Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. STAUBER. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4821, the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2024.

This year's appropriations bill is a win for Minnesota's Eighth Congressional District and our Nation.

It is abundantly clear that the Biden administration has an anti- mining, anti-farmer, anti-American worker, and anti-energy independence agenda. This bill stops that agenda in its tracks.

The Department of the Interior's mineral withdrawal in northeast Minnesota forces us to be dependent on Chinese-owned, child-labor-using mines in the Congo. This bill stops that agenda.

The Biden administration's WOTUS rule that punishes farmers for puddles in their fields, this bill repeals the WOTUS rule.

The EPA's abuse of the Endangered Species Act to list the northern long-eared bat, which has stifled responsible logging and forest management, this bill stops and reverses that.

Mr. Chairman, I am proud that we finally have a commonsense funding bill that puts American workers and rural America first.

Mr. Chairman, additionally, I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that this bill also provides funding for critical infrastructure projects in Minnesota's Eighth Congressional District, including wastewater treatment projects in Bemidji, Braham, and Silver Bay, Minnesota.

Mr. Chairman, I thank Chairwoman Granger, Chairman Simpson, and my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee for all their hard work on this legislation. I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.

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