Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

Madam Chair, thank you for yielding.

The revised spending allocations presented today contain only technical corrections to the initial allocations, which were adopted on a party-line vote two weeks ago.

Because there are no substantive changes from the initial allocations, I must once again oppose them.

They do not change the topline spending levels for any of the subcommittee bills – even though Members on my side of the aisle have consistently asked for bipartisan cooperation on funding levels.

These spending levels continue to short-change our national defense, while providing huge increases to domestic programs. Non-defense spending would increase by nearly 17% overall, and some agencies would receive unprecedented 30-40% increases above fiscal year 2021.

Underfunding our national defense while giving such extreme increases to domestic programs is unacceptable to Members on my side of the aisle.

Thank you, Madam Chair, for yielding.

First, I want to thank the chair and ranking member for their work on the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill.

I have great respect for Chair DeLauro's dedication to these issues. I also appreciate Ranking Member Cole's ability to find common ground when it is necessary, but also to clearly highlight when the parties disagree.

I need to begin my remarks today by noting concerns that Tom and I share about this year's Labor-HHS bill.

This bill includes an unprecedented increase that is nearly 40 percent more than last year. This is simply too high, especially when many programs in this bill have already received billions of dollars over the past year from COVID spending bills.

That said, the incredibly high price tag is not the only problem with this bill.

I want to thank the chair for presenting the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill.

Chair DeLauro unveils this bill today as the leader of our full committee and the subcommittee.

I know she has worked extremely hard to have the opportunity to hold both of these positions, and I have great respect for her dedication to these issues.

I also want to thank Mr. Cole, who serves as both the vice ranking member of the full committee and the ranking member of this subcommittee.

I appreciate Tom's ability to find common ground when it is necessary, but also to clearly highlight when the parties disagree.

I need to begin my remarks today by noting concerns that he and I share about this year's Labor-HHS bill.

This bill, like several other bills we have seen brought before this committee, is based on a topline funding level that only the majority party has agreed to.

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.