Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chair, I strongly oppose H.R. 3354, a bill that not only fails to make critical investments in our Nation's future, but also eliminates important protections for everyday Americans.

As ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, I am particularly concerned that H.R. 3354 imposes such severe cuts on the Department of Housing and Urban Development that it will result in families losing their housing assistance and putting them at risk for homelessness.

The bill also takes some of the worst provisions from the Republican's ``Wrong'' CHOICE Act that would return our economy to the reckless practices that caused the financial crisis.

One provision takes away the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop abusive practices by banks like Wells Fargo, which ripped off more than 3.5 million of its customers. Another provision repeals the Labor Department's commonsense rule that protects seniors from conflicted retirement advice from unscrupulous financial advisers.

There are so many gifts to Wall Street, one would think Christmas came early. But it isn't Christmas, Mr. Chair. It is September, and we are in the middle of hurricane season. Our cities are literally under water, yet the Republican leadership has done nothing to prevent the National Flood Insurance Program from expiring at the end of the month.

Republicans have also let us come dangerously close to defaulting on our debt and the obligations owed to servicemembers, veterans, seniors, and the most vulnerable among us. Just yesterday, 800,000 young Democrats were told by our President that their future is in the hands of a hostile Congress.

We must oppose this bill so we can get to work on what Congress should really be doing.

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Mr. Chairman, I must say, I am deeply disappointed by the sinister attempt being made here today to strip a critical Republican-led amendment from this appropriations bill that would thwart the will of overwhelming majorities in both Houses and undermine the work of the job-creating Export-Import Bank.

As of the end of 2016, as many as 50 major transactions, with an aggregate value of nearly $40 billion, had piled up in the Bank's approval pipeline. And according to the Ex-Im Bank, if approved, these transactions would support more than 100,000 jobs in the United States.

The longer we wait, the greater the risk that these pending transactions will be withdrawn and sourced by our foreign competitors and the greater the likelihood that jobs that would have otherwise supported here in the United States will move offshore.

The chairman of the Financial Services Committee claims that striking this amendment would have ``no budgetary effect'' but this is hardly the case. President Trump's own fiscal year 2018 budget estimates that a fully functional Export-Import Bank would generate $587.7 million in excess funds in the next fiscal year.

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