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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.
While Republicans are now fully funding Medical Care at VA, we now know – thanks to a press story last night leaking the full slate of 302(b) allocations, that the rest of the domestic bills that veterans rely on will be gutted. We literally just passed the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act, and Republicans are already reneging on the agreement.
I am concerned today as I come here because it is very difficult, despite my faith, to rejoice in this markup because today this bill turns its back on rural America. It is a retreat from our most vulnerable communities. This bill really makes it more difficult to implement the purpose and to have a level playing field for all Americans.
The bill also misses opportunities to make smart investments to address urgent issues facing our country – such as providing more resources to counter the trafficking of illicit narcotics into our country, such as fentanyl and opioids; expanding our capacities at our ports of entry and interior checkpoints; intel specialists, inspection and detection technology, and infrastructure upgrades to keep pace with increasing volumes of trade and travel to the U.S. as global supply chains and international travel rebound to pre-pandemic levels; and requiring an updated Border Security Improvement Plan – which is now completely outdated.
Aside from being built on a house of cards, the bill before us today makes irresponsible investments that weaken our national security and harm the Homeland Security workforce. It will not get control at the border. My Republican colleagues are once again proposing to waste billions of dollars on a useless and ineffective border wall – rather than focusing resources where we need them most, like combatting fentanyl entering through our ports of entry, supporting the Homeland Security workforce, discouraging the flow of migrants from Central America, helping our border communities, advancing our cybersecurity posture, and protecting our communities from violent extremism and foreign adversaries.