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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Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, as everybody knows, I had the delightful opportunity of serving on the Appropriations Committee as an active member for 23 years. I am on leave, and I may be on leave forever, who knows, but I care a lot about these bills. These are the only bills that have to pass. They are the only bills that if they don't pass, the government shuts down.

They are the bills that used to bring us together. It is relatively easy to compromise on figures, but it is difficult to compromise on other issues. Although, I will say, as I begin my remarks--and I am not going to be that long, but as I begin my remarks, I voted for, in the 1980s and 1990s and over the last 20 years, for appropriations bills in which there were contained issues that I severely disagreed with, and I know Ms. DeLauro has as well.

But I know that overall we had to pass the bills, and that I thought then, and I think now, that the bills were largely dealing with what the American people wanted us to deal with.

So I rise today, Madam Speaker, in support of these bills, the seven in this package, and hopefully, three to come, and the two thereafter, whenever we bring them to the floor.

Last Congress, after Democrats took control of the House majority, we passed legislation to fund nearly all of government before the end of the summer. I was very proud of that. We passed it in June of 2019, and we passed it in July of 2020. We have done that 2 years in a row now. What we haven't accomplished, however, is the passage of these bills prior to September 30. That is what we should be doing.

I know the chair feels that way, and I think the ranking member feels that way. I haven't talked to her specifically about that, but I think she does.

Moving the appropriations process along on time made it easier to forestall shutdowns and fund the government for the American people.

Now we are doing so again and with a Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, we are passing bills of which every Member of this body can be proud. And I predict that every Member of this body will go home and claim credit for something in these appropriations bills, whether you voted for or against.

The appropriations bills we are bringing to the floor in this minibus package deliver for all of our constituents. They invest in economic growth; they expand infrastructure; they care for our veterans; they make college more affordable; advance research into combatting the next pandemic and curing rare diseases; protect America's public lands and keeping our air and water clean.

They help farmers, small business, and large business. They help farmers and invest in rural communities, and combat hunger and provide housing, among other things.

These investments in the American people will help us build back better from the pandemic and enable our businesses, workers, students, and farmers to get ahead in the global economy.

One of the provisions I want to highlight in particular, of which I am very proud, is the major increase in funding for full-service community schools. I have been proud to advocate for this program since we first launched it in 2008.

Full-service community schools help the youngest Americans and their families--that is the key, ``and their families,'' the whole family. Critical services are accessible all in one place, not only early childhood education but also nutrition assistance, dental exams, financial literacy courses, and more.

When children and their families have easy access to these resources, it means greater success for students throughout their later years in school, better preparing them for college and careers and helping us close the achievement gap.

In my State of Maryland, we have had tremendous success with our network of Judy Centers. Judy Centers are named after Judith P. Hoyer, my wife, and in her memory. She was an early childhood educator in Prince George's County and a pioneer in the development of this type of program.

Like full-service community schools, Judy Centers are proving their worth by narrowing achievement gaps and preparing more and more students for success in kindergarten and later grades.

The minibus on the floor today would invest $443 million for this critical initiative. Now, that is not a lot per child, but it is a lot of effect per child, which will help States launch and expand their full-service community school programs and serve many more children and their families.

I thank Chairwoman DeLauro, not only for her strong support and her leadership in making sure that funding was included, but also for her leadership of this committee. She has been a very faithful steward, and a steward who has acted in a very transparent, inclusive way so that every Member knew what they could have and honor their initiatives and their priorities.

All the members and staff of the Appropriations Committee for their hard work should be thanked as well by all of us. These are tough bills to put together, tough bills to move forward. I thank them for their efforts together to ensure that the House is doing its job for the people.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this package of appropriations bills.

Now, some may say, ``Well, the Senate hasn't acted,'' and that is a lamentable fact. The Senate has not passed a single appropriations bill out of committee, nor had they passed a single bill out of committee by the end of the fiscal year last year.

I would hope that our colleagues in the United States Senate would not keep treating the appropriations process as a backwater because where we put our money is where our heart is, where our priorities are. This bill, these bills--this bill, but these bills, all 10 of the ones that we are going to consider hopefully this week--show where our priorities are.

