Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019
Floor Speech
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Mrs. LOWEY. 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 Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs 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 standards.
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.
While I support many of the increases within the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill, Republicans have created a dilemma by transitioning the VA Choice program from mandatory to discretionary funding in the middle of fiscal year 2019.
I want to make it clear: This is a serious decision. It should have been adequately debated.
Even worse, Republicans have blocked consideration of my amendment to solve this problem. That will mean a further squeeze, and perhaps even cuts, to programs that benefit the middle class.
The Bipartisan Budget Act provided an $18 billion increase for both defense and nondefense discretionary spending between fiscal years 2018 and 2019.
Instead of using those resources to create jobs and grow our economy, Republicans have chosen to devote $4.8 billion, more than a quarter of that increase, to the Department of Homeland Security, presumably for President Trump's border wall and the deportation force.
Not only is such spending a betrayal of our American values, it is a waste of resources that crowds out investments that keep our families and communities safe, strong, and moving forward.
Frankly, it is just part of a pattern in which Republicans are underfunding bills that will come later in the appropriations process.
For example, Republicans have not provided a single penny in additional resources to the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. What does that mean? This means that they threaten to starve our schools, hurt job training and workplace rights protection, jeopardize Pell grants, and limit access to affordable healthcare, among many other ill effects.
We can and must do better than spending levels that prioritize President Trump's border wall and attacks on immigrant communities over the urgent needs of American children, families, and seniors.
Now, with regard to the Energy and Water bill specifically, we are confronted with a partisan bill that contains cuts to many important priorities for the American people.
With gas prices approaching $3 a gallon, the bill cuts energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives. It cuts transformational science efforts, such as the successful and popular ARPA-E program.
And just as bad, it contains many harmful riders, including rolling back clean water protections, blocking the National Ocean Policy, further endangering salmon on the Columbia River, and weakening gun safety rules on public lands.
These provisions and the cuts to important priorities that drive innovation and safeguard our national security make it impossible for Democrats to support this bill.
We can and must do better. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no,'' oppose the Republican raw deal that cuts critical priorities, includes harmful poison-pill riders, and sets Congress on a path to future bills that will cause serious pain for American children, families, and seniors.
However, I do hope, at the end of the process, we can put together a more responsible bipartisan bill.
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Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies.
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Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Ohio.
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Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), the ranking member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee.
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Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman.
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Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), the ranking member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.
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Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the Democratic whip.
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Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland.
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Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill, which guts critical investments in clean energy, guts clean water protection.
The Republican raw deal prioritizes President Trump's border wall and deportation force over much-needed increases to services that help American families, from early childhood education, job training, to securing the sanctity of our elections.
I vote ``no,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.
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