Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

This amendment cuts back spending for the Office of Public Health Scientific Services by more than $158 million to return us back to our FY19 funding levels. This reins back the irresponsible, ballooned spending that we have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The House of Representatives has to hold itself accountable to fiscal responsibility. We cannot continue to spend money that we do not have, entrenching our country into more debt that future generations will be unable to pay back.

Our public health offices, particularly during COVID-19, have proven they do not effectively follow scientific method. In fact, I would argue that this body only follows political science, not medical science. While some of these offices certainly played roles in helping to research the effects of COVID, others like the Office of Public Health Scientific Services, were ineffective and do not serve their purpose.

We do not need another redundant public health office to advance the politicized work of the Federal Government's public health operations. Furthermore, as a businessowner, I know the value of industry driving policy and not policy driving industry. These cuts encourage increased collaboration with the private sector to leverage external resources and expertise to support the public health initiatives.

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Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chair, I appreciate the gentlewoman actually stepping up. She asked two key questions that I really liked. First off, what would it eliminate was one of the questions. Well, what it would eliminate is the wasteful and fraudulent spending that has gone to the NIH, as well as to those who have actually continued to pursue things like gain of function under Fauci, and we saw how that worked out.

The other thing she also questioned, what should we have learned. Well, what we have learned is that we are actually spinning ourselves into an economic abyss; the fact that we are actually leading the Nation when it comes to continually frivolous spending. I love how only in Washington can we call something emergency spending levels but then maintain it throughout the period in which we are going to move forward.

We have to acknowledge the fact that in 2019, pre-COVID spending levels, if you did a 3\1/2\ percent adjusted rate, that would get us to an actual spending cap of $1.477 trillion today, not the $1.586 trillion, not the $1.786 trillion, and certainly not the $2 trillion that the Democrats want to continue to spend.

The bottom line, Mr. Chair, is this: We are not saying that we will not have the necessary spending for our public health sectors and others to continue to do their job. What we are saying is that we should return our spending levels to pre-COVID, pre-emergency levels that would be in sync with what we have always done, at a 3\1/2\ percent adjusted rate.

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Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chair, in closing, it is very clear that the only thing that D.C. continues to do successfully is spend American taxpayer funding. We did not do what was necessary to mitigate these risks. There was always this 2 weeks to slow the curve. I wish there were 2 weeks to slow our spending. We need to get back to where we were before so that we can get control, start looking at economic growth, start looking at what is best and having industry drive the actual policy, not policy drive the industry. We need to reduce and limit the government's reach into the public sector to ensure that they have what they need driven by them, for them.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chair, my amendment is pretty simple. This would cut back on the spending for the office of the NIH Director by more than $160 million to return us back to the fiscal year 2019 funding level. This amendment ensures appropriate accountability for the NIH's recent failures while also advancing the urgent need for better fiscal responsibility of the House.

When the Republicans took over the majority, we promised to rein in inflation and government spending. We must do more than talk. We must start to act.

The NIH resoundingly failed to do its due diligence to prevent gain- of-function research at Chinese labs, and this failure was fundamental to the existence of the virus that caused the pandemic.

To date, there has been absolutely no accountability for these failures and others, and Congress would be failing its duty to ensure accountability by doing nothing and continuing this irresponsible funding to the NIH.

We must stop Fauci's experimental process, start holding accountability, get research into finding out exactly what the leading cause was, and make sure we have the necessary prevention.

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Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chair, I appreciate the gentlewoman for her acknowledgment that we have increased spending by $8.4 billion, of which some of that funding led to additional trillions of dollars in spending and thousands of lives lost, as we funded things like the gain of function under Fauci, which led to the spread of COVID.

Now, when you talk about the cut of $160 million, the only response that I can think of is you are welcome. You are welcome to the American people for us saving money and for us actually doing our job to be fiscally responsible once again.

You are welcome that we won't allow continuation of funding for gain of function that would lead to another pandemic, as we saw across the world. You are welcome that we are actually, in the Republican Party as the majority, taking a stand to stop the out-of-control and runaway spending that has been irresponsible and driving generations and generations into future debt.

Mr. Chairman, this is pretty simple. Without that funding there probably would have been no pandemic. Unless we are going to get accountability and do the necessary research, I cannot continue to sponsor Fauci and NIH and their efforts to go ahead and spread and lead to another COVID.

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Mr. MILLS. Mr. Chairman, I love how our colleagues on the left refer to every conspiracy as a conspiracy until it is found to be factual, which is 99 percent of the time.

I am also aware that Mr. Fauci is no longer there and we are very thankful for that. His accountability on what he had done with helping to fund gain of function, which was actually something that led to spreading the Wuhan virus, which was also in partnership with China-- this is something that still needs accountability research and the necessary review within Congress.

I am aware that we are continuing to spend at emergency COVID levels and we need to get back to where we were before. This is simple mathematics. If emergency-level spending is meant to be only during a time of emergency, then why do we continue to make that the new benchmark of spending moving forward.

The whole point is, is that we would bring it back to the pre-COVID spending levels, which is what the American people are looking at. They are looking for us to stop the irresponsible spending and actually get to what the root cause is, which is the U.S. Congress.

I hate to say it in this way, but the bottom line is that I will not continue to fund these types of things.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support me in this, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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