Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies appropriations for fiscal year 1996 : hearings before a subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, One Hundred Fourth Congress, first session, PDF
Preview Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies appropriations for fiscal year 1996 : hearings before a subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, One Hundred Fourth Congress, first session,
S. Hrg. 104-281, Pt. 2 Senate Hearings Before the Committee on Appropriations Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Fiscal Year th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION H.R. 2127 PART 2 (Pages 1-595) DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR RELATED AGENCIES S. Hrg. 104-281, Pt. 2 DEPARTMENTS OF UBOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND REUTED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR HSCAL YEAR 1996 HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H.R. 2127 AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1996, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Part 2 (Pages 1-595) Department of Education Department of Health and Human Services Department of Labor Related agencies Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 87-615 cc WASHINGTON : 1996 For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-052339-7 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS MARK O. HATFIELD, Oregon, Chairman TED STEVENS, Alaska ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii • ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South CaroUna PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico J. BENNETT JOHNSTON, Louisiana PHIL GRAMM, Texas PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri DALE BUMPERS, Arkansas SLADE GORTON, Washington FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky TOM HARKIN, Iowa CONNIE MACK, Florida BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland CONRAD BURNS, Montana HARRY REID, Nevada RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama J. ROBERT KERREY, Nebraska JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont HERB KOHL, Wisconsin JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire PATTY MURRAY, Washington ROBERT F. BENNETT. Utah J. Keith Kennedy, Staff Director Mark Van de Water, Deputy Staff Director James H. English, Minority Staff Director Subcommittee on Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman MARK 0. HATFIELD, Oregon TOM HARKIN, Iowa THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia SLADE GORTON, Washington ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South CaroUna CONNIE MACK, Florida DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri DALE BUMPERS, Arkansas JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont HARRY REID, Nevada JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire HERB KOHL, Wisconsin Majority Professional Staff Craig A. Higgins and Bettilou Taylor Minority Professional Staff Marsha Simon Administrative Support Meg Snyder (II) CONTENTS Page Tuesday, March 7, 1995 Department of Labor: Office of the Secretary 1 Thursday, March 9, 1995 Department of Health and Human Services: Office of the Secretary 117 Tuesday, March 16, 1995 Department of Education: Secretary of Education 231 Thursday, May 18, 1995 Department of Health and Human Services: National Institutes of Health 305 Related Agencies Armed Forces Retirement Home Board 461 Corporation for National Service 469 Corporation for Public Broadcasting 483 Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service 498 Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission 512 U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Service 514 National Council on Disability 518 National Labor Relations Board 525 National Mediation Board 530 Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission 545 Physician Payment Review Commission 552 Prospective Payment Assessment Commission 557 United States Railroad Retirement Board 564 United States Institute of Peace 581 (III) DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1996 TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 1995 U.S. Senate, Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 2:12 p.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Arlen Specter (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Specter, Harkin, Bumpers, and Kohl. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Office of the Secretary statement of hon. robert r. reich, secretary of labor opening remarks of senator specter Senator Specter. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. The Subcommittee on Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education begins hearings on fiscal year 1996 appropriations requests with testimony from Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. Let me first acknowledge the presence of the distinguished rank- ing member. We have reversed seats. It has always been a pleasure to work with Senator Harkin in any capacity and it has been a partnership and it will be a partnership. We have worked very closely in a bipartisan manner on the very difficult issues which confront three very, very important Departments: Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. And I know that Senator Harkin and I will continue to do just that. The Labor Department budget totals almost $12 billion for dis- cretionary programs, which is a net increase of some $936 million. The