Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at the Subcommittee Markup of the 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Funding Bill
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the subcommittee markup of the 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies funding bill:
Thank you for yielding. It is a pleasure to be here with you today, Chairman Rogers, Chairman Cole, and Ranking Member Meng. I want to share my appreciation for the subcommittee staff’s work, in particular, Bob Bonner, Nora Faye, Faye Cobb, and Jamie Wise.
I oppose the bill before us today, which defunds federal law enforcement and threatens public safety, continues Republicans’ senseless attacks on America’s scientific supremacy, promotes waste, fraud, and abuse, and hurts the middle class and working Americans.
We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. President Trump promised to lower costs on day one, but instead, he and House Republicans are making the cost-of-living crisis even worse.
Their Big Ugly Bill is handing massive tax breaks to billionaires and the biggest corporations while Americans continue to struggle with the costs of basic necessities, and while President Trump brags about the money he is siphoning out of Americans’ pockets and from small businesses through his chaotic and senseless trade agenda.
Today, we are considering another House Republican bill which will raise costs for struggling American families, gut support for rural communities, and undermine our efforts to ensure our trading partners play by the rules.
We are holding this markup in a completely unprecedented time, with the Congress’s authority being challenged by a lawless Administration.
Since taking office, President Trump’s Administration has stolen resources, appropriated by the Congress, for programs and services across the federal government, including several in this bill, that help to lower costs for middle class and working families, keep Americans safe and our economy fair, and ensure America is at the forefront of scientific innovation and discovery.
President Trump has frozen programs that provide seniors, veterans, rural families, and people with disabilities with the skills and tools they need to access the internet, as well as emergency funding to help National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA to procure weather radars and satellites that help create lifesaving forecasts.
Over four and a half billion dollars in Department of Justice grant money, including COPS grants and Office of Violence Against Women grants, has been frozen – stolen from the communities that are counting on this funding to improve their own law enforcement capabilities – funding that supports reentry initiatives and violence prevention, that helps prevent hate crimes, provide services for crime victims, and support underserved communities. Stealing this funding makes the American people less safe and more likely to become victims of crime.
They have fired hundreds of scientists, including scientists who monitor extreme weather and who advance our scientific goals in space. Why on Earth are we forfeiting America’s scientific supremacy?
What would you do differently if you were America’s adversary and wanted to undermine everything that made us a superpower?
They have turned the Department of Justice into the President’s personal law firm, wielding law enforcement power to silence and intimidate critics of the Administration and its agenda, and to protect President Trump’s criminal allies.
For all of these frozen and terminated programs, Congress enacted and appropriated funding for in law. It is the law of the land. They are substituting Congress’ decisions and judgment with their own, turning Article I of the Constitution on its head.
These cuts are not numbers on a page –they are not only felt in Washington, DC. They affect all of our constituents.
At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Trump Administration has dismissed National Weather Service forecasters and other critical employees, endangering American communities. As a result of funding and employee cuts within NOAA, we have fewer forecasters, fewer weather balloon launches, and less reliable weather data and forecasts that families, businesses, and state and local governments rely on to stay safe and to stay open.
In Connecticut, coordination with the National Weather Service has been critical for saving lives through everything from wildfires to blizzards to floods.
Bill Turner, Connecticut’s State Emergency Management Director, said and I quote, “It’s a very fragile house of cards right now, and we need them to continue…It really could be catastrophic in a lot of ways for our state if they go down that path of stopping the National Weather Service and their functionality.” End quote.
Weather forecasts are not waste, fraud, and abuse. I ask my colleagues, did anyone come to your town halls and complain that the National Weather Service has too many meteorologists? Too many people issuing advisories, watches, and warnings on severe storms?
I did not think so. I know the Chairman of the full committee has worked to impress upon the Administration the importance of weather monitoring institutions in Oklahoma. But National Weather Service offices are needed across our country. We cannot leave critical weather monitoring capabilities to the benevolence of the President. That is why funding is appropriated by the Congress, not the Administration.
Unfortunately, this bill doubles-down on Republicans’ pro-billionaire, pro-corporation, anti-science, and anti-rule of law agenda.
This bill turns its back on Republicans’ promises to rural communities, underfunding programs that create jobs and revive economically distressed communities, especially in rural America.
While the President declares a trade war against our allies and biggest trading partners that will raise prices, this bill cuts funding for the International Trade Administration by nearly 30 percent, severely hindering our government’s ability to fight other countries’ unfair trade practices and help American businesses expand their access to international markets.
This bill makes families, women, children, and all of our communities less safe, by slashing funding for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, limiting Federal efforts to help state and local law enforcement combat gun violence, drug trafficking, and organized crime; and by slashing legal services, Violence Against Women Act grants, Juvenile Justice grants, Community Violence Intervention and Prevention grants, hate crime prevention grants, and other resources that prevent violence.
And why on Earth does this bill slash the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General by 30 percent?
What are you afraid might be uncovered in Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice?
Does this Administration want to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, or not?
Our government’s Inspectors General are absolutely critical nonpartisan offices that help Congress and the American people eliminate and prevent fraud and corruption – and this Administration has directly undermined and even removed over a dozen of these officers across our government.
Americans expect a few things of their country: A fair economy. Safety for their families and respect for the rule of law. Consequences for corruption.
This bill fails to deliver on every one of these fronts.
Americans cannot keep up with the ever-increasing cost of living, but instead of working with Democrats to make investments that can help lower their costs, keep Americans safe and our economy fair, Republicans have put forward a bill that favors billionaires and corporations; a bill that does not fight waste, fraud and abuse, but embraces it.
I cannot support this bill. I yield back.
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