Statements

"Our continued investment in the DEA sends a clear signal to our adversaries on the global stage that we will not allow this attack on our people, on our communities to continue without consequence, and that those responsible will be held accountable by our justice system."

"When thinking of the progress made over these last few years, it concerns me that there are powerful and loud forces in the House majority are poised to drastically cut discretionary spending. That is something that would greatly harm the critical efforts funded by these programs that you all are involved with. Are we really interested in rolling back efforts that make our communities safer and protect the public from crime? To protect the public from evolving threats? Which public safety efforts should be scaled back--preventing gun violence, helping our veterans, supporting victims of crime, fighting the scourge of opioids in our communities? Which of these efforts can we signal to America that we no longer find them important for us to invest in?"

Given the need to address these and other enduring shortages made much worse by the pandemic, this Committee made significant investments through the 2022 and 2023 appropriations bills to strengthen HRSA’s health workforce programs. This included a nearly $100 million increase in the 2023 package passed and enacted in December. We increased funding for nursing and midwife programs, mental and behavioral health workforce education and training, and Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education programs to train resident doctors. But more must be done.

What the annual spending bill can do is provide the steady investment our nation needs to move beyond a state of good repair for our transit networks and ensure these networks are as safe, resilient, and as efficient as possible. In essence, it gets us closer to closing the funding gap, leverages other public and private resources, and helps put shovels in the ground.