Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at Full Committee Markup of Fiscal Year 2025 Subcommittee Allocations

WASHINGTON - Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the Committee's markup of the Report on the Suballocation of Budget Allocations for Fiscal Year 2025, also known as "302(b)s":

- As Prepared for Delivery -

Thank you, Mr. Chairman for yielding.

This is the first full committee markup for fiscal year 2025 – so my congratulations are in order for our full committee Chair, Chairman Cole.

Mr. Chairman, you are a dear friend and you are an honest negotiator. We of course have our strong differences and disagreements on many matters of policy, but I appreciate that our relationship is built on a strong foundation of mutual respect.

And, I want to acknowledge our previous Chair, Ms. Granger, on her storied and trail-blazing tenure, on this committee and throughout her long career in public service to our country. Fort Worth is lucky to have such a strong champion coming to bat for them in Washington. Congratulations on reaching your last-first Appropriations Committee markup of the fiscal year, Ms. Granger.

While I know we will have cordial and respectful negotiations down the line, quite frankly, I am experiencing déjà vu all over again, as we begin down an already well-trodden path towards chaos, division, and shutdown threats.

Like last year, we are beginning this year's process with topline funding levels that fall well short of what the American people need, and well short of what both parties already agreed to.

Ten percent cut from Financial Services, 11 percent cut from the Labor-HHS-Education bill, and 12 percent from State and Foreign Operations.

How many millionaires and billionaires will you help avoid their taxes and stiff the American people? How many teachers will be pulled from classrooms in your districts? What will workers in your districts do when they lose protections and their wages are stolen by big corporations that employ them? How many families will have to pay more for food or utilities if assistance is reduced?

What will result from a retraction of our diplomatic corps around the world in the midst of global strife? What will be the impacts to our national security, today a year from now? The majority's proposed cuts to critical agencies are unserious and destructive.

We know where we will end up.

The deals we have already struck, and the bills passed and signed into law to end the fiscal year 2024 saga lay out as much. So, it is an understatement to say I am disappointed that the majority is once again taking us down a path that they know they do not have the votes to support.

There is a path toward marking up all 12 bills in committee – which did not happen last year – and passing them on the Floor. Like last year, final 2025 spending bills will be the product of negotiations between Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate. And we can either do that now, or we can squander another summer on bills that will never see the light of day.

Just two months ago, over 80 percent of the Members of this Committee voted for the final 2024 appropriations Acts, which provided a nondefense funding level of $778 billion – a one percent increase over the 2023 nondefense topline. But the Chair's allocations that we are considering today slash nondefense funding by more than $67 billion compared to where we were just two months ago.

But let us talk about where we need to go. We need a starting point for 2025 that provides at least a one percent increase in both defense and nondefense funding, consistent with the Fiscal Responsibility Act framework that House Republicans demanded as the price for averting a catastrophic default last year.

Let me pause and be sure you heard the main point I am making this morning: Democrats will accept nothing less than a one percent increase over 2024 in nondefense and defense funding. That means that the starting point for 2025 for nondefense must be at least $786 billion. Instead, the Chair's allocations walk away from that commitment and take off the table at least $75 billion in investments for American families.

And, once again, the majority appears ready to load up appropriations bills with harmful policies called "riders" that have little to do with responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, but instead divide the country, the Congress, and harm Americans. Riders that make us less safe, move us closer toward Republican goals of a national abortion ban, and riders that discriminate against certain Americans.

We will defeat every one of their anti-choice riders, just as we did last year. But I am dismayed this body is being forced to waste time with through this charade yet again.

Do not just take my word for it. On Monday we received a letter from almost 70 organizations already frustrated by the House majority's stance for 2025, and it reads:

"We ask that you take the opportunity in fiscal year 25 to restore some normalcy by rejecting these extreme and polarizing provisions and cuts, which are as damaging as they are unrealistic." Democrats are at the table, ready to be a partner in bipartisan, responsible governance. I implore the majority to abandon their reckless path to nowhere and join us so we can show the American people that Congress is still capable of working for them.

I cannot support these irresponsible funding levels. And I hope Republicans will reconsider their strategy and join us at the table to support workers and families, and to finish the business of the American people, on time. It is time to govern. Thank you, and I yield back.

More information on how House Republicans are slashing critical domestic investments and stripping away education, job opportunities, housing, and food assistance that American families rely on can be found here.

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