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Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the three-bill package that Republicans are bringing to the Floor today.

Instead of following regular order and debating and amending the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Energy and Water, and Legislative Branch bills separately, Republican leadership is forcing us to consider them together. This broken process has a simple aim: Republicans are using America's veterans as pawns to force through cuts to clean energy research and harmful policy provisions that weaken environmental safeguards.

We all recognize the tremendous debt of gratitude we owe to those who have sacrificed for us in our Armed Forces, as well as their family members who share in their service to our country. That is why it is so important that Congress ensure our veterans receive the honors, benefits, and assistance they have earned.

Mr. Speaker, it is outrageous that we are beginning this appropriations season by debating President Trump's rescissions bill, which fails the American people, hurts children and families, and injects needless partisanship into Congress' important appropriations work.

First and foremost, this bill fails the American people by eliminating funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program. Just months after exploding annual deficits to the tune of $1.5 trillion and lavishing massive tax breaks to big corporations with their tax scam, Republicans are now proposing to make children and families pay with a $7 billion cut from CHIP. Targeting CHIP for a rescission prevents Congress from reinvesting in other priorities like child and maternal health, early childhood education, biomedical research, and our community health centers.

Congresswoman Betty McCollum (DFL-Minn.), Ranking Member of the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, today led House Democrats opposing the fiscal year 2019 Interior-Environment Appropriations bill during the Appropriations Committee's mark-up of the legislation. House Republicans advanced their bill on a 25-20 vote with all Democrats voting in opposition.

"The Interior-Environment bill funds important safeguards for clean air and clean water, conservation of our public lands and endangered species, and vital investments in Native health, education, and the safety of tribal communities," Congresswoman McCollum said. "This bill includes riders that undermine these efforts and makes unacceptable cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency."