Providing for Consideration of H.R. Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of S.J. Res. Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Relating to ``Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Lesser Prairie- Chicken; Threatened Status with Section 4(D) Rule for the Northern Distinct Population Segment and Endangered Status for the Southern Distinct Population Segment''; and Providing for Consideration of S.J. Res. Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Relating to ``Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species Status for Northern Long-Eared Bat''

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHOLTEN. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle may not have something to say today, but I surely do.

I rise today to express my profound disappointment in House Republicans' decision to prioritize their extremist agenda over passing a strong, bipartisan appropriations bill.

I pride myself on always looking for ways to find common ground with my Republican colleagues, and the bill to fund the VA and military construction usually provides ample opportunity to do so. We need to do everything we can to ensure that our current and former servicemembers are provided the best possible care.

I was hoping I could count on my friends across the aisle to put forth a bill that we could all support, just like we have done time and time again. Instead, extremists in the party have hijacked this bill and removed dedicated funding for PFAS cleanup, eliminated funding for climate resilience during a time of increasingly severe weather events, and put women and families at risk by restricting access to potentially lifesaving healthcare.

By including these provisions, extremists on the right have decided that playing partisan politics is more important than improving the lives of our Nation's heroes.

Mr. Speaker, unlike our colleagues across the aisle, Democrats are focused on delivering results on the things that matter to our communities. For this reason, if we defeat the previous question, we will bring up a resolution affirming our commitment to protecting Social Security and Medicare.

Why don't Republicans want to do the same thing? These programs are critically important lifelines for tens of millions of Americans across the country. In west Michigan, my home district, Medicare provides lifesaving healthcare coverage for over 100,000 seniors. Additionally, nearly 150,000 recipients receive $264 million in monthly Social Security benefits, including over 110,000 seniors.

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Ms. SCHOLTEN. Mr. Speaker, these are the sorts of programs we should be spending our time working on and strengthening, not unserious messaging bills which will be dead on arrival in the Senate. We are just wasting time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can bring up this important legislation.

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