Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I rise today in support of the fiscal year 2020 Appropriations bill for the Departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. This bill is included in the appropriations package that is before this Chamber.

Let me begin my remarks by thanking Chairman Shelby and Vice Chairman Leahy for their bipartisan leadership in successfully finishing the conference and advancing all of these appropriations bills to the Senate floor.

I also want to acknowledge the hard work and strong commitment of my friend and colleague Senator Jack Reed, the ranking member of the T-HUD Subcommittee. We have worked closely together in negotiating this bill and have crafted a truly bipartisan product.

The fiscal year 2020 transportation and housing appropriations bill provides $74.3 billion to continue to improve our Nation's infrastructure and maintain HUD rental assistance for low-income seniors, homeless youths, and other vulnerable populations. This year, we once again faced the funding challenge of rising rental costs across the country and a reduction in the receipts from the Federal Housing Administration that are used to offset some of the spending in this bill.

However, we were successful in maintaining many of the Senate priorities in the final bill. For example, the bill provides $1 billion for the highly effective and popular BUILD grant program, which has provided $205 million in critical infrastructure improvements in Maine since 2009. In addition, the bill includes $1.15 billion for bridge repair and rehabilitation, with a focus on those States with the greatest needs. The need for additional bridge funding is clear across the country and was highlighted in my home State of Maine by grant awards for projects such as the Station 46 Bridge and the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge.

The infrastructure funding in this bill not only addresses the transportation challenges we face but also creates jobs and economic growth in each and every one of our homes. The American Society of Civil Engineers' most recent report card from 2017 shows that America's infrastructure remains in poor condition with a grade of D+. This poor rating is not only detrimental for the movement of people and goods but also harmful from a safety perspective.

I am also particularly proud of the $300 million for the third National Security Multi-Mission Vessel which will serve as the new training vessel for Maine Maritime Academy. The new NSMV will play a critical role in training the next generation of U.S. mariners. This new ship will ensure that cadets receive the training hours they need to graduate and join the workforce in the merchant marine, Navy, and Coast Guard.

Another important issue, particularly to Senator Reed and me, is reducing lead paint in homes. That is of particular health concern to families with children under the age of 6. The bill provides $290 million to combat lead hazards, a historic level of funding. Lead paint hazards are a significant concern for Maine families, as 57 percent of our housing stock was constructed prior to 1978, the year lead-based paint was banned. These grants will help communities protect children from the harmful lifelong effects of lead poisoning.

Finally, I do want to mention that the bill provides additional funding for the FAA's aviation safety programs in light of two Boeing crashes. This funding ensures that the agency has the necessary staff and training, as well as safety data reporting systems going forward. Our Committee remains focused on this issue to ensure that we maintain the Nation's safest airspace.

I appreciate the opportunity to present this important legislation to the Chamber. As we begin debate on the Transportation-HUD bill, I urge my colleagues to support the investments in this bill that benefit our communities all across this Nation and the families, veterans, children, and our seniors that rely on these programs.

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Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I rise today as a member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to express my support for this appropriations bill and to highlight a number of important provisions for both our national security and the State of Maine.

I would first like to thank Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member Durbin, as well as Vice-Chairman Leahy, for their work and leadership on the committee and their willingness to come together to complete what is a strong, bipartisan final bill.

The bipartisan work of the Defense Subcommittee is vitally important to ensure our men and women in uniform are able to fight and defend our Nation as well as deter potential adversaries. It also ensures our DOD civilians have the resources they need to support those servicemembers and keep our ships, planes, and vehicles at the ready.

The bill before us today supports a military pay increase of 3.1 percent--the largest in a decade. It also recognizes the value of our civilian workforce by also supporting an average pay increase of 3.1 percent for DOD civilians.

The bill recognizes the necessity of building and maintaining a strong Navy. It provides nearly $24 billion for new Navy battle force ships, including more than $5 billion for three DDG-51 destroyers. Looking ahead to next year, it also provides an additional $390 million above the amount requested in the President's budget request for DDG-51 advanced procurement. This demonstrates Congress's intent that the Department sustain an aggressive growth rate for large surface combatants in fiscal year 2021 and beyond.

In Maine, we are very proud of the role that Bath Iron Works plays in contributing to our national security, building the finest ships in our fleet. This bill includes $130 million to invest in our Nation's large surface combatant industrial base, ensuring Bath Iron Works can efficiently design and build our Navy's fleet long into the future.

BIW is known throughout the Navy for the high-quality of the ships they build, with many Sailors using our motto that ``Bath Built is Best Built.'' BIW employs the finest shipbuilders, engineers, and designers in the world, and this bill rightly recognizes the great value that these tried-and-tested warships bring to the Navy.

This bill supports our nation's public shipyards, which are truly the backbone of our Navy's submarine fleet. It funds our Navy's maintenance activities, ensuring workers at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and other shipyards can carry out their work keeping our Nation's submarines at sea.

The bill also makes clear that the Navy should continue to invest in the very successful apprenticeship programs at our public shipyards-- which has been incredibly successful at PNSY--as well as work to address the availability of Virginia-class submarine materials at our shipyards.

This bill makes critical investments in research and development programs, which are being carried out in partnership with research institutions, including the University of Maine. These programs include producing jet fuel from Maine's forest biomass; developing hybrid composite structures for the Navy; and funding for DOD to utilize UMaine's new 3D printer, the largest in the world, for cutting-edge defense research and rapid prototyping.