Labor Department also has proposed 2 rescissions amounting to $5.1 million, which the House has raised to 27 rescissions for a total of $2.3 billion. Secretary Reich and I talked briefly on the phone yesterday and we will be discussing that as well as the budget for fiscal year 1996. Staff has prepared charts which set the stage. The first bar chart shows the Federal budget deficit projected by the administration through the year 2000. As you can see, the deficits stay at nearly $200 billion annually for the next 5 fiscal years, resulting in a $1 (1) 2 trillion increase in deficit spending by the turn of the century. Con- gress will undoubtedly have a great deal to say about the deficits. The next bar chart displays the major changes in the Labor De- partment's discretary budget request, which results in the net in- creases I've mentioned of $936 million over fiscal year 1995. The third chart, the line graph, displays the President's budget projection of Labor Department discretionary spending proposals from 1994 through the year 2000. It reflects outlays or the actual spending, which for many Labor Department programs lags a year behind the Federal appropriations. PREPARED STATEMENT I have a very lengthy, erudite statement prepared by very intel- lectual, extraordinary staff and, in the interest of time and oncom- ing votes and in deference to my ranking member, I will put the balance of it in the record and turn at this point to Senator Harkin. [The statement follows:] Prepared Statement of Senator Arlen Specter This afternoon, the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education begins hearings on fiscal year 1996 appropriations requests, with testi- mony from Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. The Labor Department budget totals $11.97 billion for discretionary programs. This is a net increase of $936 million, or 8.5 percent above fiscal year 1995. The Labor Department also has proposed two small rescissions, amounting to $5.1 mil- lion, which the House has raised to 27 rescissions saving a total of $2.3 Ijillion. I look forward to Secretary Reich's comments on the House rescissions. First, let me set the stage by referring to the charts you see on display. The first bar chart shows the Federal budget deficits projected by the Administration through the year 2000. As you can see, the deficits stay at nearly $200 billion annually for the next five fiscal years — resulting in a trillion dollar increase in deficit spending by the turn of the century. Congress will undoubtedly have a lot more to say about $200 billion deficits as far as the eye can see, and we are likely to see greater rec- ognition that substantial reductions in the size of government are necessary. The next bar chart displays the major changes in the Labor Department discre- tionary budget request, which results in a net increase of $936 million over fiscal year 1995. The third chart, a line graph, displays the President's budget projection of Labor Department discretionary spending proposals, from 1994 through the year 2000. It reflects outlays, or the actual spending which for many Labor Department programs lags a year behind the Federal appropriation. Thus, the peak spending of $14.3 bil- lion in f iscal 1997 would be the result of appropriations increases requested for fis- cal 1996. As you can see, for fiscal year 1998 through 2000, the Department's outlay totals decline, reaching $13.3 billion in the year 2000. This means cutbacks are around the comer. I wrote Secretary Reich about this matter last week, in anticipa- tion of t his hearing, expressing my concern that the rapid build-up of investment programs in fiscal year 1996 may not be sustainable in the outyears. Even if sus- tainable,a I m concerned about substantially jeopardizing other important Labor De- partment programs, such as adjudication of claims for Black Lung benefits and timely processing and payment of unemployment insurance. This is a matter I would like to discuss with the Secretary, following his opening remarks and state- ments of C ommittee members. The budget of this Subcommittee is extraordinarily difficult and there are many items which raise my concern. I am concerned that the House action on rescissions appears to be the meat-axe approach, while my approach is to use a scalpel. We have an extremely tough job ahead of us, Mr. Secretary, and I know we can count on your cooperation and you can count on ours; we will work together in the coming months. Next I will turn to Senator Harkin, the Subcommittee's ranking member and former Chairman for the last 6 years, for whatever opening comments he may have. 3 OPENING REMARKS OF SENATOR HARKIN Senator Harkin. