Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2024
Floor Speech
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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Today I rise in opposition to H.R. 4364, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act of 2024.
First, let me thank Mr. Amodei for his efforts and, of course, my Democratic staffers, Faye Cobb, Monica Garay, and Raquel Spencer, as well as our Republican staffers, Michelle Reinshuttle and Jacquelynn Ripke for their tireless contributions to this subcommittee.
As the chairman indicated, the bill before us today includes $5.3 billion in discretionary appropriations to fund the offices of the House of Representatives and joint legislative branch items. It also has a decrease of 4.7 percent from the fiscal year 2023 enacted House level and a 2.4 percent decrease in total allocation including Senate items. This bill merely keeps the lights on, but it could and should have done so much better.
Unfortunately, extreme MAGA culture war provisions have haunted all 12 of the House appropriations bills and, of course, legislative branch was not spared. This bill, too, contains provisions that harm diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and the LGBTQ+ community.
Moreover, this bill does not allow legislative branch agencies to employ individuals under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the DACA program. These are young kids who are capable and have contributed to this Nation. All they are missing is a piece of paper, but they are Americans in every sense of the word you can imagine.
This bill eliminates funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion training or program implementation, including our very own House Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which Republicans have benefited from. All of us have benefited from the efforts of diversity and inclusion. We have more women in our staff. We have greater diversity, greater life experiences. I think that makes this House stronger. Yet, this bill eliminates funding for that.
This House and the many agencies that make up the entire legislative branch of government should make every effort possible to be reflective and considerate of all the people that exist in our great Nation and the many districts that our Members represent.
This bill does nothing to facilitate the use of funds for collective bargaining rights to congressional staffers. Our staffers should be able to do that.
This bill removes a provision to eliminate or reduce plastic waste across the legislative branch of government, further contributing to the impacts of climate change. We are here at the center of government, and we should be fighting climate change, but we are not reducing the use of plastic.
Mr. Speaker, after the attack on January 6, the attack on two congressional staffers in their Virginia district office, and numerous threats to our cybersecurity, I feel strongly that our staff deserves to have a safe place to work, and our visitors deserve to have an even safer place to visit and receive services.
However, in my opinion, this bill misses opportunities to further invest in and enhance our physical and cybersecurity posture.
Our men and women who work hard every day to secure this campus deserve to have the best equipment, tools, and state-of-the-art technology resources readily available to them. Securing this campus both physically and virtually has always been a priority of this subcommittee. Various requests from the Capitol Police and the legislative branch cybersecurity offices have not been met. We must work to protect the campus that supports the governance of our democracy.
The legislative branch bill should never be a place for divisive politics. This bill should be used to ensure that Congress has all the tools it needs to legislate and support the constituents we serve. It should be used to ensure we have a successful democracy through effective and responsible governance.
Folks on the other side of the aisle are obsessed with cutting Federal funding and eliminating programs that help to grow and diversify our country as well as welcome everybody to the table, a big tent approach to government.
Mr. Speaker, when I took the role as the ranking member of this subcommittee, I was looking forward to working with my colleagues on creating a bipartisan bill. However, this bill does not represent a collaboration between two parties. Instead, it includes provisions that have no place within the legislative branch appropriations bill and are hurtful to many Americans, including many of the staff who support this great institution.
Extreme rightwing politics that were so focused on silencing the voices of many in this country turned around and silenced themselves. They created a situation where no one had a voice, rendering at times this body inoperable for many weeks.
Mr. Speaker, I don't agree with these divisive ideas and tactics. For these reasons, I cannot support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, I think it is undeniable that during these uncertain times, particularly when we witnessed the regrettable incident in Virginia, where staffers in one of our colleague's district offices were hurt, and given the tension in the world, in our communities, in our cities, and in our district offices, it requires greater investment in security for our constituents that visit on a regular basis our offices, for our staff who are on the front lines in what we do, and for ourselves. I think that, in many ways, we are wide open, and we require the kind of investment that we have not seen in this bill.
DeLauro), the distinguished ranking member of the Appropriations Committee.
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Mr. ESPAILLAT.
Mr. Speaker, I rise again to oppose this bill. This bill doesn't do enough. It just doesn't do enough to support critical investment for the future of the legislative branch of government, including critical enhancement to strengthen our physical and cybersecurity posture or provide dedicated funding for the House Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
In addition, I was shocked not to see bipartisan language that has been supported by both sides of the House for years to allow the legislative branch agencies to employ individuals under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, Program. Every Member's staffer should feel safe as they serve the American people. Every office and committee in Congress should be able to benefit from the bipartisan work carried out by the House Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
Importantly, every Member from every district across the Nation should have access to every resource that will allow them to serve the constituency with the services that they need. This includes the ability to hire a staffer who represents the makeup of their district. That is fundamental in a democracy.
This committee has a long tradition of protecting individual Members' ability to operate their offices how they see fit and employing individuals under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program should be no exception.
For this reason, Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to the committee. If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill.
My amendment includes language that would permit funds in the Act to be used to employ individuals with an employment authorization document under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, Program.
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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for the motion to recommit.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, let me repeat that the legislative branch should never be a place for divisive politics. The legislative branch bill should be used to ensure Congress has the tools it needs to legislate and support the constituents we serve. It should be used to ensure we have a successful democracy through effective and responsible governance.
The Republicans, again, are obsessed with cutting and cutting Federal funds and eliminating programs that help to grow and diversify our country. Passing these partisan bills will not help keep the government open. It just will not make that happen. We should be really focused on keeping our government open and preventing a pending shutdown.
The former Speaker met with the President and had a handshake. Let's honor that handshake. Let's not cut to the bone and hurt the American people. I don't agree also with these divisive ideas and partisan tactics. I believe we can and should do much better.
For these reasons, I cannot support this bill.
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