Further Extending Government Funding Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

This year, House Democrats worked hard and passed government funding bills which support vital programs that create jobs, grow our economy, and ensure our national security.

As chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, I want to stress that the programs in our bill touch the lives of every single American every day.

It would ensure that USDA can continue to feed America and the world, to help expand economic opportunity, to create jobs in rural areas, and to fully meet the demand for farm ownership loans.

It would increase funding to address the opioid crisis and rare cancers and resume unannounced, in-person inspections in the two largest foreign drug manufacturing countries in the world, China and India.

Simply put, it would provide resources to ensure that we have the most abundant, wholesome, and safest food and medicine in the world.

It will help families that may struggle to put food on the table through programs like SNAP and WIC.

Sadly, the bill cannot move forward because, in the past few months, House and Senate Republicans have refused to negotiate with Democrats on government funding.

Today, we are passing this short-term bill just to keep the government open. In doing so, Democrats are making sure our government continues serving the American people. We are also offering another chance for our Republican colleagues to come to the table with constructive proposals.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill and, more importantly, to come together with us to provide peace of mind and certainty to our fellow Americans by passing a full fiscal year '22 funding bill package.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record letters in support of the bill from the Aerospace Industries Association, the Coalition on Human Needs, the Coalition for Health Funding, and the National Defense Industrial Association. Aerospace Industries Association, Arlington, VA, November 2, 2021.

Hon. Chuck Schumer, Majority Leader, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.

Hon. Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.

Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Kevin McCarthy, Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, Ranking Member McConnell, and Ranking Member McCarthy: The United States aerospace and defense industries are an essential partner with the federal government in an array of efforts vital to our economy and our national security. Each fall, that partnership is tested when those programs are slowed down or deferred by the use of multiple continuing resolutions (CR) to keep the government running. On behalf of our vital industries and our more than two million employees, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) strongly urges you to reach a near-term agreement on fiscal year 2022 funding to avoid further CRs beyond December 3, 2021.

Government watchdogs continue to document the waste and unnecessary disruption that CRs cause to federal programs. Multiple agencies advised the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a 2021 report that longer CRs ``contributed to distortions in agencies' spending, adding to the rush to obligate funds late in the year before they expire.'' The GAO determined that contracting officers working under a CR must continuously align the period of performance under their contracts to the specific timeframe of a given CR, resulting in many unnecessary contract modifications during the year. Hiring of new civilian staff is also delayed, making it harder for agencies to meet their goals. The GAO notes that agencies apply creative workarounds in the first quarter of each fiscal year, because they assume that appropriations bills will not be in place by the beginning of the fiscal year. However, these effects become far more serious, and agency staff have fewer options, when CRs continue into the second quarter and beyond.

The Department of Defense (DOD) is uniquely harmed under CRs because these bills typically prohibit DOD from starting new programs or activities or increasing any program's production rate beyond that of the current fiscal year. Both `new starts' and rate increases are critical for our national defense because our defense posture and threats are always evolving. As CRs extend to longer periods during the year, this is an increasing problem for which DOD seldom gets relief. DOD reported to the GAO that between FY10 and FY20, they had requested exceptions to CR language (called ``anomalies'') 1,258 times and had only been granted three percent of those requests. Most of these requested relief from the prohibition on new starts and rate increases. We strongly believe that, should Congress produce CRs extending into the second quarter of FY22, it should eliminate the prohibition on new starts and production rate increases.

FY22 is the first year in a decade when discretionary spending levels have not been fixed in statute by the Budget Control Act. AIA has long argued that statutory caps are not needed because Congress and the administration are able to assess and address the needs of the nation more effectively, and with greater oversight, through the annual appropriations process. Last year, Congress enacted all 12 full-year appropriations bills by December 27. If Congress fails to once again enact full-year appropriations bills, or continues running the government into 2022 under continuing resolutions, it will send the wrong signal to the government's partners, like those in our industry. We count on stable, reliable and adequate funding to support the critical capabilities that we provide for all Americans.

Like other industries, COVID-19 took a serious toll on our workforce and the thousands of small- and medium-sized businesses along the supply chain that are at the heart of the aerospace and defense industries. More than ever, businesses across all industries need predictability and consistency.

