Press Releases
"Thank you very much Mr. Chairman and good morning to everyone. It is a little earlier than we usually start these hearings, but this is such an important topic that it was important to all of us to have the opportunity for the full two hours with the distinguished panel. I am so thrilled to welcome Dr. Francis Collins, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Drs. Fauci, Volkow, Insel, Lorsch, and Gibbons, to discuss the 2016 budget request for NIH.
Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, today issued the following statement on Senator Barbara Mikulski's announcement that she will not run for re-election in 2016:
"The Republican majority's continuing failure to enact a FY15 Homeland Security Appropriations bill is a staggering display of legislative incompetence.
"Democratic and Republican negotiators reached a deal on Homeland Security funding levels and related policy issues in December. Republican leadership made the political calculation to hold this funding hostage to ideological policy riders reversing the President's executive actions on immigration.
Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), the Ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, spoke in the House of Representatives this morning about House Republicans' plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security for just three weeks with a new continuing resolution (CR), instead of passing a full-year DHS funding bill. The current CR to fund DHS is set to expire at midnight tonight.
The text of Congresswoman Roybal-Allard's speech follows:
Welcome, General Klotz, Dr. Cook, and General Davis. We appreciate you appearing before the Subcommittee this afternoon.
Since this Subcommittee last met to review the National Nuclear Security Administration budget, much has transpired. Russia's brazen intervention in Ukraine has caused great concern in this country and around the world. Just this week, the assassination of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov provided a deadly reminder of Russian President Putin's capability.
It is through that lens that we must assess our strategic future, including nuclear security.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to welcome Secretary Moniz and thank him for coming before our committee today.
The President's budget request for fiscal year 2016 calls for investments in research, education, training, and infrastructure. It also calls for the end of the mindless austerity of sequestration, urging Congress to replace it with more targeted spending cuts, program integrity measures, and the closure of several outdated tax loopholes.
Good morning, Dr. Moniz, it is good to see you again. I appreciate your recent visit to Ohio and your willingness to work with us to address the challenges faced by communities in the part of the country that I represent.
First among those, I remain focused on job creation. I appreciate several of your proposals to meet this need—in particular, a $200 million increase for the Advanced Manufacturing program, which could do great things for our region and nation.
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), at today's Labor-Health and Human Services-Education Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, called for more support for the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Administration for Community Living. Her opening remarks noted that SSA's operating budget, in particular, has been cut by more than $1.2 billion since 2010, after adjusting for inflation.
The below remarks are as delivered at the hearing:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to welcome Secretary Anthony Foxx and thank him for coming before our committee today.
The programs under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee are some of the most important, and are a prime illustration of how indiscriminate budget cutting has had a massive impact across this entire nation. Our infrastructure needs simply cannot be ignored any longer.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'd like to join you in welcoming my friend and fellow North Carolinian, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx. I am familiar with his many accomplishments as Mayor of Charlotte, and I know we are lucky to have him leading DOT.