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First, I want to thank Dr. Harris for his work on this bill that funds the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, and the Food and Drug Administration.

This bill works to lower costs and grow our economy by supporting America's farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.

During the last Congress, many of the agencies and programs in this bill received significant increases.

I thank the Chairman for coming up with ways to gather some of the funds we already have on-hand and re-direct them toward priorities in this bill.

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.

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.

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.