We again ask that you ensure that all government programs receive full Fiscal Year 2022 funding on or before December 3, 2021. Sincerely, Eric Fanning, President and CEO, Aerospace Industries Association. Coalition on Human Needs, Washington, DC, November 15, 2021. Hon. Rosa DeLauro, Chairwoman, House Committee on Appropriations, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairwoman DeLauro: On behalf of the Coalition on Human Needs, I am writing to strongly urge you to do everything in your power to enact omnibus FY 2022 appropriations legislation including all 12 subcommittee bills. Our nation badly needs the increased funding provided in the House Appropriations Committee bills. We face many increased needs, a great many exacerbated by the pandemic and its economic dislocations. For more than a decade, funding levels for vital human needs programs have shrunk, especially taking inflation into account. If Congress fails to enact omnibus appropriations legislation and instead defaults to a long-term continuing resolution (CR) with flat funding, we will seriously damage our capacity to respond to the multiple public health and economic crises we face. As a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, you have a key role to play in working for enactment of an omnibus, not a long-term CR.

Members of the Coalition on Human Needs, including human service provider organizations, faith groups, labor, civil rights, policy experts and other advocates concerned with meeting the needs of people with low incomes, enthusiastically welcomed the funding levels provided in the Biden FY 2022 budget and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. We have tracked nearly 200 human needs programs over the past decade. Between FYs 2010 and 2020, we found that two-thirds of these programs, covering health care, housing, nutrition, social services, education, training, and more, had lost ground, taking inflation into account. In the past year, we have begun to rebuild. But the needs are also growing.

We now face rising prices affecting necessities including utilities, food, and rent. Flat funding from a prolonged CR would fail our people by not providing needed increases in programs such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The House increases LIHEAP by $125 million; the Senate bill increases funding by $175 million. Both these increases are too modest when taking into account that natural gas heating costs are projected to rise by 30 percent this winter and heating oil is expected to rise by 43 percent. Nutrition programs will also need funding increases because of rising food prices. The House has provided $1.4 billion for Senior Nutrition programs, an increase of $436 million above the FY 2021 enacted level. Responding to the acute shortage of affordable housing, the House bill would expand rental assistance to 125,000 additional households. These increases are vitally needed. Flat funding in all these areas would be simply unacceptable.

We have for some time faced a substance use crisis, and are projected to reach 100,000 deaths from opioid overdoses by the end of this year, up from about 93,000 in 2020. The House funding level for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is $9.16 billion, $3 billion more than current year funding. Without those additional funds, we will not be able to cope with the continuing increases in opioid addiction.

The pandemic has increased mental health problems. The proposed SAMHSA funding levels allow us to respond more adequately. In particular, House funding for various children's mental health programs increase by $118.5 million over current year levels. This is a vital turn-around after years of erosion. From FYs 2010 to 2020, Children's Mental Health Services declined by 14 percent, including inflation. We must not return to flat funding when the pandemic has adversely affected the mental health of millions of children and adults.

Over the past decade, we allowed our public health capacity to diminish, and as a consequence we were not ready to cope with COVID-19. The House Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill increases the Centers for Disease Control about $2.7 billion over the current year, allowing for the agency to rebuild so that it can more effectively respond to COVID-19 and future health threats.

We know our economy is hampered by a mismatch between jobs available and people with the skills to fill those positions. FY 2022 appropriations proposals include increases in Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act programs (WIOA), YouthBuild, Registered Apprenticeships, and Reintegration of Ex-Offender programs, as well as expansion of community college training programs. These will lead to jobs with higher pay and broadly shared economic growth. These increases are needed to overcome a ten-year 17 percent reduction in WIOA programs and to move us forward.

There are too many important programs to list here. But we do wish to underscore that children have experienced many hardships during the pandemic, including unprecedented losses in education. The historic increases proposed in Title I K-12 education for students with low incomes and in special education funding are urgently needed to help children overcome the educational setbacks they have experienced. Title I spending rises by at least $16.6 billion over FY 2021, and there will be $341 more per student for more than 7.6 million students with disabilities. The FY 2022 appropriations bills include many important funding increases to help families care for their children. In addition to the mental health, housing, and education funding already mentioned here, there are badly needed increases in child care, Head Start, early learning programs, and child abuse prevention and treatment programs. There are also urgently needed increases in funds to care for unaccompanied immigrant children.

