Thank you, Chairman Simpson, Ranking Member Kaptur, and Chairman Frelinghuysen for your work on this bill.
When Republicans took control of both Congress and the White House, their leadership promised regular order. And yet here we are, at the fifth subcommittee markup, three months shy of the end of the fiscal year. There is no budget resolution, no 302b allocations, no bipartisan discussions to avoid sequestration on defense and nondefense priorities, and no plan to avoid a catastrophic debt default.
The majority’s continued dysfunction jeopardizes this Committee’s ability to meet the significant challenges we face, including many that are attacked in the bill before us.
For instance, this bill would:
* drastically cut Energy Efficiency and Renewable energy, reflecting the Republican Majority’s dismissal of the science and consequences of climate change; and
* terminate ARPA-E, even though it has successfully propelled American innovation, led to technological advances and created jobs.
And while this bill would provide an increase for the Army Corps of Engineers to invest in rebuilding America’s infrastructure, it’s far short of the $12 billion needed to address all of the projects on the Corps’ list.
That’s not all. Yet again, the majority has included harmful policy riders that would:
* Weaken environmental standards that protect clean water;
* Allow the possession of firearms on Army Corps of Engineers lands; and
* Prohibit the implementation of the National Ocean Policy.
The Majority knows full well that these riders were stripped out of the final FY17 spending agreement and will not be included in a future bill that requires bipartisan support to pass.
My friends on the other side of the aisle, it is time to get serious about governing and appropriating.
Republicans need to abandon partisan politics and work with Democrats to raise the budget caps so appropriations laws can be enacted. As the process progresses, I look forward to working with my friends on the other sides of the aisle to invest responsibly in both defense and nondefense priorities.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
