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Madam Chair, thank you for yielding.

These spending allocations will increase discretionary spending by hundreds of billions of dollars to an all-time high of $1.5 trillion.

This nearly 9% increase above fiscal year 2021 comes at a time of record-high deficits and debt:

• This month, the national debt reached an astonishing $28.3 trillion.
• In the first 8 months of this fiscal year, we have already borrowed $2.1 trillion.

We must exercise fiscal responsibility and return to reasonable levels of federal spending, now that the pandemic hopefully is nearing an end.

Although these allocations do not show the exact split between defense and non-defense programs, we know the topline is based on the president's budget. Those numbers included an enormous, 17% increase to non-defense programs. At the same time, the president's budget cut defense spending to below inflation.

Thank you, Madam Chair, for yielding.

First, I want to recognize Chairman Quigley and Ranking Member Womack for their work on putting this Financial Services bill together.

In many cases, the bill before us reflects priorities of Members on both sides of the aisle, such as support for small businesses, drug control programs, and counterterrorism and financial intelligence efforts.

However, I am concerned that there are several controversial items included in the bill related to immigration policy, union activities, and school choice for low-income students in the District of Columbia.

It is also disappointing that the bill does not include long-standing pro-life provisions regarding the use of D.C. local funds and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.