Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEWHOUSE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support this bloc of bipartisan amendments, which contains two amendments I have offered with my friends across the aisle.

Mr. Soto and I introduced an amendment which will support important fertilizer research and development through the fertilizer management initiative, as this body authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill.

I also would like to speak on an amendment I offered with Mr. Panetta, which will empower agriculture employees to provide personal protective equipment for our essential agriculture workers. This pandemic has affected every aspect of our lives, but what has not changed is the critical role that our farmers, our ranchers, and our agricultural employees play in putting food on our tables and securing our Nation's food supply.

It is my hope that this amendment will lead to a larger conversation about how we ensure the safety of those working hard to feed our country and strengthen our agricultural industry.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support these amendments, and I look forward to continuing our bipartisan work.

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Mr. NEWHOUSE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this group of partisan, antiresource development amendments offered by several House Democrats. These provisions offered on the Interior appropriations bill will hamstring our Nation's efforts to secure our energy independence.

Many of these amendments seek to prohibit oil and gas development, and, Mr. Speaker, I have just got to say, it is really quite ironic to see my colleagues who just yesterday voted for sweeping legislation mandating $900 million a year from the oil and gas industry for conservation projects to now, just one day later, not even 24 hours later, offer amendments to restrict the very industry that those projects depend upon.

This is hypocrisy, plain and simple. But it is exactly what I shared in a message with my constituents yesterday. Democrats are trying to have their cake and eat it too. From the Green New Deal to Mr. Biden's energy plan to these irresponsible amendments we have here before us, Democrats continue to put forward ideas that are not based in reality and will harm our Nation's energy security.

Another partisan amendment seeks to block the recent finalized rule by the Council on Environmental Quality to modernize severely outdated and burdensome National Environmental Policy Act regulations, something that has not been done for 40 years.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Unlock American Investment coalition, we are now seeing infrastructure project delays of up to 20 years across our country. This is unacceptable, and it prevents critical repairs and construction of roads, of bridges, of airports, railways, renewable energy projects, even water infrastructure projects in the West and many more things.

At a time when American jobs and the economy are facing significant challenges, these provisions threaten our Nation's resiliency, our energy independence, and our ability to recover from this pandemic.

Please, Mr. Speaker, vote ``no'' on these amendments.

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