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I will re- spond in l ike manner by putting my statement in the record. I first want to congratulate you, Senator Specter, for chairing this inaugural budget hearing as the chairman of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Sub- committee. We h ave indeed changed chairs and roles, but again I have enjoyed a very close working relationship with you, both pro- fessionally and p ersonally. We have been a great team and a part- nership in t his effort. We try to do everything as bipartisan as we possibly can. I cannot remember one partisan problem that we have had in the past, and I want to thank you for that. We have had' a very close and cooperative relationship in the past and I know that, with you as chair, we will have that same relationship over the next 2 years. That was sort of a joke, you see, 2 years; 2 years and I get to reverse the role. Now, that may not mean exactly what everybody thinks. It may mean that you may go on to someplace else. You never know. But it has been a very close friendship and I really appreciate all the support and help you and your staff gave me when I was chair. It is also a way of publicly stating that I and my staff will reciprocate. We will give you every bit of support and help we possibly can. Secretary Reich, again thank you for all of your leadership and stewardship of the Department of Labor. You have just been out- standing in t erms of your leadership in modernizing the American work force by upgrading the skills, the education, and the opportu- nities available to workers across the Nation. What you have set forth as the goals for the work force of Amer- ica will indeed place us on the right path for the year 2000 and beyond, and again we just have to try to meet our responsibilities to make sure we can come up with the necessary funds and fi- nances to m ake sure we upgrade the American workplace. Thank you very, very much. Senator Specter. Senator Specter. Thank you. Senator Harkin. When Senator Harkin talked about 2 years, we do not deal in double entendres. That was either a triple or quadruple entendre, and I will not go into the details. There has never been any partisanship between Senator Harkin and me. The only mild disagreement we had was when I put an amendment regarding Haiti on our appropriations bill last year. Senator Harkin thought that he was on the wrong committee. The floor is yours, Mr. Secretary. Welcome. SUMMARY STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT REICH Secretary Reich. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. In the interest of time, with your permission, I will submit my formal statement for the record and I will talk very briefly, if I may, Mr. Chairman, and other members of the distinguished committee. Let me talk first of all about the 1995 rescissions, because I am very concerned about them, and let me tell you why. The rescis- sions for t he Department of Labor in the House-passed rescission bill, $2.3 billion from the Department's activities in 1995. That $2.3 4 billion, I have got to say, is a major whack at young people, par- ticularly disadvantaged young people. A big chunk of that, $1.7 billion, is for summer jobs. Now, when we talk about summer jobs for young people we're talking about disadvantaged young people on the streets. Their choice is essen- tially either a job or being on the streets during the summer. We have had that summer job program evaluated and reevalu- ated by t he inspector general, by GAO, and by consultants who have come in and looked at it and interviewed employers and em- ployees and summer people, and we have found that it is a good program. It provides worthwhile, meaningful job experiences for those kids. And because of what the House did, 1.2 million disadvantaged, poor young people who want jobs will not have jobs in the summer of 1995 and the summer of 1996. Now, remember these are kids who want to work. These are not kids who do not want to work. Last summer, there were two poor kids applying for every single job that was available, that is public sector and private sector, money and they match it dollar for dollar with private money. And for many of these young people there are simply no other alter- natives. They are at a time in their life when they are hitting a fork in the road. Due to this program, many will go down the road toward jobs, employment, and responsibility, recieving for the first time a paycheck and an opportunity to really hold a job and to see the world of work, come to work on time, and be responsible. The other alternative for many of them is unfortunately to get into mischief. The unemplo3nTient rate among out of school, particularly out of school minorities is five times greater than the unemployment rate for young people generally who are seeking work. This is a tremen- dous problem in this country, and these kids want to play it right. I just want to urge you, please, to restore as much of this money as possible. I am also concerned about $310 million in youth training grants that are also being cut for 1995. This is the same issue. We have evaluations, and I am happy to share them with you, which indi- cate that youth programs work. Unfortunately, the total decreases in youth programs that have been proposed by the House of Representatives result in 1.4 million participants in youth programs not having a chance. And again, this simply does not make logical sense to me. I urge this sub- committee tob e steadfast in its support for efforts to improve the productivity and protect the rights of all American workers. I am concerned also about a proposed rescission for the Wage and Hour Division of our Department. We have undocumented im- migrants who are coming in and working in sweatshops. One of the main ways of rooting out undocumented immigrants is through making sure that no employer can profit by bringing in workers who are willing to work at subminimal wages in subminimal work- ing conditions and are too afraid to complain about it because they are illegal, undocumented, immigrants. We have got to enforce the law. We cannot do our job if we are going to have these kinds of rescissions.
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