the federal contribution toward the rising costs of special education for 6.9 million children with disabilities. Under the Republicans, the federal contribution for special education fell from 18.6 percent in 2005 to 17.2 percent in 2007, leaving states struggling to meet these costs.

o Allocating $154 million more than 2007 for Head Start services. This is also $254 million more than Bush’s proposal, which would have cut services to 13,500 kids.

o Providing $50 million for states that are ready to expand health care coverage to targeted groups and $50 million for an initiative to assist states in providing high-risk insurance pools to support affordable insurance for almost 200,000 people.

o Giving Americans who want to succeed in the 21st century workforce with the vital service they need and not, under the President’s plan, slashing these crucial employment and training programs by $722 million.

o Increasing Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) by $250 million over 2007, enabling 600,000 more families to receive LIHEAP assistance than in 2007 and 1.5 million more families than the President’s proposal, which would cut LIHEAP by $379 million.