Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chair, I thank the chairwoman for yielding, and I want to say I thank the chair and I thank Ms. Granger for her leadership and working with the chair, Mrs. Lowey, on getting these bills to the floor.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, albeit on leave, I am very proud of this committee. This committee is probably the most critical committee in the sense that, if it doesn't get its work done, we shut down the government. No other committee can say that, luckily.

But I am pleased, as the majority leader, to say that it has been my intent, working with the chair and the ranking member, to complete this appropriations process in a timely fashion.

Mr. Chair, the new Democratic majority began this Congress in the middle of a damaging government shutdown. Even though we had a bipartisan agreement on spending levels--which we don't yet have--and the Republicans held both Chambers of Congress and the executive, they failed a fundamental responsibility of funding all of government. And, as a result, we had a partial shutdown.

This week, the Democratic majority, working with the Republican minority in the House--and I had the privilege of serving with Ms. Granger actively on the committee--is moving the first four appropriations bills to the floor for consideration, with passage expected early next week.

It is my hope that, by moving through this process, we can help prevent a shutdown and, rationally, adopt the priorities of this country, both from a national security standpoint and from a national security standpoint on domestic investments.

The bills that are included in this package show our commitment to a stronger military, supporting critical research to combat diseases, more educational opportunities for our people, prioritizing diplomacy and more robust water and energy infrastructure, and a more accountable government.

It is a funding package for the people. I am particularly proud of the Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies bill. In my estimate, it is the best I have had the opportunity to vote for throughout my career.

It supports a more competitive workforce, advances healthcare research and access, stands up for women's health, and invests in future generations by funding important educational initiatives; such as, full-service community schools, a Special Olympics that provides so many opportunities to those with intellectual disabilities, and after- school programming.

These are all critical programs for our national security that President Trump has proposed, unfortunately, eliminating.

Moreover, the Energy and Water bill before us supports the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Restoration Project, which is important to our State, but also important to one of America's great estuaries.

We are doing all that while bringing the package of appropriations bills to the floor under a rule that allows for genuine bipartisan debate and amendment.

As I have said before, the House intends to do its job by passing all 12 appropriations bills before the end of June so that we have ample time to go to conference with the Senate and complete them before the end of the fiscal year.

That will be a historic step if we, together, can accomplish it. The Democratic-led House ended the Trump shutdown earlier this year. And the Democratic-led House is going to do its part to prevent another Trump shutdown in October.

Let me reiterate, though, that we want to do it in a bipartisan way. Again, I thank the chair and the ranking member for being such constructive, positive participants in this process.

The best way to accomplish our objective, though, is for House and Senate Democrats and Republicans to reach agreement before the fall on lifting the sequester caps based on the principle of parity while, at the same time, extending or eliminating the debt limit.

I talked to Senator McConnell in January. Both he and I agreed that we ought to get a caps agreement.

I regret that we have not done that, so we are proceeding under a deemed number. That is not the perfect way to do it, but it is the only way we had available to us to get our work done.

I observe that Mr. Shelby, who is the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, for my Republican friends, indicated he thought he might well follow the House and deem numbers. As a practical matter, that is the only way to do it absent agreement.

Agreement on top-line numbers will make it easier for the House and Senate to agree on individual appropriations bills that can be sent to the President's desk.

Together, we have a responsibility to make the investments the American people have entrusted us to make. I realize that we do not all agree, but we ought to, as a democratic body, decide that we will vote on our disagreements and we will resolve those by vote, as we did when the Republican side was in charge.

And, very frankly, we disagreed with many of those bills, but they became law, five of them. And, as a result, we funded the majority of the expenditures in the last year, even though we shut down most of the agencies of government at the end of the year into this year.

So, Mr. Chair, I would urge my friends to pursue this debate in an orderly fashion, realizing that we couldn't make all 600 amendments in order, but also realizing that we will have an opportunity to debate the equities that we think are important, come to a decision, and pass those bills to the Senate.

Hopefully, the Senate will pass them, and we will have conferences. Some Members don't know what conferences are.

When I started on the Appropriations Committee in 1983, and in the 23 years thereafter--in the early years, we really had conferences, and all the members of the subcommittee were members of the conference. And we met with the Senate; we debated back and forth; and we came out with the compromised bills.

When I started on the Appropriations Committee, there were really no Republicans and no Democrats. One may think that is a surprising statement. All were advocates. Some had different points of view, but they were advocates of making sure that we funded our government in a rational, democratic way, which means the majority will rule, as it did last year.

So, I urge my colleagues: Let us do our business. We will have differences, but do not allow those differences to undermine the ability of this House to operate in a rational, constructive manner.

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