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Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I urge my colleagues to support the six-bill fiscal year 2024 appropriations package that is before us.

I am pleased to report that the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed this bill earlier today by a vote of 339 to 85. It was strongly bipartisan. And now the Senate should follow suit.

I want to express my thanks to the Republican ranking members on each of the six subcommittees--Senators Murkowski, Moran, Hoeven, Boozman, Kennedy, and Hyde-Smith--for their tremendous work in assembling this package.

I also want to recognize the chair of the committee, Senator Patty Murray, who has worked so hard--since she was named chair and I, vice chair--in order to bring us to this point.

I also want to salute the Democratic chairs for their work.

My point is that everyone involved, including our incredibly hard- working staff, has worked night and day to bring us to this point.

The measure before us includes the following fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills: Interior; Commerce, Justice, and Science; Agriculture-FDA; Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs; Energy and Water Development; and Transportation and Housing.

And, again--although I wish this had happened months ago--these are full-year appropriations bills. In other words, this is not another continuing resolution, not a short-term patch, but, rather, a package of bills that will fund these important programs and Agencies and Departments through the end of the fiscal year.

This package fully funds veterans' medical care; supports our farmers, fishermen, and ranchers; protects our Nation's food and drug supply; provides critical resources for law enforcement; helps us better compete with China; advances American energy independence; and invests in our Nation's infrastructure and public lands.

This legislation also complies with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, as well as the top-line spending agreement reached between Speaker Johnson and Senator Schumer. Under that agreement, defense funding for this fiscal year will increase by 3.3 percent relative to fiscal year 2023 enacted levels, while nondefense funding will be held flat.

That is not easy to do, particularly given the impact of inflation and the 5.2 percent Federal employment pay raise, which many of these Agencies are going to have to absorb. So it took a great deal of negotiation and hard work for us to get to this point.

It certainly has not been easy, but I am proud of the legislation we are bringing to the floor today. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting to move this important legislative package forward toward enactment.

I look forward to further floor discussion tomorrow, but, right now, I do urge a ``yes'' vote on the motion to proceed.

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