Haiti Development, Accountability, and Institutional Transparency Initiative Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairwoman DeLauro, Ranking Member Granger, and all of the Members of the Appropriations Committee for their hard work to bring this bipartisan legislation together.

I want to highlight several important inclusions in this package that are noteworthy and that reflect our Majority's commitment to governing responsibly For the People.

First, this legislation includes a robust, emergency aid package to help the Ukrainian people and their military fight back against Vladimir Putin's criminal invasion, defend their freedom and their democracy, and address the humanitarian crisis resulting from this unprovoked attack while strengthening NATO's deterrence and defense.

Second, this package will provide strong funding for the essential safety-net programs that enable Americans to make better lives for themselves and their families and keep millions of Americans from falling into poverty.

I am particularly pleased that a number of key priorities for which I have been advocating were included in this package.

Among them is a 21 percent increase in office budgets to make allowance for competitive pay for our staff here on Capitol Hill. This will enable us to recruit and retain the best and brightest to help us serve the American people and better reflect our nation's diversity.

I am also glad that this bill funds the Department of Education's Full-Service, Community Schools program at $75 million.

We were able to come together as well to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, which the House passed last year.

Additionally, this omnibus includes $95 million for the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and election grants to help states improve their voting systems.

Last summer, I offered--and the House adopted--a Floor amendment to the House's Financial Services and General Government title directing the EAC to set aside $4 million for the purpose of administering the program that encourages college students to volunteer as poll workers in their communities--a program created under my Help America Vote Act legislation in 2002. As this bill heads to the President's desk, it is my expectation that the EAC will allocate this funding to that program as directed.

I also want to thank appropriators for including language to direct the GSA to move forward expeditiously with the selection of a site for a new consolidated FBI headquarters at one of the three locations previously identified in Maryland or Virginia. This project has now been ongoing for fourteen years and needs to be concluded, and the decision to move forward needs to be made within six months.

This omnibus reauthorizes our intelligence programs as well, and it funds the replenishment and enhancement of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system. Furthermore, it includes Rep. Brad Schneider's legislation directing the State Department to continue expanding and deepening the Abraham Accords and promoting the normalization of relations between Arab states and Israel.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Members as well for their efforts to identify and support requests for community project funding, which is back this year under strict rules to protect the process and ensure that it is ethical, transparent, and accountable. Members know our districts better than those working in the executive branch, which is why this facet of the appropriations process, derived from Congress's constitutional power of the purse, has always been very important and beneficial to our communities.

This is an omnibus that all of us can be proud to support. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this legislation, and I hope the Senate will approve it swiftly as well so that President Biden can sign it without delay.

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