The nation's recovery depends on strengthening a host of domestic programs that have been allowed to shrink for years, not just to get to where they had been before, but to respond to needs far greater because of the pandemic and its global economic dislocations. A long-term continuing resolution would be a severe failure to address these needs. We strongly urge you to enact omnibus appropriations legislation including all twelve bills as soon as possible. Sincerely, Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director. ____ November 19, 2021. Hon. Rosa DeLauro, Chair, Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Kay Granger, Ranking Member, Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Patrick Leahy, Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Hon. Richard Shelby, Vice Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.

Dear Chair DeLauro, Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Granger, and Vice Chairman Shelby: On behalf of the Campaign to invest in American's Workforce, the Coalition for Health Funding, the Coalition on Human Needs, and the Committee for Education Funding and our members, we urge you to pass the fiscal year (FY) 2022 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill as soon as possible. The bill passed by the House this summer and the bill proposed by the Senate Appropriations Committee this fall provide vital increased funding for the programs and services that have a profound impact on health and well- being, child development, educational and skills attainment, employment, and productivity. Failing to enact the FY 2022 bill and relying on continuing resolutions (CRs) would be a grave missed opportunity to improve the lives of all Americans.

The use of extended CRs creates disruption and dysfunction, and injects fiscal uncertainty into an already uncertain environment for the agencies that support the nation's public health, education, job training, social services, and much more. The reliance on CRs that extend far into the new fiscal year that has become commonplace in recent years limits Congress's ability to exercise its oversight authority and make necessary adjustments to funding levels to meet new demands.

While short-term CRs are challenging enough, the possibility of a year-long CR could be catastrophic as our nation continues to struggle to return to normalcy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are some examples highlighting the challenges that a year-long continuing resolution poses to critical programs funded by the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill:

Last year, the nation's overdose rate increased by a staggering 30 percent with 90,000 deaths nationwide--a rate of increase not seen in three decades and it is now reported that drug overdose deaths reached 100,000 between April 2020 and April 2021, a grim record. In FY 2022, states are slated to receive billions of dollars to assist with prevention, treatment, and recovery services--these dollars will be lost with a full year CR.

CRs make it difficult for state and local health departments, as well as school districts, to plan activities and hire staff as they rely on predictable funding from federal agencies to carry out their work. Funding delays will hold up essential programmatic work in communities across the country.

CRs force grant-funding agencies like the National Institutes of Health to adopt conservative funding policies, holding back on investments in new areas of life-saving research and damaging existing ongoing research efforts. Unreliable and unpredictable funding streams hurt the nation's scientific enterprise, and damage America's competitiveness globally.

After a decade of almost frozen funding for education, the House and Senate Labor-HHS-Education bills provided needed investments for FY 2022, starting to address long-standing needs along the education continuum. Freezing funding at last year's levels would leave funding for the Department of Education below the level of a decade ago in inflation- adjusted dollars.

The pandemic continues to have profound impacts on teaching and learning, and while the COVID-relief already enacted supports short-term costs associated with the pandemic, there will be new, ongoing needs that the FY 2022 appropriations bill begins to address for students, educators, and institutions.

During the pandemic, the costs of child care at a center rose an estimated 47 percent, while family day care increased by 70 percent; many child care centers were forced to close. Lack of child care is keeping many women from rejoining the labor force. The House bill increases child care by $1.5 billion and Head Start by $1.4 billion; flat-funding child care would make it impossible to rebuild capacity.

More than 11.8 million people are unemployed or underemployed and women, people of color and people without an education past high school comprise a disproportionate amount of these workers. A CR would deny additional investments to an already historically underfunded workforce system at a time of great need.

As the Administration works to implement the historic investments to our nation's infrastructure included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, the demand for skilled workers in industries including construction, manufacturing, energy and related industries will continue to grow. At the same time, workers who lost their jobs in retail, hospitality and other sectors hardest hit by the pandemic are looking for opportunities to build new skills for available job opportunities. A CR denies critical investments in training programs necessary to mitigate the current skills mismatch and allow workers to access the jobs for which businesses are hiring.

