Dhs Cyber Incident Response Teams Act of 2019
Floor Speech
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Mr. ADERHOLT. Madam Speaker, I thank the ranking member, and I also rise today in support of H.R. 1158, as the majority leader did, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020.
While this bill is not perfect, as it was also mentioned--and, quite honestly, I have concerns that there is an ongoing trend toward increased spending--I will say that division B of this legislation, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, includes assistance that is critical to law enforcement, the Census, and NASA, among other things.
I would like to thank Chairman Serrano, and I thank Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member Granger, as well as our Senate counterparts for their leadership, their diligence, and their willingness to come together to form this meeting of the minds to bring this FY 2020 bill to the floor and to fruition.
I also want to thank Mr. Serrano's staff--Mr. Bob Bonner, Jeff Ashford, Trisha Castaneda, TJ Lowdermilk, Shannon McCully, Matt Smith, and B.G. Wright--for their hard work and the many long days that were, no doubt, dedicated to helping produce this legislation. I appreciate their cooperative spirit in which they worked with my staff to address so many of the issues that are in this bill.
And, of course, I also want to thank my staff for their outstanding work.
I want to thank our CJS subcommittee staff, Stephanie Gadbois and Kristin Clarkson, for their hard work, their long hours, and their dedication over the last year, and especially the hard work of the last few weeks in finalizing this bill.
Let me just briefly recap. The bill has $22.6 billion for NASA. The funding will help support the President's Artemis initiative, which includes completion and further development of the Space Launch System to ensure that it is the United States and not our adversaries that will control future access to space.
In addition to NASA, the bill includes $7.3 billion to support the 2020 Decennial Census which will be necessary to get an accurate count of all Americans, including those in hard-to-count communities. It also includes critical funding for the Federal law enforcement components of the Department of Justice, including the FBI, the United States Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. I am pleased to say that these funds will also support Attorney General Barr's efforts to fight the scourge of violent crimes and acts of mass violence.
In support of the valuable efforts of our local law enforcement partners back home, this bill also includes $547 million for the Byrne Justice Assistance grants, along with increased resources to eliminate the sexual assault kit backlog, also fund drug court programs, and support other vital initiatives that fight the opioid epidemic.
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Mr. ADERHOLT. Madam Speaker, this bill provides funding increases for the agencies that ensure compliance with our trade laws, along with programs that foster American innovation and competitiveness, not only in our communities and in each of our States but around the world.
Finally, I am pleased that this bill also contains longstanding Second Amendment protections that were targeted for elimination earlier this year.
So, in closing, I would like to thank, again, Chairman Serrano for his great spirit to work with and how he has led the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, and I wish him the best.
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