This bill invests in fifth-generation aircraft we need to deter Russia and China by funding 98 F-35 aircraft 20 more than initially requested by the Department. These advanced, stealthy jets are key to dominating the skies, and I am proud of Pratt and Whitney's contributions to the program through its construction of the F135 engine at its facility in North Berwick, ME. Additionally, the bill procures six CH-53K Heavy Lift helicopters for the Marine Corps. The rotating drive shafts are a critical moment of the aircraft and are produced at Hunting Dearborn's facility in Fryeburg, ME.

The National Guard provides our country with both a strategic and operational reserve which has proven itself time and time again. I applaud the bill's inclusion of $1.3 billion to the National Guard and Reserve equipment account to help modernize our Reserve forces. It also notes the critical capability that the National Guard provides to State governments in DOD's cyber defense mission and urges the Department to ensure there are cyber capabilities within the Guard in every State.

Mr. President, I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this important legislation.

Mr.VAN HOLLEN. Madam President, I rise to express my concerns with H.R. 158, the appropriations package to fund the Department of Defense, the Census Bureau, the Department of Justice, NASA, the Treasury, and the Department of Homeland Security.

As a representative of many Federal employees in the State of Maryland and a member of the Appropriations Committee, I take the responsibility of funding the government extremely seriously. The decisions we make in the appropriations bills govern the operations of the Federal Government and its programs to serve the American people, keep them safe, and foster opportunity.

I have also been deeply disturbed by this Administration's efforts to disregard the appropriations bills that Congress has passed and the President has signed by transferring funds from one account to another and, in some cases, failing to spend duly appropriated dollars in a timely fashion. In order to assert Congress's authority to make the laws that the administration must faithfully execute, I have advocated for greater transparency through disclosure of the apportionment documents used by the Office of Management and Budget to plan spending schedules among agencies and for restrictions on the administration's authority to transfer funds between programs. We have seen that this President does not care about, congressional intent and will flout the law to use American taxpayer money build a border wall that he said Mexico would pay for. The funds appropriated by Congress cannot be not be allowed to be taken away and redirected on the whim of a President. So I am disappointed that this bill does not include meaningful restrictions on transfer authority.

It also does not include House language to require disclosure of apportionment documents--language that is similar to an amendment I offered that was passed on a bipartisan basis as part of a bill in the Budget Committee. I appreciate the hard-won provisions in the bill to bolster efforts to oversee and correct abuses in this administration's disgraceful detention policy that has separated children from their parents and funding for alternatives to detention family case Management. The bill rightfully rejects the President's request to increase his ICE and Border Patrol forces and prohibits border fencing in environmentally sensitive areas. But I remain deeply concerned that the President still can--and judging by past actions, likely will-- transfer resources to support his damaging agenda.

I am pleased that this bill provides a well-deserved 3.1 percent pay increase for Federal employees who serve our Nation admirably every day. I am a cosponsor of the legislation to do that and glad that it has been included in this bill However, I am concerned that the bill does not include House-passed language to counter the President's Executive orders that undermine Federal employee collective bargaining and have resulted in a number of anti-worker contracts. Federal employees are prohibited from bargaining on wages and benefits, so they focus their efforts on improving the operations of their offices. We should not impede their efforts to establish better working conditions, protect the civil service from political reprisals, and arbitrate disputes between management and the rank-and-file. I will continue to fight for fair treatment of Federal workforce.

I appreciate the willingness of Chairman Shelby and Vice Chairman Leahy to work with me and with Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to provide the District of Columbia with funding to cover past inauguration and Fourth of July expenses. But I am deeply disappointed that the bill continues to include shameful political policy riders for the District of Columbia that place restrictions on how the District spends its own money. The U.S. Congress should stop acting like we run the city of Washington, DC. Elected officials from the District should be able to enact laws that address the needs of their constituents without Congress looking over their shoulder. As I stated during our full committee markup of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill, we must remove these restrictions--which none of us would accept for our own States.

Despite my reservations about the bill, it does include funding for many important programs. It fully funds the First Step Act to implement needed criminal justice reform, rejects the President's request to eliminate the Legal Services Corporation, and includes resources for law enforcement to address crime and fight opioid and drug trafficking. It fully funds the Census, a constitutionally mandated effort to count everyone in the United States and ensure that every community receives the resources it needs. It rejects the President's cuts to a number of important programs at NASA Goddard in Maryland, including the PACE Program, W-FIRST, and carbon monitoring. These programs are essential to our understanding of the universe and to own world and have been on the Trump chopping block year after year. I will continue to fight to make sure they are adequately funded. It fully funds the James Webb Space Telescope, supports RESTORE-L, and increases the base budget for Earth Science. NOAA and NIST, which are also headquartered in Maryland, will receive modest increases instead of the Administration's proposed cuts. The bill also includes important funding for defense installations in Maryland. This funding, coupled with the National Defense Authorization Act, which I was proud to support and which included a military pay increase and for the first time paid parental leave for federal employees, will ensure that the men and women of the military will receive benefits they deserve. Finally, the bill rejects the President's request to eliminate the Economic Development Administration and preserves funding for cooperative agreements between the Minority Business Development Agency and Minority Business Development Centers--three of which serve Maryland.

I recognize that no bill is perfect and that appropriations bills require compromise. I respect the work that Chairman Shelby, Vice Chairman Leahy, and their staffs have put into this legislation and am grateful for their willingness to work with me on many Maryland priorities. However, I believe that we must take steps to assert Congress's role in the appropriations process in the face of a President who is willing to disregard the laws we pass--and he signs--to further his individual agenda. Because this bill does not restrict the President's ability to flout Congress's stated intent, I regret that I cannot vote for it.

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