Van Hollen Statement on the Omnibus Appropriations Bill

Statement

Today Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, issued the following statement on House passage of the fiscal year 2014 Omnibus Appropriations bill:

"This is not perfect legislation. It falls far short of the funding levels necessary to make vital investments in education, scientific research, and infrastructure that we need to ensure our nation will remain at the cutting edge of global economic competition. However, it is a significant improvement over the immediate and deep cuts we would have faced under sequestration and allows us to make important choices about our budget priorities.

"Today's bill does boost some funding for children and research, although it continues to underfund these priorities. It provides for safety and reliability improvements at WMATA, the Chesapeake Bay Program, and a long-overdue one percent cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for the 230,000 wage grade federal employees. The legislation also includes a provision contained in legislation I introduced to repeal the recently enacted COLA cut for disabled military retirees and survivors.

"No legislation is perfect, particularly one of this magnitude. But it represents an important compromise that will move us forward, provide more certainty, and prevent another shutdown."

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