Press Releases

Today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) joined House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee Ranking Member Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-Ga.) in demanding answers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over the Trump Administration’s illegal federal funding freeze—which is already causing significant harm to America’s farmers, foresters and rural communities.

Washington, D.C. – House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), and Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-OR) demanded recently confirmed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin answer urgent questions about funding freezes at the agency.

Washington, D.C. — Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, alongside Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee; Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education; and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee sent a letter warning against the Trump administration’s reported plans to unilaterally dismantle the Department of Education. The lawmakers asked the acting Secretary of Education for answers on recent actions taken by the Trump administration to put federal workers on administrative leave, coerce employees into leaving their jobs, provide access to students’ sensitive data, and illegally freeze vital funding.

House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) and Defense Subcommittee Ranking Member Betty McCollum (MN-04) released the following statement on the Trump Administration’s restrictions on servicemembers and their families’ freedom to take leave and travel for health care.

WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro released the following statement after the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island halted the implementation of an unlawful Trump administration policy to freeze federal agency grants, loans, and other financial assistance programs:

Washington, DC — Today, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair and Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development Ranking Member wrote a letter to the Acting Secretary of the Department of Energy demanding answers about the Trump administration withholding critical investments to lower energy costs for American families and businesses, spur innovation, and strengthen our energy security.

House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro released the following statement after Acting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Matthew J. Vaeth rescinded his memo directing agencies to withhold vast swaths of approved and legally required federal funding.