House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) today delivered the following remarks to the House Rules Committee in support of :
I would have preferred to be sitting before you to present a fiscal year 2022 omnibus. But I believe we are very close to an agreement, and I am eager to move this process forward. I have every expectation we can finalize an omnibus in short order.
The American people deserve the certainty that comes with full-year funding bills. The transformative investments an omnibus provides will help create good-paying jobs and grow opportunity for the middle class.
Taken together, an omnibus will expand access to child care, strengthen our public schools, make college more affordable, bolster job training, and help small businesses access the capital they need to thrive. And it will rebuild our public health care systems after the devastation of the pandemic.
An omnibus will confront the climate crisis by supporting environmental protection, land conservation, and clean energy development. And it will protect our national security and restore America’s place in the world.
What’s more, an omnibus is the only way to unlock the full potential of the transformative funding in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, accelerating the rebuilding of our nation’s crumbling roads, bridges, water systems, and other critical transportation infrastructure.
And of great importance to the people we represent, an omnibus is the only way to enact Community Project Funding that my colleagues on both sides of this dais have requested for their districts. From bolstering mental and behavioral health services to helping veterans find jobs, these investments - which are being made with strong community support - are so important.
I am confident that Appropriators can agree on a framework in short order and then work with great intensity to fill in the details, so that we can enact an agreement that is worthy of the people we are here to serve.
To provide the time to get that work done, the Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act before you continues government funding at current levels through March 11. This legislation is straightforward and includes minimal anomalies, the most notable of which is $350 million in direly-needed funding to address water contamination from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii.
No one wins from additional Continuing Resolutions, which is why - after we pass this extension - we will finalize an omnibus that will deliver for our nation.
I respectfully request an appropriate rule for Floor consideration of this legislation. I look forward to answering your questions.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
