Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

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Mr. WOMACK. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the consolidated appropriations package before the House today.

Passage of this legislation means that Congress will have provided full-year funding to more than 90 percent of the Federal Government. This marks an important departure from the unfortunate norm in which Congress too often fails to meet its Article I responsibility.

There are many highlights worth noting in this package.

In providing for the common defense, this legislation strategically increases funding to ensure that our military continues to be the most lethal in the world, while also ensuring that our allies have the tools they need to help us defend democracy.

The package also makes investments in biomedical research and small business development. Together, these measures and more support a more prosperous America.

Madam Speaker, as chairman of the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, my division of this legislation cuts back unfocused spending and reduces bureaucratic bloat.

Before I get into specifics, let me thank my Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim Clyburn for his partnership. He has been a great friend, and he has been an invaluable asset and partner through this process. I appreciate his dedication to crafting this division of the bill and to advancing the entire package.

The T-HUD division invests in what matters to the American people: economic growth, safe and efficient mobility, and housing affordability.

We prioritize aviation safety by allocating over $22 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration. These dollars will fully fund air traffic control operations and enable the hiring of 2,500 new controllers. It will jump-start the modernization of outdated facilities and equipment, strengthening the safety and reliability of our national airspace system.

We provide more than $64 billion for highways, taking care to send the overwhelming majority of these dollars back to the States because it is at the State level where the best decisions are made, not here in Washington.

We also provide funding to address our Nation's shortage of safe and available truck parking. America's truckers work tirelessly to keep our grocery stores stocked, our packages delivered, and our supply chains moving. Ensuring they have a safe place to park between long drives is common sense, and this bill delivers on that promise.

At the same time, we preserve housing assistance for the most vulnerable, such as youth aging out of our Nation's foster care system, while promoting affordability through flexible, locally driven programs that allow communities to expand housing supply without the micromanagement of the Federal Government.

It does all these things while saving millions of hard-earned American taxpayer dollars.

I thank my subcommittee staff: Avery, Andrew, Doug, and Mary Beth for their hard work and diligence. They have been indispensable throughout this process. Please know that I am deeply grateful to have each one of them on my team.

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Mr. WOMACK. Madam Speaker, I am going to take that 30 seconds and brag on this guy right here, Tom Cole. He has reengineered, somewhat reinvented a lost appropriations process, and I am eternally grateful. I know I speak for the American people in thanking Mr. Cole for his leadership.

I thank my colleagues for this bipartisanship that has been exhibited by this package. A ``yes'' vote today takes us one step closer to restoring the confidence that the American people should have in this Congress.

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