Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. WOMACK. Mr. Speaker, I offer this motion to recommit for one simple reason: so our defenders, the National Guard and the Capitol Police, can have the funding they need to continue protecting Americans day in and day out.

This motion does what Congress has been unable to do for months, and that is support our guardsmen and our Capitol Police.

Each and every one of these brave men and women have voluntarily raised their hands and sworn an oath to protect our institution and our country. And we can't do our most basic duty of providing funding for them to complete this sacred task.

For both the Guard and the Capitol Police, this funding is essential to maintaining operations. We are talking about something as basic as keeping the lights on.

These gaps were caused by the Capitol security mission. They came here to protect us, and it should be this Congress, through the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill, which foots the bill.

Without this funding, the National Guard will be forced to cancel annual training and drill weekends through the end of the fiscal year. They will have to defer 75 armory and training site upgrades. The Air National Guard will see an 8-flying day standdown, and there is much, much more.

This imperils unit readiness. That is obvious. It is also a pretty grave outcome. But individual soldiers and airmen, and their families, will see the dire impacts as well. These training cancelations will take an expected check out of their monthly budgets. Unlike Congress, these families have to operate within their means. There is no option for them to raise their debt ceiling.

These guardsmen and -women are in your States, in your districts, in your hometowns. They volunteered to serve our country, and they did so with only a single expectation in mind, that Congress will have their backs. We need to live up to that commitment, just as they have for us.

My MTR will also ensure the Capitol Police have the resources they need after the valiant efforts on January 6 and in the days since.

It also provides targeted, necessary funding to enhance the physical security of the Capitol. Without this funding, they, too, will see training delays and furloughs.

Like the National Guard, the Capitol Police are always ready and always there. They stand watch for us whenever we need them.

Mr. Speaker, I am encouraged by the progress Senators Leahy and Shelby have made. I hope we vote on their supplemental before we leave for the week.

But let me be crystal clear: This should have been accomplished the day after we learned of the Guard and Capitol Police budget shortfalls. Instead, we have let silly partisan games and unrelated provisions leave our defenders high and dry.

To my colleagues, when you come to the floor later to vote on this MTR, and you put your voting cards in the machine, I want you to think about the guardsmen in your hometown, the cop, the teacher, the small business man who put on the uniform to defend us and protect us at home and abroad. I want you to think about that person and commit to supporting them and to supporting their family.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of my motion to recommit.

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Mr. WOMACK. Madam Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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Mr. WOMACK. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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