Press Releases

Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, today released the following statement on the Department of Health and Human Services transferring funding to avoid a halt in the Zika vaccine development process:

"In its continued failure to enact emergency Zika appropriations, the Republican majority is playing Russian Roulette with the health of the American people. This failure has forced the Administration to divert funding from other critical priorities, including cancer, Alzheimer's, HIV/AIDS, mental health, viral hepatitis, and home energy assistance for low-income Americans.

"Robbing Peter to pay Paul is damaging and immoral, and it must stop.

House Democratic conferees on the Zika and Military Construction-VA Conference Committee today urged Speaker Paul Ryan to consider H.R. 5044, to fully fund President Obama’s $1.9 billion Zika emergency funding request without unnecessary riders, prior to entering into a seven-week recess. H.R. 5044 has 191 cosponsors.

“It is deeply irresponsible for the House to recess without taking the necessary action to protect our constituents,” the conferees wrote.

I’d like to thank Chairman Cole, Chairman Rogers, and Ranking Member DeLauro for holding this markup and for including some of my priorities in the proposed FY17 bill.

Increases in funding for the National Institutes of Health, Head Start, and IDEA State grants would significantly improve the health and wellbeing of millions of vulnerable people in our country.

New funding for opioid abuse response initiatives would help combat the heroin epidemic that has left no community unscathed, and new block grant funding for Student Support and Academic Enrichment could be invaluable to advancing student achievement.

Unfortunately, these investments are offset with unacceptable cuts to family planning, Pell Grants, CMS operations, and job training programs for dislocated workers, to cite just a few of the egregious cuts.

Mister Chairman, I am glad that we are here today—this bill has not made it before the subcommittee nearly enough in recent years, and I appreciate Chairman Cole’s efforts to bring the Labor-HHS bill to markup both years of his Chairmanship. I look forward to going to full committee markup next week—the committee must debate these issues in public.

The Labor-Health and Human Services-Education bill is called “The People’s Bill” for a reason. It is about providing people with the opportunities they need to get ahead in life. The programs we fund level the playing field for low-income children looking to learn. They help Americans learn the skills they need to find a job in a tough economy. They equip our nation to deal with public health emergencies.

Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, today issued the following statement regarding passage of an amendment to the FY2017 Financial Services & General Government Appropriations bill barring federal or local funds to enforce the District of Columbia’s Reproductive Health Nondiscrimination Amendment Act (RHNDA):

“The 2017 Financial Services & General Government Appropriations bill is replete with divisive and ideological poison pill riders spanning the gamut of reproductive rights, foreign policy, the Affordable Care Act, consumer financial protections, and much more.

Thank you, Chairwoman Granger and our full committee chairman, Mr. Rogers. I appreciate your efforts to include many of my and my colleagues’ priorities in the bill.

I also want to express my appreciation to the Majority staff: Anne Marie Chotvacs, Craig Higgins, Alice Hogans, Susan Adams, Clelia Alvarado, David Bortnick, Dean Koulouris and Johnnie Kaberle; as well as my staff: Steve Marchese, Erin Kolodjeski who just had a baby boy, Matt Washington, and Marin Stein.

I am deeply troubled both by the allocation for this bill, which is $595 million below last year, and the failure to maintain regular order. The Minority did not officially receive the allocation for the State & Foreign Operations bill until after 10 of the 12 appropriations bills had subcommittee markups.

The following statement was issued today by House Democrats on the Zika and Military Construction-VA conference committee, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), Rep. José Serrano, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA), and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz:

“House Democrats will not sign this partisan conference report.

“Four months ago, the President requested and justified $1.9 billion in emergency funding to mount a robust response to Zika, an urgent public health crisis. This conference report provides an insufficient amount, and offsets a portion of this funding by cutting other critically needed public health resources. Offsetting emergency spending would set a precedent that will hinder our ability to respond to the next public health crisis, natural disaster, or national security event requiring emergency funding.

Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, today offered an amendment to the FY2017 Homeland Security Appropriations bill to prevent potential terrorists from purchasing firearms, in the first House votes on gun policy since the tragic Orlando attack that killed 49 individuals.

Democratic members of the Committee speaking in support of the amendment used their time to discuss individual victims of attacks in San Bernardino and Orlando, in order to put human faces on the issue of gun violence.