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As we begin debate on the subcommittee allocations, I would like to set the stage for how we got where we are today.

I'll start with some background. I mentioned yesterday that during the last Congress, more than three trillion dollars was spent outside of the annual appropriations process. Government spending increased, and inflation soared. That is why we have no choice but to reduce spending where we can.

In addition, the President's Budget was more than a month late, which delayed the Congressional budget process. It also took months to resolve the debt ceiling. But, now that we have a framework, we can move forward with our bills.

While the Fiscal Responsibility Act set the topline spending limit, it does not require that we mark up our bills to that level. Simply put, the debt ceiling bill set a ceiling, not a floor, for Fiscal Year 2024 bills.

As we begin our first full committee markup for Fiscal Year 2024, I want to take a moment to remind everyone what happened with government spending the last two years and explain the challenges this Committee now has ahead of us.

During the previous congress, three trillion dollars were spent outside of the normal appropriations process.

As spending sky-rocketed, so did inflation.

There was damage done to the economy, and the work of this Committee changed significantly over those two years.

That is why earlier this year I asked subcommittee chairs to evaluate all of the funding in the pipeline.

When the President's Budget finally arrived, I directed them to review each agency's budget line-by-line.

They did excellent work identifying savings in many areas.

Good morning. I'm honored to present today the first of the FY24 appropriations bills.

The Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill is special. We provide funds for our military and for service members and their families. We also provide funds for veterans' programs and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Finally, we provide funds to the agencies that honor our military and veterans, such as Arlington National Cemetery.

The bill provides almost $800 million above the budget request for military construction and family housing. With this funding, we address many unfunded requirements and provide additional funding for the services to better manage privatized housing.