Ranking Member DeLauro’s Remarks at the Full Committee Markup of the Fiscal Year 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Funding Bill
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 fiscal year 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. Let me share my appreciation for the subcommittee staff on both sides of the aisle, 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’ attacks on America’s scientific supremacy, promotes waste, fraud, and abuse, and hurts the middle class and working families.
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 Law handed massive tax breaks to billionaires and the biggest corporations while Americans continue to struggle with the costs of basic necessities, while President Trump brags about the money he is stealing out of Americans’ pockets and from small businesses through his chaotic and senseless trade agenda.
Today, we are considering the last House Republican 2026 funding bill which will raise costs for struggling American families, jeopardize their safety, abandon rural communities, and undermine efforts to ensure our trading partners play by the rules.
Since taking office, President Trump’s Administration has stolen resources for programs and services across the federal government, including several in this bill that help to lower costs for the middle class and working class, keep Americans safe and our economy strong, 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 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to acquire weather radars and satellites that will help create lifesaving forecasts.
Over four and a half billion dollars in Department of Justice grant money, including COPS grants and the Office of Violence Against Women grants, has been frozen – stolen from the communities and the local police departments that are counting on these investments to improve their law enforcement capabilities. In fact, they are defunding law enforcement.
They froze funding that supports reentry initiatives and violence prevention, prevents hate crimes, provides services for crime victims, and supports underserved communities. Stealing this funding makes the American people less safe and more likely to become victims of crime.
Congress enacted and appropriated funding for these frozen and terminated programs in law. But President Trump and his unelected, unaccountable political appointees are substituting the decisions and judgment of Americans’ elected representatives with their own ideas, 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.
I ask my colleagues, did anyone come to your town halls and complain that the National Weather Service has too many meteorologists? Too accurate of forecasts, advisories, watches, and warnings? I do 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, underfunds programs that create jobs and revive economically distressed communities, especially in rural America.
The President is driving a trade war against our allies and biggest trading partners that will raise prices for Americans. This bill cuts funding for the International Trade Administration by nearly 30 percent, severely hindering our 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. It slashes 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.
It cuts 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 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?
Americans expect a few things of their country: A strong economy. Safety for their families and respect for the rule of law. Consequences for corruption. This bill fails to deliver on each 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 to lower their costs, keep Americans safe and our economy strong, Republicans have put forward another bill that favors billionaires and corporations; another bill that does not fight waste, fraud and abuse, but embraces it.
I cannot support this bill. I yield back.
###