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I’d like to thank Chairman Cole, Chairman Rogers, and Ranking Member DeLauro for holding this markup and for including some of my priorities in the proposed FY17 bill.
Increases in funding for the National Institutes of Health, Head Start, and IDEA State grants would significantly improve the health and wellbeing of millions of vulnerable people in our country.
New funding for opioid abuse response initiatives would help combat the heroin epidemic that has left no community unscathed, and new block grant funding for Student Support and Academic Enrichment could be invaluable to advancing student achievement.
Unfortunately, these investments are offset with unacceptable cuts to family planning, Pell Grants, CMS operations, and job training programs for dislocated workers, to cite just a few of the egregious cuts.
Mister Chairman, I am glad that we are here today—this bill has not made it before the subcommittee nearly enough in recent years, and I appreciate Chairman Cole’s efforts to bring the Labor-HHS bill to markup both years of his Chairmanship. I look forward to going to full committee markup next week—the committee must debate these issues in public.
The Labor-Health and Human Services-Education bill is called “The People’s Bill” for a reason. It is about providing people with the opportunities they need to get ahead in life. The programs we fund level the playing field for low-income children looking to learn. They help Americans learn the skills they need to find a job in a tough economy. They equip our nation to deal with public health emergencies.
Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, today issued the following statement regarding passage of an amendment to the FY2017 Financial Services & General Government Appropriations bill barring federal or local funds to enforce the District of Columbia’s Reproductive Health Nondiscrimination Amendment Act (RHNDA):
“The 2017 Financial Services & General Government Appropriations bill is replete with divisive and ideological poison pill riders spanning the gamut of reproductive rights, foreign policy, the Affordable Care Act, consumer financial protections, and much more.
Thank you, Chairwoman Granger and our full committee chairman, Mr. Rogers. I appreciate your efforts to include many of my and my colleagues’ priorities in the bill.
I also want to express my appreciation to the Majority staff: Anne Marie Chotvacs, Craig Higgins, Alice Hogans, Susan Adams, Clelia Alvarado, David Bortnick, Dean Koulouris and Johnnie Kaberle; as well as my staff: Steve Marchese, Erin Kolodjeski who just had a baby boy, Matt Washington, and Marin Stein.
I am deeply troubled both by the allocation for this bill, which is $595 million below last year, and the failure to maintain regular order. The Minority did not officially receive the allocation for the State & Foreign Operations bill until after 10 of the 12 appropriations bills had subcommittee markups.
The following statement was issued today by House Democrats on the Zika and Military Construction-VA conference committee, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), Rep. José Serrano, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA), and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz:
“House Democrats will not sign this partisan conference report.
“Four months ago, the President requested and justified $1.9 billion in emergency funding to mount a robust response to Zika, an urgent public health crisis. This conference report provides an insufficient amount, and offsets a portion of this funding by cutting other critically needed public health resources. Offsetting emergency spending would set a precedent that will hinder our ability to respond to the next public health crisis, natural disaster, or national security event requiring emergency funding.
Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, today offered an amendment to the FY2017 Homeland Security Appropriations bill to prevent potential terrorists from purchasing firearms, in the first House votes on gun policy since the tragic Orlando attack that killed 49 individuals.
Democratic members of the Committee speaking in support of the amendment used their time to discuss individual victims of attacks in San Bernardino and Orlando, in order to put human faces on the issue of gun violence.
Thank you, Chairman Rogers.
I mentioned this at subcommittee, but today marks Chairman Crenshaw’s last full committee markup as Chairman. For the past four years, he has been a partner and a friend on this bill, and I was greatly saddened by his announcement to retire a few weeks ago. I want to take a moment to thank him for the partnership we have had on this subcommittee, and for his friendship. Although we don’t agree on everything, I think that Chairman Crenshaw has always tried to be fair with our side of the aisle. We may disagree on some of the priorities in this bill, but we have never been disagreeable.
Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, today issued the following statement in response to the Rules Committee announcing the Republican majority will abandon open rules and restrict the content of amendments to Appropriations bills:
“After failing to adopt a budget resolution, declining to provide transparent allocations, and twisting arms to change the outcome of amendments, it is not a surprise that Republican leadership would renege on its pledge to consider Appropriations bills under open rules.
“Today’s announcement is clearly aimed at preventing the House from passing basic protections for LGBT Americans and hard-working families.
Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) issued the following statement after the Energy & Water Appropriations bill failed by a vote of 112-305.
“The Energy & Water Appropriations bill contained divisive and ideological riders when it came to the floor. It was made much worse by the House’s shameful adoption of discriminatory amendments. The fact that the Republican conference brought down their own bill due to the adoption of Sean Patrick Maloney’s anti-discrimination amendment is doubly shameful.
“Clearly there is only one path forward for the House majority if they are interested in enacting Appropriations bills: Work with Democrats on realistic, responsible funding levels for critical investments, and abandon discriminatory riders and amendments that have no place in Appropriations bills or anywhere else.”
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
I would like to thank the Chairman and his staff for their open and collaborative approach. This subcommittee has a challenging portfolio of issues and I commend the Chairman’s efforts to find solutions in another difficult budget year.
The majority’s failure to adopt a budget resolution and its piecemeal approach to the subcommittees’ 302(b) allocations made this year’s work even more difficult. Moreover, such a lack of transparency has placed the entire Committee at a disadvantage and pushed us further from regular order.
The FY 2017 subcommittee allocation is $64 million less than the fiscal year 2016 enacted level. This means the needs of many important programs vital to protecting our nation’s natural and cultural resources will not be met as they far outpace a stagnant allocation.