Carter Remarks During Floor Consideration of H.R. 8550, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025

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

This special bill supports our troops, their families and the Nation’s veterans. 

The bill makes good on the Republican commitment to bring bills to the floor that comply with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, while honoring our commitment to our Nation’s veterans and our troops.

To honor that commitment, the bill provides full funding for health care and benefits for veterans.  They have earned these benefits, and we are making good on our promise to them.

To provide for those that wear the uniform now, the bill includes $412 million over the Budget Request to support crucial investments in barracks and family housing. We must keep our word to provide for our service members and their families.

In addition, we provide robust funding to build upon last year’s work to enable the Department of Defense to meet challenges in the Indo-Pacific.

We also have multiple provisions in our bill to protect Americans' core values, namely, freedom, equality, and justice from being trampled by unaccountable bureaucrats.  

I would like to thank Ranking Member Wasserman Shultz, though we have our policy differences, I am glad we are at this step in the process and hope we can continue to work together to support our troops and veterans.

This bill cares for our veterans, supports our troops and their families, and stands up for American values.