Remarks

I am honored to present the FY25 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill to the House today.

Thank you, Chairman Diaz-Balart, and thank you to Ranking Member Lee, Ranking Member DeLauro, and to all the members of the subcommittee for being with us this morning.

I’d like to welcome everyone to today’s subcommittee markup of the fiscal year 2025 appropriations bill for the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. I want to thank Chairman Cole for getting the Appropriations Committee off to a great start.  This is an aggressive schedule, but it is critical we get our work done, so thank you for your leadership.

I would first like to thank the Members of the subcommittee for their participation and insightful questions during our budget hearings over the last few months.

The government’s chief responsibility is protecting the homeland and keeping Americans safe. With the threat environment continually evolving, we must arm our homeland security and enforcement agencies with the tools needed to prevent, identify, and address dangers. The measure before us is crucial to that.

Good morning. I am proud to present the Fiscal Year 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill today.

I would once again like to welcome everyone to our first full committee bill markup for Fiscal Year 2025.

Our first order of business is consideration of the interim 302(b) subcommittee allocations for Fiscal Year 2025.