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. FOXX. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, this funding bill insults the intelligence of every American. Democrats think they can trick the American people into supporting far-left initiatives if they propose enough special interest spending funded by hardworking U.S. taxpayers. But we are not so easily duped.

This bloated behemoth of a bill fritters away our children's future on duplicative, unnecessary, and unconstitutional programs. The legislation emboldens overzealous Federal bureaucrats to hound businesses struggling to recover from the pandemic with excessive Department of Labor enforcement actions.

Tucked away in the legislation's fine print is a scheme to rig union elections and undermine the rights of workers. The funding package also strips resources from public school students, eliminates educational options for vulnerable children, gives taxpayer dollars to illegal immigrants, and limits opportunities for our brave veterans.

As senior Republican leader of the Education and Labor Committee, I reject this radical bill.

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, my amendment defends religious organizations under attack from the radical left. Democrat politicians' distrust of religious entities does not entitle them to ban them unconstitutionally from participating in Federal programs and contracts.

President Biden and other Democrat politicians continue to target faith-based entities despite repeated rebuke from the U.S. Supreme Court. Democrats' unfounded fear of religious Federal contractors is, in fact, a form of discrimination. Religious organizations that contract with the Federal Government must still abide by nondiscrimination laws.

We must protect the valuable Department of Labor regulation that provides certainty and predictability for Federal contractors and upholds the rights of all Americans.

Religious freedom is a nonnegotiable right. My amendment upholds the Constitution and supports the right of religious organizations to do business with the Federal Government.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to vote ``yes'' on Foxx amendment 16.

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