Providing for Further Consideration of H.R. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2020

Floor Speech

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Mrs. TORRES of California. Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, the Rules Committee met and reported the rule, House Resolution 436, providing for consideration of H.R. 2740, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Defense, State, Foreign Operations, and Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2020.

The rule provides for further consideration of H.R. 2740 under a structured rule and makes in order 115 amendments. The rule provides no further general debate.

The chair of the Appropriations Committee may also offer amendments en bloc consisting of amendments made in order by the rule and not earlier disposed of.

Finally, the rule includes one motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, it was only a few months ago that we were standing here voting to end the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States, a shutdown that hurt so many of our constituents, constituents like David Pesko, an FAA air traffic controller at Ontario Airport.

He was in escrow to purchase a home, and, without a paycheck coming in, he had to rely on his family and friends' generosity in order to make ends meet.

We owe David and the American people much more, and that is why I am especially proud of the timely introduction of these appropriations bills. It exemplifies the hard work of my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee and this majority's commitment to good governance.

Mr. Speaker, in years past, we have relied strongly on omnibus spending bills to fund the government. But now, with the hard work done by Members on both sides of the aisle, this majority is leading us in a return to regular order.

As has often been said on this very floor, the primary job of Congress is to fund the American government and keep it open and operating. Our constituents deserve no less.

With this package under consideration today, the House will do just that with respect to 4 of the 12 spending bills.

In passing this bill, we will provide crucial funding for services across broad areas of the government and fulfill our promises to the American people. That funding includes historic investments in programs that provide opportunities for millions of people, including my constituents in the Inland Empire.

Perhaps more important than what is included in this bill is what is not included. This minibus rejects the President's draconian budget cuts that would have hurt every American, but especially women and children.

Instead, we have won increased funding for a number of important priorities.

This bill boosts biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health, expands opioid abuse treatment and prevention programs, and launches new initiatives for maternal and child health.

I recently visited three health clinics in my district that provide 30,000 families with lifesaving care.

This bill provides $400 million for the Title X Family Planning Program so that everyone in the Inland Empire and across America can continue to have access to cancer screenings, STI tests, reproductive care, and other lifesaving services.

It also protects against the administration's policies that prevent a woman from making choices about her future, like when to have a child.

When women do decide to become mothers, this bill supports them by investing in working families and our children with $7.8 billion for the Childcare and Development Block Grant program.

Passing this bill will demonstrate our commitment to the ideal that all students deserve a quality, safe, and affordable education, and that commitment is realized in over $24 billion in funding for Federal Student Aid programs, almost $2 billion more than the President's insufficient request.

Just as important is this bill's acknowledgement of how far we have to go in helping underserved communities, the bill provides $917 million to assist minority-serving institutions, including $150 million for Hispanic-serving institutions like Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State San Bernardino, and UC Riverside, which prepare thousands of students in my district to be tomorrow's leaders.

Mr. Speaker, I am also happy to report that this legislation provides the funding necessary for a 3.1 percent pay raise for our servicemembers, who continue to serve our Nation around the world.

As the mother of an Air Force veteran, it is wonderful news to hear that our servicemembers are being acknowledged for the hard work that they do keeping our Nation safe, at home and abroad.

In addition to paying our servicemembers more, this bill will protect our men and women in uniform from one of the most common harms that they encounter: sexual assault.

The $38 million in additional funding for DOD'S sexual assault prevention and response programs will ensure that survivors have representation while navigating the complicated military justice process, that they will not have to wait years for a resolution--years, Mr. Speaker--as one of my constituents had to do.

This bill not only invests in our priorities at home; it advances our priorities abroad. I am particularly pleased with increased investments in certain areas, including global reproductive health and aid to Central American countries.

This bill empowers countless women who are the backbone of their families around the world by increasing funding for family planning programs, reversing the President's disastrous global gag rule, and contributing $55.5 million to the United Nations Population Fund.

Robust funding is included for counter-narcotics and law enforcement efforts in Colombia, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

This bill also ensures that the funding provided goes to the right people--the right people, Mr. Speaker--instead of the corrupt officials that undermine democracy and misuse U.S. aid. This is especially important given the recent report regarding corruption in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala and Honduras.

And, finally, the last part of this bill that I would like to highlight is what we are doing to invest in our energy and water infrastructure.

The bill rejects the President's shortsighted proposed cuts to key energy and water programs and, instead, invests $46.6 billion to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, build the next generation of clean energy technologies, and combat the urgent threat that is climate change.

This is a good bill. This is a bill that should be signed into law, and I urge my colleagues to vote for this rule so that we can get back to regular order and avoid another costly shutdown.

I would like to remind my colleague that I also serve on the Appropriations Committee, and we had a very open and transparent process. Every subcommittee invited all Members to come before us to present their ideas or their requests to the subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee. We have also supported 95 percent of the written requests from all Members.

So to say that it was not transparent and that Members did not have an opportunity to come before and present their ideas is incorrect.

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Mrs. TORRES of California. Mr. Speaker, I will not yield.

I want to remind my colleagues why we are here today. We are considering a bill that provides $7.97 billion in humanitarian assistance, a 3.1 percent pay raise for our troops, $1.9 billion for the Job Corps, $41.1 billion for mental health, for Alzheimer's research, HIV/AIDS, cancer research, and others.

I agree that we need to address the humanitarian situation at the border, and Democrats have been saying this for a very long time. We said so when crying toddlers were being torn apart from their mother's arms. We said so when children were being put in cages. We said so when children were being drugged. We said so when children were being sexually abused.

I visited those facilities. I saw the tragedy with my own eyes. HHS needs an influx of funds, and we cannot wait until this bill is enacted.

In the coming weeks, we will consider the administration's request for a supplemental appropriations bill. That supplemental, not the fiscal year 2020 appropriations bill, is the appropriate place to deal with this year's ORR funding. That is not just because we can't wait for the annual appropriations process to be completed; it is also because we have concerns about how ORR is managing some of those shelters.

With all the abuses that have come to light, I know that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle agree with us that we need to have more oversight, additional oversight over these facilities.

Most importantly, this amendment increases and decreases the same account. It is not an actual effect. The children deserve more than a messaging amendment. They deserve better than that.

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Mrs. TORRES of California.

Mr. Speaker, while we may not agree on everything, I do want to thank my colleague from Georgia for his participation in this process. I hope we can agree that getting back to regular order is the right thing to do, not for Democrats and not for Republicans, but for the American people.

Congress cannot write a blank check and allow children on our southern border to continue to be abused while they are in our custody. We need transparency, we need accountability. Members of Congress need to be able to go and inspect these facilities without being denied entry.

On the issue of participation among Members of Congress through this process of appropriations, I want to state once again that ideas are absolutely welcome. However, the Appropriations Committee chairwoman cannot order Members to participate in the process. We can set up meetings and we can invite them to come and participate, and many did. They presented their ideas, they presented their requests for funding for their districts, and, guess what, 95 percent of those requests were agreed upon through a process of mitigating.

Now, if I was writing this appropriations bill myself, it would look very different. If my colleague from Georgia was writing this appropriations bill himself, it would look very different. He and I both know that. But our commitment is not to our personal agendas. Our commitment is to the rule of law, is to democracy, and is to the American people, our constituents, who sent us here to represent them.

The underlying legislation is a strong bill that is the result of good, hard work by Members of both sides of the aisle. It is about time that the House of Representatives got back to doing the business of the people in a timely manner.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the rule and the previous question.

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