Senate Hearings Before the Committee on Appropriations
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S. HRG. 108–745 Senate Hearings Before the Committee on Appropriations Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Fiscal Year 2005 108th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION H.R. 5006/S. 2810 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES NONDEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations, 2005 (H.R. 5006/S. 2810) S. HRG. 108–745 DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005 HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON H.R. 5006/S. 2810 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, 2005, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Department of Education Department of Health and Human Services Nondepartmental witnesses Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 92-155 PDF WASHINGTON : 2005 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS TED STEVENS, Alaska, Chairman THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky TOM HARKIN, Iowa CONRAD BURNS, Montana BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama HARRY REID, Nevada JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire HERB KOHL, Wisconsin ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah PATTY MURRAY, Washington BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota LARRY CRAIG, Idaho DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois MIKE DEWINE, Ohio TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana JAMES W. MORHARD, Staff Director LISA SUTHERLAND, Deputy Staff Director TERRENCE E. SAUVAIN, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi TOM HARKIN, Iowa JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina LARRY CRAIG, Idaho DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas HARRY REID, Nevada TED STEVENS, Alaska HERB KOHL, Wisconsin MIKE DEWINE, Ohio PATTY MURRAY, Washington RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia (Ex officio) Professional Staff BETTILOU TAYLOR JIM SOURWINE MARK LAISCH SUDIP SHRIKANT PARIKH CANDICE ROGERS ELLEN MURRAY (Minority) ERIK FATEMI (Minority) ADRIENNE HALLETT (Minority) Administrative Support CAROLE GEAGLEY (II) CONTENTS THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2004 Page Department of Education: Office of the Secretary ................................................ 1 THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2004 Department of Health and Human Services: Office of the Secretary ................. 75 TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2004 Department of Health and Human Services: National Institutes of Health ...... 107 NONDEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES Department of Labor ............................................................................................... 255 Department of Health and Human Services ......................................................... 271 National Institutes of Health .................................................................................. 345 Department of Education ........................................................................................ 429 Related Agencies ...................................................................................................... 448 (III) DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005 THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2004 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 9:40 a.m., in room SD–192, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Arlen Specter (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Specter, Hutchison, Stevens, Harkin, Kohl, Murray, and Landrieu. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY STATEMENT OF HON. RODERICK PAIGE, SECRETARY ACCOMPANIED BY: C. TODD JONES, ASSOCIATE DEPUTY SECRETARY FOR BUDGET AND STRATEGIC ACCOUNTABILITY THOMAS SKELLY, DIRECTOR, BUDGET SERVICES OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER Senator SPECTER. The hearing of the Appropriations Sub- committee on Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education will now proceed. I regret being a few minutes late. They have Con- stitution Avenue blocked off. How did you make it Mr. Secretary? Secretary PAIGE. I know some shortcuts. Senator SPECTER. You must have more clout than a chairman, Mr. Secretary. Secretary PAIGE. I doubt that. Senator SPECTER. We never know what’s going to happen around the Capitol from one day to the next, but Constitution Avenue is blocked off as we came up. They publicized recently that the Cap- itol is an armed camp but at least the streets were clear, but this morning even the streets are not clear. Well, on to the business of the subcommittee. We have the distin- guished Secretary of Education with us today, came to the adminis- tration with an outstanding reputation as the superintendent of the Houston Independent School District. He served as dean of education and athletic director prior to that at Texas Southern University. He takes on a gigantic job, has taken on a gigantic job in the Department of Education, and with the President on a bipar- (1) 2 tisan basis has led to the enactment of legislation on Leave No Child Behind, which was widely heralded in 2001 when enacted. The President made a special trip to Massachusetts with Senator Kennedy to show the bipartisan support. Since that time, there have been some growing pains, which we will be exploring in to- day’s hearing, a call for greater flexibility where the Department has responded so far, at least in part, concerns about adequacy of funding, where we are trying to move ahead with more funding. FISCAL YEAR 2005 EDUCATION BUDGET REQUEST The budget for the Department as asked for by the administra- tion is in excess of $57 billion, an increase of $1.68 billion over last year for a 3 percent increase, and the administration has rec- ommended additions in very important lines, a billion in title I, a billion in special education. But that is possible by eliminating quite a few programs, which, Mr. Secretary, are very popular with members, and the Constitution gives the Congress the appropria- tion power, subject, of course, to the President’s signature. So we have always worked it out in the past. We’re facing a very difficult year on discretionary spending with one half of 1 percent overall on discretionary spending. We’re facing a budget deficit in the range of $500 billion, but in Winston Churchill’s famous words, we’ll muddle through, and by working together and the relation- ship the Secretary has had with this subcommittee and with the Congress in general has been excellent and on a cooperative basis. A group of school leaders had a meeting in southeastern Pennsyl- vania earlier this week where there were many concerns expressed about the No Child Left Behind Act, and on a last minute basis we’ve invited some of the people party to that meeting and some other Pennsylvanians to come to the hearing. The chairman is ex- ercising his prerogative as chairman to look to the home State. That’s not unusual in Washington, D.C., but it’s representative of a national picture. I talked to Secretary Paige last yesterday afternoon. He has other commitments, but we struck a time agreement, out no later than 11:00, and we appreciate his flexibility. Mr. Secretary, the floor is yours. We have a 5-minute rule, but it is waived for people who can get by the Constitution Avenue blockade. SUMMARY STATEMENT OF HON. RODERICK PAIGE Secretary PAIGE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to sub- mit material for the record. I’ll just provide a summary and try to get it in in 5 minutes. Senator SPECTER. Well, that’s wonderful, Mr. Secretary. NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT Secretary PAIGE. Thank you. Let me summarize the statement for you. With this request, President Bush has reaffirmed his long- standing commitment to our Nation’s children. Mr. Chairman, in the time since the No Child Left Behind Act became law, we have made tremendous progress in building a solid foundation for edu- cational achievement. 3 From day one we’ve been working to provide guidance on imple- mentation of this comprehensive and complicated law. The States will tell you that we’ve done so at a record pace. We’ve entered into a historic partnership with the States. In the first year, we hosted meetings with nearly every State to support the development of our accountability plan. Our Teacher Assistance Corps has visited 49 States to date, working to help States meet the law’s provisions re- garding highly qualified teachers. We continue to provide regulatory flexibility on the law’s imple- mentation, including the recent announcement that benefits stu- dents learning the English language for the first time, and also greater flexibility in testing students with disabilities. As we con- tinue to assess the law’s impact, we must always keep in