Commerce, Justice, Science, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act, 2020

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this continuing resolution.

I listened carefully to what the gentleman said just prior to my taking the floor, and I wish that the other body had done its work. We did ours. I am pretty proud of our Members.

This bill ensures that the Federal Government and its lights stay on, that we pay our bills on time, and that the people's business continues while negotiations on a full year's spending deal proceed.

While we are hopeful an agreement can quickly be reached, I am really disappointed that the Senate continues to delay while so much is at stake. I really don't understand the problem over there.

For each day that we delay in passing a full-year appropriations bill, we send a message of uncertainty that has consequences for the business of the American people. Be glad you are not a contracting officer in one of the agencies, certainly the Department of Defense, at this point.

For our subcommittee, my bill, the Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, proposes key investments to the Army Corps of Engineers, in our Nation's crumbling water infrastructure, and in the energy innovation pipeline that is so essential to sustaining life on Earth. The United States must remain at the forefront of energy innovation to address climate change, so vital to people across the globe.

This bill essentially offers a pathway, and that is all it is, for our committees to negotiate on a final bill that makes these key investments and many others across committees.

In addition to giving Congress the space to finalize our bills, this continuing resolution makes key investments in the Census, and they make those investments as soon as the bill passes.

We must ensure a complete census count. In fact, the country can't wait even 1 month to invest in this ramp-up effort. Ads are out all across the country. The Census Bureau has to do its job.

And the Census will support reapportionment and will impact everything the Federal Government does, from grant programs to redistricting.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation so the committees can move toward full agreement. I urge prayerful thoughts for our colleagues over in the other body to do their work so that we don't have to use up the full time before December 20 and we can actually pass the bills that are necessary before that time.

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Ms. KAPTUR. Wasserman Schultz) of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, who does such a fine job.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished woman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in reluctant support of this continuing resolution, which would keep the government open until December 20, 2019.

As has been stated, but can't be stated enough, the House has done its job. We passed our appropriations bills earlier this summer. Unfortunately, the Senate failed to act in time, and now we are kicking the can down the road yet again with a second CR.

A CR is destructive for our Federal agencies, but we need to keep the government open, obviously. Fortunately, this CR has a few provisions that make this bitter medicine more palatable.

It once again includes critical health extenders for Medicare and Medicaid programs and for other benefit programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Notably, the bill also restores necessary funding for the Census Bureau as it gears up for the 2020 Census, and it includes a 3.1 percent pay raise for our troops. As chairwoman of the Appropriations Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, I happily support this necessary pay raise for our servicemembers.

But let me make this clear: We cannot responsibly govern by an endless series of destructive continuing resolutions. These Band-Aids keep the lights on but serve as de facto spending cuts for our Federal agencies, and they handcuff short and longer term budget and project planning.

Instead of locking ourselves into a series of CRs, it is imperative that the Senate work with us in good faith to come to agreement on top- line funding numbers, and do so without taking all their marching orders from the White House.

Passing CRs also abdicates our congressional power of the purse. The Appropriations Committee put a lot of work and countless beneficial provisions into our bills. We must not toss all of that thoughtful work aside.

Mr. Speaker, I support passage of this CR. Our businesses, families, and local communities deserve and need that budget certainty.

But I urge Congress to work out amongst ourselves a concrete path forward to fulfill our appropriations responsibilities and resume orderly funding of the government.

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for this continuing resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, the Continuing Resolution before us today not only keeps our government open and operating until December 20, 2019--as we finalize the 2020 budget--but it also extends authorities for critical services such as the National Flood Insurance Program, Community Health Centers, and the National Health Service Corps.

Of particular significance to thousands of 9/11 survivors--and a giant step forward for justice--the CR also reforms the US Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism (USVSST) Fund to ensure that immediate family members--the spouses and children of the victims of 9/11--are, for the first time, given rightful access to the judgements they have won in court against the perpetrators of the attack on our Nation.

The USVSST was established by Congress in December 2015 to compensate victims of international state-sponsored terrorism. It is funded entirely by criminal and civil penalties collected by the US government from foreign entities that violate U.S. sanctions--primarily related to Iran. In addition to compensating Americans who were held hostage during the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979-1981, the 2015 legislation also sought to award any persons who have won legal judgments in a U.S. federal district court against a state sponsor of terrorism arising from acts of international terrorism.

Is there any more deserving group of victims of state sponsored acts of terrorism than those who lost their parents or spouses on September 11, 2001? I don't think so.

Yet, remarkably through a misinterpretation of the 2015 law by the fund's Special Master, the immediate family members--i.e. the dependents--were barred from participating--that's unfair, unjust and unconscionable.

In 2017 and 2019, the fund granted awards to the Iranian hostages, their relatives, victims of U.S. embassy bombings and the Marine barracks in Lebanon--and to more distant relatives of those who were killed on 9/11. But the spouses and children of 9/11 victims were denied, barred and shown the door.

With the deadline for the 2020 round of awards approaching, this past September I hosted a town meeting in Wall Township, New Jersey. Widely attended by spouses and children from across the entire tri-state area, the meeting exposed anew the struggles these survivors continue to face, the sacrifices they have endured, the efforts they have made to hold state sponsors of terrorism accountable for the deaths of their loved ones, and the madness in the decision to bar them from the USVSST.

The technical correction in the CR reflects a bipartisan agreement, an equitable fix to the USVSST that permits 9/11 spouses and children to pursue their judgements in the fund while continuing the participation of other victims as well.

None of this would have been possible if not for the leadership and commitment of the victim's spouses and children, people who continue to seek justice after the murders of their loved ones. Many stepped forward, and those known as the Jersey Girls--Kristen Breitweiser, Mindy Kleinberg, Lorie Van Auken, and Kathy Maher--have been tireless, factual and well-informed in advocating for the needed reforms.

Kathy Wisneiwski, a surviving widow, former school vice principal, and member of my staff, has been relentless especially in working on behalf of the surviving children. And Angela Mistrulli was tenacious in working with leaders outside the tri-state area to help bring about this needed reform.

With absolute clarity, Congress has now instructed the Justice Department to specifically honor the judgements of these immediate 9/11 family members.

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