Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my ranking member, Marcy Kaptur, for her hard work over the many months we have spent preparing this bill for consideration today. I would also like to acknowledge the work of our Senate partners, Lamar Alexander and Dianne Feinstein.

There are a number of good reasons to vote for this bill, and many of them are in the Energy and Water Development section. This bill provides strong funding for our defense. It makes important infrastructure investments that will keep America's waterways open for business. And, this bill includes critical funding to ensure the security of our Nation's electrical grid.

Weapons Activities, which provides funding to support our aging nuclear weapons stockpile, is $660 million more than last year. This includes full funding for critical warheads such as the B61 bomb and the Long Range Standoff cruise missile. The Naval Reactors Program has been increased by $141 million, including the full request for the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine replacement reactor.

Funding for the Army Corps of Engineers includes more than $1.2 million for HMTF activities--hitting the WRRDA target. The bill also provides for full use of the annual IWTF revenues.

The bill rejects the President's proposal to finance renewable energies at the expense of the energies that we rely on today, and instead moves the country forward with a balanced, all-of-the-above energy strategy that ensures that our constituents continue to have reliable, affordable energy.

The bill also includes important funding for the Idaho National Laboratory to continue programs to advance nuclear technologies and ensures the safe and efficient use of nuclear energy now and in the future.

The bill includes $162 million for research and development to improve the resilience and reliability of the electric grid against cybersecurity attacks and extreme weather events.

We also continue the commonsense provisions that were included in last year's bill, such as prohibitions against changing the definition of fill material and prohibitions against the implementation of new light bulb efficiency standards, that protect consumer choice and responsible commercial operations.

I urge my colleagues to vote for this omnibus.

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