DeLauro Statement on Passage of Continuing Resolution and Disaster Relief Package
On Republican Chaos: “Every time the 118th Congress was called upon to do the actual hard work of serving the American people, House Republican leadership admitted defeat, and House Democrats had to take the reins”
WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) released the following statement on the passage of a government funding package to avert a costly shutdown and provide much-needed disaster relief to communities across the country:
“Congress is on track to avert a costly and pointless shutdown, ensuring the programs and services that assist and help the American people, middle class families, working families, and vulnerable families, continue uninterrupted. And critically, we have provided $100 billion in urgently needed resources for the victims of hurricanes, extreme weather, and other natural disasters who have courageously worked to rebuild their homes, revive their communities, and restore a sense of normalcy where catastrophes have upended day-to-day lives. The American people want and deserve peace and quiet during the holidays – not more noise and chaos from a dysfunctional Congress. While I support this bill, we must turn to the difficult work of finishing 2025 spending bills immediately.
“The 118th Congress is a story of one party’s total abandonment of duty and of responsibility. On paper, the House of Representatives in the 118th Congress had a Republican majority. In practice, any actual legislation of consequence that passed the House of Representatives in the 118th Congress was led by Democrats, who time and again put people over politics to do what Republicans are demonstrably incapable of doing: governing. At every opportunity for a cynical ploy to divide Americans, Republicans were united. Republicans readily and repeatedly demonstrated they are willing to fall in line behind an extreme agenda that would harm hard working families.
“But every time the 118th Congress was called upon to do the actual hard work of serving the American people, House Republican leadership admitted defeat, and House Democrats had to take the reins, put up the majority of the votes, and keep the government open. The final act of the 118th Congress was no different. We are in this position because House Republicans did not learn a single lesson from the chaos Congress was dragged through to complete the funding process for fiscal year 2024. The majority chose to squander yet another year by writing extreme funding bills that drastically cut funding for the programs that ensure the safety and health of the American people, that keep teachers in classrooms, and that ensure corporations and billionaires pay tax. Seven of their bills never made it to a vote on the House floor.
“House Republicans have so far refused to meet Democrats at the negotiating table to write full-year funding bills, despite the fact that appropriations bills cannot become law without the support of Republicans and Democrats in the House and in the Senate. House Republicans know that the only way forward for government funding bills is bipartisan and bicameral, and that will remain true in the 119th Congress.
“The American people are tired of the partisan games and brinkmanship. They are tired of House Republicans failing at their most basic tasks. When we return in January, for the sake of the country and the health, safety, and prosperity of the American people, I hope House Republicans find it within themselves to put the hard work of governing ahead of the easy work of creating noise and instigating chaos.”
State-by-state information on the estimated funding Democrats secured in the disaster supplemental can be found here.
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