Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chair, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 8294.

Before I get into the details of the Interior-Environment section of the bill, I thank Chairwoman DeLauro and Ranking Member Granger for their leadership on the Appropriations Committee.

I also extend my sincere thanks to Chellie Pingree, the chair of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. Chair Pingree has been a fair leader, and I appreciate the work she has done on the many bipartisan priorities in the Interior bill, and to her staff for their tireless efforts.

The Interior bill provides funding for many important and critical programs that help conserve and protect our Nation's most critical natural, cultural, and environmental resources. More than that, it makes investments that matter to communities, businesses, and industries across the country.

The bill provides strong support for our National Parks, helps fight catastrophic wildfires, addresses our aging infrastructure, and fully funds the Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILT program.

I am grateful for my home district in Ohio that the bill provides increased funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The GLRI funding is critical in our work to restore and protect the lakes for future generations.

Finally, I am pleased the bill advances longstanding efforts to increase the Federal commitment to honor our treaties and trust responsibilities with the American Indians and Alaskan Natives by providing a $12.6 billion investment in Indian Country; and a new provision that will help ensure sovereignty of Tribal laws.

Unfortunately, while I am supportive of many of the bipartisan components of the bill, I am unable to support it today given serious spending and policy concerns.

First and foremost, the bill fails to recognize the situation the country is now in and reverse this administration's assault on conventional energy production.

It eliminates longstanding, bipartisan provisions and adds new, controversial policy riders that would weaken U.S. energy and mineral security by limiting domestic development of these and other natural resources.

Given the rising energy costs and unprecedented prices we are seeing at the gas pump, it is now more important than ever that we continue to support our all-of-the-above energy strategy.

New provisions would prevent and disincentivize domestic production, only making us more dependent on our adversaries. Simply put, these provisions undermine the American energy sector and fail to put American industries and the American people first.

Similar riders were dropped from the final conference agreement last year, and the same must be done again before this bill can be signed into law.

We must also address the spending in this bill before we can reach a final agreement. With a top-line increase of nearly $7 billion in double-digit increases across many of the agencies, the spending is simply irresponsible in the absence of a broader, fiscally responsible Federal budget.

With record-high inflation under this administration, now is the time to limit spending. The Federal Government must make the tough choices to live within its means and work to rein in Federal spending to protect families from inflationary pressures and future generations from crippling debt.

It is the combination of these funding and policy reasons that I cannot support the bill at this time.

I look forward to supporting amendments to improve H.R. 8294, including one to remove a harmful rider on trophy permits, and my amendment to add limits on the burdensome SEC climate rule.

The SEC, which has no mandate to regulate carbon emissions, wants public companies to disclose new climate-related information, including greenhouse gas emissions. These requirements have already lessened investor enthusiasm for domestic drilling and oil protection.

At the same time, my friends on the other side of the aisle ask our energy producers to expand capacity--which, of course, requires investment.

Make no mistake, this rule will impact businesses of all kinds--small and large, public and private, energy and non-energy.

Under this rule, many public companies will be required to disclose not only their greenhouse gas emissions, but also the emissions of businesses upstream and downstream in their value chain.

Congress created the SEC to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation--not to set climate policy.

Unfortunately, the agency has lost its focus. I look forward to the debate on these key issues across all our appropriations bills and am committed to working with Chair Pingree and our colleagues as the fiscal year 2023 process moves forward to craft legislation that can receive bipartisan support.

Until then, I strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this package.

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