The cost to heat a home with natural gas is projected to rise by 30 percent this winter; heating oil costs are expected to rise by 43 percent. Flat-funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program would lead to dramatic reductions in the number of households served and the amount of help they get from LIHEAP.

The undersigned organizations call on Congress to pass a FY 2022 appropriations bill in a timely manner to avoid the damaging trend of long-term CRs and provide needed services for the American public. Thank you for your consideration. If you have questions about this letter, please contact:

Erin Will Morton, Coalition for Health Funding

Sarah Abernathy, Committee for Education Funding

Katie Spiker, Campaign to Invest in America's Workforce or

Deborah Weinstein, Coalition on Human Needs Sincerely, Erin Will Morton,

Executive Director, Coalition for Health Funding. Katie Spiker,

Managing Director of Government Affairs, National Skills Coalition, Campaign to Invest in America's Workforce. Sarah Abernathy,

Executive Director, Committee for Education Funding. Deborah Weinstein,

Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs. ____ NDIA, Arlington, VA, November 1, 2021. Hon. Patrick Leahy, Chairman, Appropriations Committee, U.S. Senate. Hon. Rosa DeLauro, Chairwoman, Appropriations Committee, House of Representatives. Hon. Richard Shelby, Ranking Member, Appropriations Committee, U.S. Senate. Hon. Kay Granger, Ranking Member, Appropriations Committee, House of Representatives.

Dear Chairman Leahy, Chairwoman DeLauro and Ranking Members Shelby and Granger: On behalf of the thousands of companies represented by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) and across the defense industrial base, we write to request the expedited completion of the defense appropriation bill. While we applaud the bipartisan effort to pass a continuing resolution (CR) and avoid a government shutdown, it is a poor stand-in for the full-year appropriations desperately needed by our warfighters and those who provide them with the equipment and services that enable their mission.

We cannot stress enough the importance of the defense appropriations bill to our national security and to a healthy defense industrial base. The limbo caused under CRs wastes precious time and money our nation cannot recover. Delayed new starts and initiatives place a strain on companies and their workforce, particularly as they recalibrate operations to a post-pandemic normal. Our nation's competitors face no similar challenges putting us at a competitive disadvantage, particularly with emerging technologies, and place our supply chains at increasing risk, something we cannot afford after the nearly two years of pandemic impacts.

Doing business with the Federal Government is already hard. The tomes of regulations, burdensome business requirements, sometimes Kafkaesque contracting and oversight procedures, and compressed margins have combined to drive businesses out of the defense sector with a net outflow of well over 10,000 companies since 2011 and, as noted in our annual Vital Signs report, a halving of new entrants to the sector between fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2020 alone. Add to that the uncertainty of ``if and when'' a full-year defense appropriations gets signed into law, more companies will reassess their participation in the defense industrial base. The ultimate price of this is paid by our warfighters who will lose out on innovations and new capabilities not delivered.

The inefficiencies caused by beginning 12 of the last 13 fiscal years without full-year funding have cost the military services billions lost in inefficient expenditures and program delays. Also, delayed contract starts challenge larger contractors while threaten the existence of smaller prime contractors and small businesses down the supply chain. The effect of that has a human face and a long-term impact. To execute a new-start contract, a company must recruit, hire, and train a workforce despite a tight labor market and a shortage of workers with the required security clearance. Faced with a delayed start, that company must now choose between two bad options, either pay that workforce to stand idle or let those workers go--both of which could lead to contract or business failure and undelivered capabilities to our service members.

With no full-year funding, we cannot afford to go too long without hampering readiness recovery efforts, delaying capabilities to our warfighters, and postponing investments in advanced technologies while allowing our defense industrial base to erode. NOIA supports a bipartisan agreement on domestic and national security spending and encourages the adoption of a two-year budget to prevent another year of budget instability and to provide the needed support to the Department of Defense for their critical missions.

We appreciate your attention to this critical issue and look forward to working with your Committees moving forward. Very respectfully, Herbert J. Carlisle,

General, USAF (Ret), President and CEO, National Defense Industrial Association. Arnold L. Punaro,

MajGen, USMC (Ret), Chairman of the Board, National Defense Industrial Association.

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