Lowey statement at subcommittee markup of FY 2019 Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill

Thank you, Chairman Diaz-Balart, Ranking Member Price, and Chairman Frelinghuysen, for your work on this bill.

As I said during this morning’s markup, as with the other bills we have considered without the full slate of subcommittee allocations, it is impossible to accurately judge yet how well this bill fulfills priorities – such as creating jobs, growing the economy, and strengthening our defense – without knowing how it fits into the larger picture.

Given the budget agreement in March, we can and should do a better job of passing bills with regular order.

That said, there are some good parts of the bill before us, including many of the highway and rail accounts. But those increases come at the expense of other investments like HOME, which would be cut by $162 million, more than 10%.

Unfortunately, the majority has chosen to include harmful policy riders that have repeatedly been stripped from previous bills. Provisions to increase truck weights and preempt state and local meal and rest break laws make our roads less safe and have no place in an appropriations bill.

Just like every year, Democratic votes will be needed to enact appropriations law, so I hope we will soon start to work together to improve this bill.