Before we voted on this bill in November, my constituents told me what was important to them. Rhode Islanders, like all Americans, are concerned about health care and the economy.  I believe the public sentiment on these issues accounted for the failure of this bill last month.  With more than 45 million uninsured Americans and 7.4 million unemployed Americans, now is not the time to cut health professions training grants by 51 percent or take $229 million away from the unemployment insurance and service programs.  Yet, this second conference agreement once again proposes to do just that.

The consequences of ignoring these societal problems are far-reaching.  Major cutbacks in the areas of education and health care will have a tremendous economic impact on our nation.  However, the Republican leadership set the stage for cuts in these critical programs.  When Congress passed H. Con. Res. 95, the Budget Conference Report, they made it clear that tax cuts for the wealthy will continue to be paid for by slashing programs that Rhode Islanders depend on. 

Last month, I outlined my concerns about specific aspects of this bill -- cuts for No Child Left Behind, an already underfunded mandate; the failure to increase the maximum Pell Grant as included in the original House bill; and providing insufficient funding for the National Institutes of Health, which would decrease the number of federal research grants for the second year in a row.  As these concerns have not been addressed in the second conference report, I urge my colleagues to reject H.R. 3010 - again.  Thank you, Mr. Speaker.