Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for the Department of Commerce Hearing

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee delivered the following remarks at the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee's hearing on the Fiscal Year 2024 budget request for the Department of Commerce:

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Cartwright. Really happy to be here at this critical hearing. Thank you, Secretary Raimondo, for being here today.

When you took office two years ago, our nation was facing an economic crisis. But with your leadership and the help of this Committee, we have made great strides to strengthen our supply chains, make our economy stronger and more competitive, invest in the economic development of our communities, and help U.S. manufacturers and small businesses to be able to grow and to be able to thrive.

To build on this success, President Biden proposed a budget that meets the needs of families and communities all across America.

I am particularly pleased to see a proposed 56 percent increase for the Economic Development Administration (EDA). Fostering equity and opportunity for Americans regardless of zip code or background is one of the most important duties of this Subcommittee. And the funding proposed for EDA would make innovation more geographically and racially diverse and create good jobs for underserved and vulnerable communities that need them.

I am also pleased that the budget proposes a 58 percent increase for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program which helps small and medium-sized U.S. manufacturers create and preserve jobs to help them thrive in the global economy.

To make our economy even more competitive, Congress met the moment and passed the CHIPS and Science Act last year. Let me say a thank you to you and to your staff for all the work that was done on this effort and all the work that you are doing, including through the budget request, to ensure that the impact of Chips and Science is actualized.

This is critical to strengthening our supply chain. But to do so, we must also take action to safeguard our national security and supply chain resiliency. I was pleased to see the International Trade Administration's budget proposes increased funding to assist the Treasury Department in the establishment of an outbound investment review mechanism – similar to proposals I outlined in my bipartisan National Critical Capabilities Defense Act. This would ensure we can quickly address vulnerabilities and prevent offshoring of production capacity and intellectual property to foreign adversaries.

Before I conclude, I must mention how worried I am that much of the progress I just spoke about can very well be at risk because some of my Republican colleagues have called for extreme cuts to government funding. Yesterday on Wall Street, Speaker McCarthy reiterated his intent and others' intent to cut back funding to 2022 level and to lock in that austerity with caps for the next 10 years. But make no mistake, caps are just another name for more cuts. Caps, in fact, are cuts.

As you mention in your letter to me on the impacts of these cuts, they would set our success back years.

This kind of movement was reiterated by a very esteemed thinktank, the Heritage Foundation, which I know a number of my colleagues look into and look to for direction. What Heritage has suggested with regard to Commerce is to eliminate the Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration, eliminate the Commerce Department's Minority Business Development Agency, eliminate Commerce's Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and cut and cap funding for the National Science Foundation.

The cuts would endanger our national security by reducing our efforts to enforce export controls, including those that keep goods and sensitive defense technologies away from our adversaries. They would weaken our economic competitiveness by reducing our capacity to promote trade and investment. If implemented, programs that create stronger communities and better paying jobs across the nation would be dramatically reduced. And initiatives to prepare for disasters and to adapt to our changing climate would be drastically cut.

The economic well-being of our communities cannot become victim to these efforts. I, like you and this Committee, will fight to continue strengthening our economy and we look forward to hearing from you, Secretary Raimondo, on the funding that you need to do so. To keep our economy strong.

With that, let me just say a thank you to you Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Cartwright, and I yield back