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Conference Report on H.R. 2055, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012

Floor Speech

By: Tom Cole
By: Tom Cole
Date: Dec. 16, 2011
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Government Budget and Spending

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Mr. COLE. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I'd like to congratulate Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Dicks for an exceptionally hard job which yielded, frankly, a very good product.

This bill spends less--$70 billion less--than the President requested and $6 billion less than we spent last year. It's the second year in a row we've actually cut discretionary spending.

The bill cuts by 5 percent the funding for EPA regulatory programs which have passed some wildly unpopular and costly rules. The bill eliminates 23 programs totaling more than $240 million. And while this bill cuts wasteful spending, it actually focuses additional funds on things that count--defending our country, helping some of our most vulnerable and challenged citizens, and providing funds to educate some of our most disadvantaged young people.

The bill provides a 1.6 percent pay increase for the military, as requested by the President, and funds the Defense Health and Military Family programs at $1.1 billion above FY2011 and $283 million above the President's request.

Along with supporting our Armed Forces, this bill exceeds FY2011 levels for our veterans. With $58 billion in discretionary spending, this bill fully funds $2.1 billion above last year's level for those who have served our country.

In addition, the Indian Health Service is funded at $4.3 billion, an increase of nearly 6 percent. I particularly want to thank Chairman Simpson and Ranking Member Moran for their hard efforts. The original House bill was actually even higher; it's our friends in the Senate who actually reduced funding here. The House really did a great job in this area.

Finally, I want to note TRIO funding was increased in a difficult environment by $15 million.

Mr. Speaker, this is a good bill. It reprioritizes our spending away from wasteful programs that don't work toward things that are truly important

for the American people. I urge its passage. I thank my friends for their hard work.

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Mr. COLE. I thank the gentleman very much and appreciate that.

I urge passage of the bill.

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