Aderholt Remarks at FY26 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Bill Subcommittee Markup

Good evening ladies and gentlemen – The subcommittee on labor, health and human services, education, and related agencies will now come to order.  I would like to thank everyone for making arrangements to arrive before votes so we can hit the ground running. I also want to welcome Chairman Cole back to our subcommittee and recognize Ranking Member DeLauro.  

The bill before you today balances the need for responsible fiscal stewardship while maintaining key investments in biomedical research, schools, and public health. Following the President’s clear direction, we have taken a critical look at every program and in several cases had to make hard decisions on some “nice to have” programs.  Americans must prioritize resources at the kitchen table, and we should be doing the same here in Congress.  That is why voters put Donald Trump in the White House and gave unified control of government to the Republican party.  

While several programs are eliminated or reduced, the bill increases support for biodefense, rural hospitals, and school choice. The bill also maintains support for Pell Grants and investments in early childhood education. In conjunction with the bold leadership of President Trump to terminate the diversity, equity, and inclusion, policies put in place by the previous Administration; this bill codifies their removal, stopping them once and for all. Building on the success of the big, beautiful bill, this bill eliminates funding for Planned Parenthood.  

It also protects the rights of women and girls to play sports fairly and not compete directly with men.  It prohibits any federal funding from going toward enforcing gender identity politics or social, hormonal, and surgical interventions to change a child’s sex. The bill maintains the longstanding Hyde amendment to ensure that taxpayer funds are not used for abortion-on-demand, and that no one is forced to participate in an abortion or refer for one under federal programs. This isn’t right wing extremism – this is mainstream public opinion.  

The bill also makes sure that taxpayer dollars are not used to circumvent state laws which restrict access to abortion and ensures that American tax dollars don’t support research using fetal tissue from an abortion. The bill supports American businesses, farmers, and entrepreneurs by including provisions protecting the rights of independent contractors and ending forced wage rates for agricultural workers. In addition to thanking Chairman Cole, I also want to thank the committee staff on both sides of the aisle, as well as my fellow subcommittee members and their personal office staff for their hard work and input in crafting this bill.  It has taken several weeks to get here, and I know a lot of work has gone into making the bill we have before us today.  

We will all have different opinions about the policies in this bill, both as they relate to spending on federal programs and the provisions supporting the Administration’s efforts.  But I want to remind everyone, we all sincerely want to represent the views of our constituents respectfully – I look forward to our continued discussion on these issues in the full committee’s markup.  

I now recognize Ranking Member DeLauro for her opening remarks.