Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at the Full Committee Markup of the Fiscal Year 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Funding Bill

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the Committee's markup of the fiscal year 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill:

– As Prepared For Delivery –

Thank you, Chairwoman Granger, for yielding, and thank you Chairman Carter and Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz for your work on this subcommittee. I would also like to thank the majority and minority staff, particularly Jenny Neuscheler and Tyler Coe.

Chairwoman Granger, I spoke at our organizational meeting in February about your significant role in this Committee’s history—being the first Republican woman to chair the Committee—and as we head into the first substantive markup of your tenure, I want to reiterate my congratulations to you for the important role you are fulfilling in this institution’s history. Given the historic occasion, I wish we were here under different circumstances. Sadly, that is not the case.

This is the first 2024 bill we are marking up in full committee, and despite having a bill with a topline signed into law, we are operating under unprecedented circumstances that follow a months-long saga of Republicans holding the global economy hostage and placing us on the brink of default and economic catastrophe.

Just a couple of months ago, as part of their Default on America Act—a bill that did nothing to protect veterans—217 House Republicans voted in support of immediately clawing back $2 billion in funding for veterans’ medical care. This outrageous Republican proposal would have put veterans’ healthcare in jeopardy. In fact, I testified for 6 hours before the Rules Committee on the harmful impacts their reckless policies would have on veterans, and I have worked tirelessly ever since to make these harmful impacts known. At long last, the measures we will consider today make clear that our hard work has paid off because they have finally relented on clawing back that $2 billion for veterans’ medical care. House Democrats have secured protection for that funding, and the Department of Veterans Affairs will be able to continue to spend those essential resources for veterans’ medical care.

Just over a week ago, a bill to avoid defaulting on our nation’s debt was signed into law. I did not like the cuts imposed, nor that the deal was reached without appropriators in the room – and indeed, I voted against that bill – but it corrected some of the most unthinkable provisions in the Republicans’ Default on America Act and the initial mark of this bill.

This bill is now the law of the land. Whether we liked the bill or not, we must recognize and respect that. And we have the responsibility to carry out the agreement.

If we disregard the law of the land, we all but guarantee a shutdown in October.

But why are we in this position at all? Because – rather than lifting the debt ceiling with a clean bill, as we have done previously in a bipartisan fashion – House Republicans held the global economy for a ransom of unthinkable cuts and a topline completely detached from reality.

The dust has only just settled after a brutal fight over the debt limit. The ink of the President’s signature is hardly dry. It is no secret that I am no fan of where we ended up, but we have a path to funding the United States Government on time. We ought to take that path.

When I was chair, I made sure everyone learned subcommittee allocations from me – not the press – out of respect for my colleagues and this institution.

Asking us to vote on this bill hours after we learned the full slate of cuts is disingenuous and is fooling no one. Not to mention, this exchange of information hours after it was given to the press and right before we head into the first full committee markup is a massive departure from how we treat Republicans when we have the pen.

That fact aside, this is not the only bill that supports programs and services that our veterans rely on. Republicans cannot credibly claim to fully fund veterans’ programs until they have shown us how they treat veterans in the rest of the domestic funding bills. We can see through Republicans’ strategy to release the quote: “easy” bills first, funding them as best as they can but then leaving the rest of the bills with table scraps.

These allocations show that House Republicans are doubling down on the Default on America Act's $142 billion in cuts. But they don’t want to stop there. Reports indicate they want to go up to $159 billion in cuts, but, our initial review of their proposal suggests they may go as high as $189 billion! Where will their desire for drastic cuts end!?

With the toplines released last night, Republicans are flouting the law of the land. They are disregarding the letter and spirit of the agreement between the President and the Speaker of the House.

In a personal footnote, and I mentioned this to my Democratic colleagues earlier. Years ago I went to visit then and still esteemed member John Dingell. I wanted to be on Energy and Commerce. He lowered his glasses and looked at me and said “freshman members don’t get on energy and commerce.” He then gave me one of the best pieces of advice I have ever heard in this body. Stand by your word. Let your colleagues know where you stand. If you are with them let them know. If you are not let them know. But stand by your word.

Republicans have walked all the way back – and in some cases, gone even further – towards offering radical cuts to vital programs our veterans, farmers, and families depend on. Why on Earth are Republicans following their most extreme inclinations to defund America?

What’s going to happen to the Housing Choice Vouchers if Republicans cut the Department of Housing and Urban Development by more than 25 percent? The answer is obvious. More than 50,000 veterans who rely on those vouchers for housing will be harmed. What’s going to happen to job training programs if Republicans cut the Department of Labor by nearly 30 percent? More than 4,200 veterans who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness would lose the job training, counseling, and job readiness services they so desperately need. These are just some examples. We need to see all the bills so we can see the full picture of how these cuts will undoubtedly affect the brave men and women who fought for our country – and that we promised to take care of.

Just 20 days ago we were supposed to gather here to consider the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill that Republicans supported in subcommittee. That bill provided for the transfer of $4.5 billion in critical funding for veterans’ medical care to other purposes and made drastic cuts to dedicated funding for veterans exposed to Agent Orange, burn pits, and other toxic substances. My Republican colleagues would have provided only a quarter of the funding needed for the PACT Act Toxic Exposures Fund this year, slashing the medical care resources in the Fund by 86 percent, and fully abandoning the Toxic Exposures Fund next year. But we were watching. Thanks to the work of veterans’ organizations and House Democrats, Republicans were shamed out of their attacks on the programs and services veterans across the country depend on.

Thank goodness my colleagues were capable of being shamed to accept what I, Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz, and my House Democratic colleagues have been saying since last August: that the PACT Act contained a pledge, in law, to provide the necessary funding—dedicated funding—to carry out the promises in that legislation. My colleagues’ proposals to renege on those promises would have been a betrayal of our nation’s heroes of unspeakable proportions, and I’m glad full funding for the Toxic Exposures Fund made it into the final agreement.

Even after we go through this process of fixing the original 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies funding bill, it will still fall short of our commitment to veterans, servicemembers, and their families. This bill will cut military construction by over $1.3 billion and bogs down the entire process of funding the government by including harmful riders that have no chance of making it into law.

For these reasons, I cannot support this bill. And I hope Republicans will decide to rethink their strategy, follow the law, and work with us to fund the government in a timely manner as we move through this process. Thank you, and I yield back.