Ranking Member DeLauro Statement to House Rules Committee on Republican Six-Month Continuing Resolution

House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) delivered the following remarks at the House Rules Committee in opposition to Republicans' six-month Continuing Resolution:

Chairman Burgess, Ranking Member McGovern, and distinguished members of the committee, I oppose this continuing resolution which would shortchange our veterans, absolve the House Republican majority of their responsibility to govern, and move us closer to a shutdown, and I urge my colleagues to vote against it.

The majority’s proposal completely abandons our nation’s veterans. We have been told by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Office of Management and Budget that $12 billion more is required to provide medical care for veterans who have been exposed to toxic substances.

Despite those needs, the majority has decided to provide nothing for veterans’ medical needs. I cannot understand how anybody could support this bill and go home to look their veteran constituents in the eye and tell them that they voted to shortchange the medical care they earned with their service. It is disgraceful.

And we could have solved this issue, had the majority considered a bipartisan path forward at any point in this entire process.

But instead, just like last year, House Republicans squandered an entire year by taking us down a partisan path and forcing us to waste time considering extreme funding bills based on Trump’s Project 2025 they could not pass and that have no chance of becoming law.

And just like last year, House Republicans’ refusal to meet House Democrats at the table has left us without time to pass all 12 full year appropriations bills before the end of September.

And now, rather than admitting the inevitable defeat of their Project 2025 spending bills and passing a bipartisan bill to keep the government open while we finish our work, the majority proposes abandoning their obligation to govern and forcing a new Congress to clean up their mess – and they have included an extraneous, partisan, and controversial measure nongermane to Appropriations that guarantees this continuing resolution will not become law.

This bill will not pass the Senate. The President would veto it. This bill has no path to becoming law.

A six-month continuing resolution is a ploy to force the extreme Project 2025 manifesto agenda on the American people. They want to slash domestic investments in health care, education, job training, and every other discretionary program, which will hurt the middle class and the economy.

The Republican majority believes a continuing resolution to the end of March provides them with more leverage to force their unpopular cuts to services that American families depend on to make ends meet.

The majority knows that the fiscal year ends September 30, and that we cannot fund the government without the support of Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate.

But for the second time in the 118th Congress, the majority does not want Congress to finish its work until March, nearly halfway through the fiscal year – wasting time, avoiding the inevitable, and failing to meet our obligations to the American people.

A half-year continuing resolution is no way to govern. This is no way to serve the American people.

The American people have a choice to make in November. And come January, we will have a new President, and we will have a new Congress.

While we presumably disagree on who we think will be leading our country and which side of the aisle will hold the gavels, we should agree that it is not right, and not in the interests of the American people, for us to punt this year’s work deep into next year for a different Congress and a different White House to be confronted with.

We must pass a continuing resolution that allows us to finish our work before the new President and Congress are sworn in, and which addresses the immediate needs of American families, workers, and veterans.

A continuing resolution that ends in December – rather than one that lasts a half year – better serves our national security and military readiness, veterans and their families, victims recovering from natural disasters, and all hardworking American taxpayers.

Instead, the majority’s bill fails our veterans.

The majority’s bill fails our military. Putting government funding on autopilot for six months means the Department of Defense cannot execute its strategic priorities, such as investing in cutting-edge technologies and capabilities. Investments in our defense industrial base will be put on hold, including the submarine and ship building bases.

Over the weekend, Secretary Austin said in a letter, and I quote, “Asking the department to compete with the [People’s Republic of China], let alone manage conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, while under a lengthy [continuing resolution], ties our hands behind our back while expecting us to be agile and to accelerate progress.” He continued, “The single most important thing that Congress can do to ensure U.S. national security is to pass timely legislation for all 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2025.”

The majority’s bill fails our seniors and Americans with disabilities on Social Security – no additional funding for the Social Security Administration’s operating budget will result in reduced hours, closed field offices, and longer wait times for applicants and claims.

The majority's bill fails the communities devastated by disasters by shortchanging emergency funds for FEMA. The bill provides nothing to address the dramatic collapse of the Key Bridge in Maryland, and nothing for block grants to help communities with the long-term recovery from devastating natural disasters from 2023, including the horrifying wildfires in Hawaii, and tornadoes across the country that devastated communities in places like Oklahoma.

The majority fails low-income families and deprives them of support to achieve economic stability and well-being by halting payments for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Failure to extend TANF payments to States for the first two quarters of the fiscal year means Republicans are blocking more than $8 billion in reimbursements for State-run programs to help low-income families and children.

And the majority is failing to live up to their own promises to the American people, that they are capable of being entrusted to do the hard work of governing. They have unequivocally demonstrated they cannot.

This bill is an admission that a House Republican majority cannot govern. They would rather gamble on an intervening election than attempt to complete their work on time.

Let us hope the majority does not drive us straight to a Republican shutdown.

But if they do shut down the government, I have no doubt the American people will know who is to blame.

Vote no on this Continuing Resolution. Abandon this partisan game. Join Democrats at the table. It is past time to govern. Thank you.

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