Kaptur, DeLauro, Meng, and Pingree Applaud Passage of Appropriations Package
Washington, DC – Today, House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee Ranking Member Marcy Kaptur, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee Ranking Member Grace Meng, and House Appropriations Interior and Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Chellie Pingree applauded House passage of the Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy-Water, and Interior-Environment funding package.
The appropriations legislation helps address the cost of living crisis, protects funding for key Democratic priorities like clean energy, environmental protection, scientific research and public safety grants, and reasserts Congress’s power of the purse.
Summaries of funding bills included in the package can be found here: CJS; E&W; Interior.
“Today, the House of Representatives passed a measure that chooses progress over retreat. The Energy and Water legislation that now goes to the Senate provides a critical $2.4 Billion increase over last year to address rising energy and water bills for American families, climate-caused shortages in the West, and increased flooding coast to coast. It ensures our Great Lakes stay vibrant, our ports on all coasts stay open, and our water infrastructure is built to last for Mother Nature’s complexities in this century. It maintains our commitment to critical regional commissions and authorities to build America forward here at home," said Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water. "To tackle the cost-of-living crisis and affordability head-on, this bill provides an additional $375 Million for electric grid modernization. America can, and must, meet the new age frontiers of energy and water, and invest in our workers, protect our water, and power our future. I thank my colleagues for their overwhelming bipartisan support for this bill, and I urge the Senate to move with haste to get this legislation to the President’s desk to be signed into law.”
“I commend Ranking Members Meng, Kaptur and Pingree for their extraordinary work crafting this legislation,” said House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro. “We had three goals when we began this process: to protect funding for Democratic priorities, remove any poison pills, and reassert Congress’s power of the purse. This legislation accomplishes all three and more. It invests in programs to address high utility costs, promotes public safety through increased grant funding, defends our national parks and public lands, and protects the environment while rejecting steep cuts sought by the Trump Administration. Now that this package has passed the House, I look forward to completing the remaining funding bills ahead of the January 30th deadline.”
“I’m glad to see that the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill has finally passed the House,” said Congresswoman Grace Meng, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. “While this bill does not achieve every goal, I am proud to pass legislation that is far more responsible and meets many more Americans’ needs than the GOP’s original proposal would have. After weeks of negotiations, we were able to produce a bill that saves programs that combat violence against women and other violent crime in communities across the country, help create and preserve good-paying American jobs, and reaffirm our commitment to the United States’ global leadership in science, technology, and innovation. We were also able to strip this bill of every harmful policy rider that the GOP attempted to include that would have weakened gun safety regulations, undercounted the Census, made our schools and communities less safe, and harmed our LGBTQ+ friends and neighbors. Importantly, this legislation also reasserts Congress’s power of the purse, holding the Administration more accountable on funding, staffing, and Congressional notification requirements. I am proud to support this bill, along with every dollar it delivers to our communities and the programs that all Americans rely on.”
“After weeks of difficult negotiations, Appropriators delivered a bipartisan funding bill that protects public lands and the environment, invests in Tribal communities, supports the arts, and rejects billions in extreme cuts proposed by the Trump Administration and House Republicans,” said Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Interior and Environment. “No one should mistake this for Republicans suddenly embracing responsible governance. These investments exist because Democrats fought to restore dollars that Republicans tried to eliminate and insisted on real, enforceable funding requirements that reassert Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse. Rather than handing the Trump Administration a blank check through another stopgap measure, we've imposed precise, legally binding spending requirements that constrain executive overreach. We secured $8.8 billion for EPA—$4.7 billion above what the administration requested—and level funded the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, which the Administration tried to eliminate entirely. I’ll keep pressing for stronger investments in the months ahead, but the funding package we passed today is proof that when we stand our ground, we can deliver for communities, protect our environment, and block harmful special-interest provisions.”
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