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I thank Chairman Aderholt, Ranking Member Farr, and Chairman Rogers for their work on this bill.
Today, the Committee will mark up its second and third bill of the year. Meanwhile, after Republican Leadership maintained that the budget and appropriations process would return to regular order and adhere to last year’s bipartisan agreement, the House has not passed a budget, and it’s almost certain we never will.
We know why. The right-wing is threatening to renege on the bipartisan budget agreement, and rejects as insufficiently radical, a Republican budget resolution that would devastate good-paying jobs, end the Medicare guarantee, and increase poverty. The majority’s continued dysfunction jeopardizes this Committee’s ability to meet the challenges we face.
2017 mark: $21.3 billion
2017 request: $21.6 billion
2016 enacted: $21.75 billion
The Chairman’s mark provides:
2017 mark: $37.444 billion
2017 budget request: $37.185 billion
2016 enacted: $37.276 billion
The Chairman’s mark provides:
Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) today urged Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) to hold a special meeting on the Administration’s request for emergency supplemental funding to respond to the Zika virus.
WASHINGTON - 394 Members of Congress signed a bipartisan letter urging President Obama to veto possible upcoming one-sided initiatives in the United Nations concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
2017 mark: $81.6 billion (including OCO)
2017 OCO: $172 million
2016 Enacted: $79.9 billion
2016 OCO: $0
President's Request: $82.8 billion (including OCO)
MILITARY CONSTRUCTION: $5.6 billion, which is $120 million less than the President’s budget request, is provided for Military Construction programs.
Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, today issued the following statement in response to the Administration’s efforts to halt the spread of the Zika virus domestically and internationally:
“It is inexcusable that the Republican majority’s failure to consider emergency supplemental funding to respond to the Zika virus, forced the Administration to redirect funding that is still needed to monitor and respond to the potential re-emergence of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa, where nearly 1,000 cases remain under observation. We do not have the luxury of fighting either Ebola or Zika – we must meet both challenges.
Thank you, Chairman Dent, Ranking Member Bishop, and Chairman Rogers for your work on this bill.
Mr. Chairman, before I turn to the Military Construction-VA bill, I must note that for months, we have heard commitments from Republican leadership that the budget and appropriations process will return to regular order and adhere to the bipartisan agreement enacted in late 2015. Yet at our first markup, the House still has not passed a budget, the smart money says we never will, and the Speaker is threatening to keep appropriations bills off the floor unless a budget is passed.
Thank you for yielding Mr. Chairman.
From your first day as Chairman, you have set a cooperative tone and I want to thank you for continuing to be inclusive as we work through this process. I believe the Chairman has worked very hard with very limited time to get to this point. I am pleased with several aspects of the bill.
First, the bill provides robust funding for military construction and provides adequate funding for both the Active and Reserve Components. I was pleased to see that for the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) account, the bill provides $25 million above the FY 2017 budget request to help speed up the clean-up of former Defense Department sites.
Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, today sent the following letter to Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY), urging him to schedule consideration of Appropriations bills that fund key federal investigative and law enforcement agencies.
Full letter follows:
The Honorable Harold Rogers
U.S. House Committee on Appropriations
H-305, U.S. Capitol Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Rogers:
We are all shaken and heartbroken by the tragic attacks that took place today in Belgium, and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all those affected.