Continuing Appropriations and Other Matters Act, 2025

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I oppose this continuing resolution, which would shortchange our veterans, absolve the House Republican majority of their responsibility to govern, and move us closer to a shutdown. I urge my colleagues to vote against it.

The majority's proposal completely abandons our Nation's veterans. We have been informed by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Office of Management and Budget that $12 billion more is required to provide necessary medical care for veterans who have been exposed to toxic substances.

Despite the urgency, the majority has decided to provide nothing, zero, for veterans' medical needs. I cannot understand how anybody who supports this bill can go home and look their veteran constituents in the eye and tell them that they voted to shortchange the medical care they earned with their service.

I am glad that the majority heard House Democrats' protests when we pointed out how cruel and misguided this bill was when it was first introduced. The original proposal would have shut off all funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which would have undercut support for over 1 million families.

While the majority may have fixed that, House Republicans' bill demonstrates a belief that the need to care for veterans who have been exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances is less of a priority than everything else in this bill. It is disgraceful.

We could have solved this issue had the majority considered a bipartisan path forward at any point in this entire process; but instead, just like last year, House Republicans squandered an entire year by taking us down a partisan path, forcing us to waste time considering extreme funding bills based on Trump's Project 2025 that they could not pass and that have no chance of becoming law.

Just like last year, House Republicans' refusal to meet Democrats at the table has left us without time to pass all 12 full-year appropriations bills before the end of September. Rather than admitting the inevitable defeat of their Project 2025 spending bills and passing a bipartisan bill to keep the government open while we finish our work, the majority proposes abandoning their obligation to govern, forcing a new Congress to clean up their mess. They have included an extraneous, partisan, controversial measure, nongermane to appropriations, that guarantees this continuing resolution will not become law.

The majority all but admitted this bill could not pass the House last week, but they are forcing us to waste more time on it anyway. Despite the looming threat of a government shutdown, even if it has the votes in the House, this bill will not pass in the United States Senate. The President has said he would veto it. This bill has no path to becoming law. If the government shuts down, Republicans bear the responsibility.

A 6-month continuing resolution is a ploy to force the extreme Project 2025 manifesto agenda on the American people. They want to slash domestic investments in healthcare, education, job training, and every other discretionary program, which will hurt the middle class and the economy.

This Project 2025 is no wish list, I might add. If you look at the appropriations bills that are coming forward, you can see the direction and the cuts that Project 2025 proposes to make.

The Republican majority believes a continuing resolution to the end of March provides them with more leverage to force their unpopular cuts to services that American families depend on to make ends meet.

The majority knows that the fiscal year ends September 30 and that we cannot fund the government without the support of Democrats and Republicans in the House and in the Senate. However, for the second time in the 118th Congress, the majority does not want Congress to finish its work until March, nearly halfway through the fiscal year, wasting time, avoiding the inevitable, and failing to meet our obligations to the American people. A half-year continuing resolution is no way to govern. This is no way to serve the American people.

The American people have a choice to make in November, and come January, we will have a new President, and we will have a new Congress. While we presumably disagree on who we think will be leading our country and which side of the aisle will hold the gavel, we should agree that it is not right, not in the interest of the American people for us to punt this year's work deep into next year for a different Congress and a different White House to be confronted with.

We must pass a continuing resolution that allows us to finish our work before the new President and Congress are sworn in and which addresses the immediate needs of American families, workers, and veterans. A continuing resolution that ends in December rather than one that lasts half a year better serves our national security and military readiness, veterans, their families, victims recovering from natural disasters, and all hardworking American taxpayers.

Instead, the majority's bill fails our veterans. The majority's bill fails our military.

Putting government funding on autopilot for 6 months means the Department of Defense cannot execute its strategic priorities, such as investing in cutting-edge technologies and capabilities. Investments in our defense industrial base will be put on hold, including the submarine and shipbuilding bases.

Last weekend, Secretary Austin said in a letter: ``Asking the Department to compete with the [People's Republic of China], let alone manage conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, while under a lengthy [continuing resolution], ties our hands behind our back while expecting us to be agile and accelerate progress.''

He continued: ``The single most important thing that Congress can do to ensure U.S. national security is to pass timely legislation for all 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2025.''

The majority's bill fails our seniors and Americans with disabilities on Social Security.

In a letter sent last week to the Appropriations Committee, Social Security Administration Commissioner O'Malley warned of the ramifications of a 6-month continuing resolution, stating: ``We would likely be forced to reduce the hours field offices are open to the public and would need to close offices over time, extending wait times for seniors and individuals with disabilities.''

He continues: ``Through a lifetime of hard work, the American people have paid for and earned their Social Security benefits, and they have also paid for and earned the customer service they need to access those benefits. Another 6 months at current funding levels, as the House has proposed, would be devastating for the many Americans we serve every day.''

The majority's bill also fails communities devastated by disasters by shortchanging emergency funds for FEMA. This one you almost cannot believe. The bill provides nothing to rebuild the Key Bridge in Maryland, nothing for block grants to help communities recover from devastating natural disasters, including the horrifying wildfires in Hawaii and the tornadoes that devastated communities in places like Oklahoma.

The majority is failing to live up to their own promises to the American people, that they are capable of being trusted to do the hard work of governing. They have unequivocally demonstrated that they cannot.

This bill is an admission that a House Republican majority cannot govern. They would rather gamble on an intervening election than attempt to complete their work on time.

Let us hope the majority does not drive us straight to a Republican shutdown. If they do shut down the government, I have no doubt the American people will know who is to blame.

Vote ``no'' on this continuing resolution. Abandon this partisan game. Join Democrats at the table. It is past time to govern.

Let me make a point on veterans as well for my dear friend, the chairman. The fact of the matter is that the expansion of the PACT Act, which is a bipartisan piece of legislation, really is so important to the health and welfare of our veterans, our service people, who have been exposed to burn pits and toxic chemicals. That has exploded the participation within the VA for medical services.

This is a success story of reaching out and helping our veterans. In fact, they have a $12 billion shortfall. Do we say no? Do we say no to what we agreed to on a bipartisan basis for medical services for our veterans? My gosh, who are we and what are we about?

A final note on this: Further on in this continuing resolution, they tell the VA to spend faster the dollars for medical services. Do you know how much those dollars are? Zero. They said to spend zero dollars faster.

McCollum), the distinguished ranking member of the Defense Subcommittee.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Kaptur), who is the distinguished ranking member of the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, let me state a fact. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 prohibits noncitizens from voting in Federal elections. It is not legal in any State for a noncitizen to vote for a Federal office. It is the law of the land of the United States.

Mr. Speaker, moving to appropriations, vote ``no'' on this bill. This bill is an admission that the House Republican majority cannot govern. It abandons veterans. It abandons our military, our Social Security recipients, and our cities and families who are grappling with disasters and no disaster relief.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that every appropriator on both sides of the aisle would prefer a 3-month continuing resolution. Republicans and Democrats need to come to the table. Let us move to setting a date in December. Let us get on with the business of governing, hammer out the programs and the numbers with regard to the programs, and let the American people know that we are working on their behalf.

Mr. Speaker, to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, particularly my Republican colleagues, it is now time to govern. Stop the game playing. Stop the foolishness and the wasting of the time we have, and let's get on to the business of the American people.

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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