116th Congress
WASHINGTON — Congressman José E. Serrano (D-NY), Chair of the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's markup of its fiscal year 2021 bill:
The fiscal year 2021 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill includes a total of $71.473 billion in discretionary budget authority, which is a 1.7 billion dollar decrease below last year's level. This reflects a natural decline due to decreased needs associated with the 2020 Census. That said, at this funding level, the bill sustains strong increases to invest in promoting economic development, reducing gun violence, addressing climate change, sustaining scientific leadership, and implementing police accountability and police reform. Let me go into a little more detail on some of these.