Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Agriculture, Rural Development, Energy and Water Development, Financial Services and General Government, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act, 2022

Floor Speech

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the en bloc amendments. These across-the-board 20 percent cuts undermine our historic investments in education, agriculture, housing, transportation, broadband, and many other priorities for American families and constituents.

I want to thank Chair DeLauro and my fellow cardinals, as well as our dedicated committee staff, for their work in crafting a funding package that will keep our Nation healthy and competitive.

As vice chair of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, I offer Chair Pingree my congratulations on an exemplary bill that protects human health and the health of our environment. In line with longstanding bipartisan tradition, this Interior bill provides funding to meet our Federal investments and treaty obligations to our Native brothers and sisters and Alaska Natives. The substantial increases in this bill are for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Indian Health Service, and it would all be lost with this 20 percent across-the-board cut.

This amendment would slash funding for clean water and drinking water infrastructure, even as our Nation faces a historic drought and contamination from PFOS and lead.

As chair of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, I hear from my colleagues' concerns about national security funding, but the health and wellness of the American people, improving our economy, and educating our workforce are all critical components of a strong Nation, and that is the foundation of strong national security.

Every dollar we invest on the domestic side in infrastructure, public health, and climate change contributes to our national security. If we truly mean to safeguard our Nation and its people, we need the investments made in these nondefense bills as well.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose these reckless across- the-board 20 percent cuts.

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