I hope that the Senate will begin its own appropriations process so that we can complete our work together, perhaps not before the end of the fiscal year but certainly before the end of the year, so we do not have some either CR or omnibus, which is the product of just a few as opposed to the many in this House and in the Senate.

I urge support of this minibus. I urge support of the three bills to come, the State-Foreign Operations bill, the Commerce-Justice bill, and the Legislative Branch bill. I thank all the cardinals and the ranking members for their help and their work.

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I repeat my admiration for the chair and the work that she has done and the staff has done. I thank them very much.

I might say that the ranking member, who is speaking on this bill, is, A, a dear friend of mine, and, very frankly, a gentleman who has added real quality to this institution and real collegiality to this institution. And I want you to know, Mr. Simpson, how much I appreciate your service in the House of Representatives. You are my friend and a great Member of the Congress.

Mr. Speaker, the amendment that I have offered is a result of my sponsorship of the Help America Vote Act, in which I created a program that we called the Help America Vote Act. However, when we got to the end of the write-up of the bill, Bob Ney, who was the chairman of the House Administration Committee, at that point in time I was the ranking member, suggested that we use that phrase for the bill itself.

However, originally, the Help America Vote Act was a program which would encourage colleges to have programs for their students so that they would work on election day in polling places. No generation knows these new electronic devices for voting better than the younger generation.

And my thought was then, and is now, that we ought to encourage young people, knowing not only the partisan politics that go on, but how America runs its elections. So that is what I am trying to do here. I have been encouraging, and we have appropriated money in the past for this program.

I want to thank my friend from Illinois (Mr. Quigley), who is not on the floor, but a good friend of mine for his leadership on this subcommittee. I thank him and the rest of the subcommittee members for ensuring that the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act contains robust funding for the Election Assistance Commission. Bob Ney and I worked on creating that commission. It has relatively limited powers, but it is a very important ally of local election officials.

This funding for the EAC is critical to ensuring secure elections for the American people. My amendment would take a portion of that funding, some $4 million, and use it for the purpose of supporting the Help America Vote Act College Poll Worker.

This program has been a top priority for me for two decades. At a time when our elections are under stress from record turnout, the deployment of new technologies, and the realities of the pandemic, we need to recruit more young Americans to volunteer as nonpartisan poll workers.

I think any of us who go to the polls--of course, all of us in this room go to polls on a regular basis--we see an aging coterie of poll workers. This would add, I think, a real component to the volunteers that are available to our local election boards.

I know my election board has a tough time recruiting sometimes. You are there a 14-, 15-hour day, and it is not necessarily the most glamorous job in the world.

Traditionally, many poll workers in this country are older Americans. We continue to benefit from their experience and expertise, of course. They have much to teach younger Americans about how best to staff polling places and oversee ballot counting. But with COVID-19, many have taken a step back and are looking to train the next generation in these skills.

The HAVA College Poll Worker Program is a critical tool, in my view, in helping communities bring more young Americans into this public service. Very frankly, I expect them to go to their dorm or their neighborhood with their peers and say: Hey, I am going to work the polls. You ought to come down and see me.

That would be a way to encourage younger people to get out and vote.

As poll workers, young Americans will bring their energy, their enthusiasm, and their technology know-how to help our elections run smoothly. It will also instill a love of democracy and voting in a new generation of Americans who will see firsthand--and I am a big proponent of in-person voting. I am a big proponent of mail ballots as well, but I think going to the polls, seeing others there, seeing them exercise their democratic franchise is an exciting and, frankly, enriching experience.

Last year, I met with the presidents of colleges throughout the University of Maryland system and worked with them to encourage students to sign up as poll workers and to have programs which may be either a half of a credit or part of a democracy course or a history course or some sort of social studies course saying: This is how we technically run elections, not partisan. This is how we just do it technically, how Mike Simpson, Steny Hoyer, and Rosa DeLauro actually vote on election day.

We don't know exactly how many more students volunteered in 2020 because there isn't funding for tracking that data and coordinating these efforts. So, my concept is a college may get a $20,000 grant to run a program for students on how to run an election. It may be 3 hours in 1 week or something, not a long course.

With this program, more college students will have an opportunity to learn how to get involved as nonpartisan poll workers so they can step up and help make our country and our democracy stronger for years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Quigley, Chair DeLauro, and Ranking Member Simpson for their help in this effort.

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