Legislative Branch

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the Senate Amendment to H.R. 6833, a short-term continuing resolution extending government funding through December 16th.

I oppose this CR for several reasons.

First, we should be here addressing the border crisis, the energy crisis, and the inflation crisis. This bill does nothing to fix any of these issues.

In fact, this bill actually bails out the Biden Administration for their failures and provides additional appropriations to put a band-aid on some of these problems for a few more months.

Madam Chair, thank you for yielding.

The revised allocations presented today do not change the spending levels that were adopted on a party-line vote last week. Because there are no substantive changes, I must once again oppose them.

It is unacceptable to Members on my side of the aisle to underfund our national defense while giving significant increases to the same social programs that received trillions of dollars over the last year. I hope we can find common ground as these bills move to the floor.

We will need to restore important language from prior bills, agree to remove controversial policy riders, and set responsible funding levels so that bills can get to the president's desk and be signed into law. I urge a no vote and yield back my time.

Madam Chair, thank you for yielding.

As we sit here today, inflation is 8.6 percent above last year, the highest it's been in more than 40 years. Economists are saying American households should budget an extra $5,000 this year to cover rising prices – that's over $400 a month. Many families simply cannot afford this.

Prices of everyday goods have skyrocketed over the last year under the Biden Administration. For example:

Thank you, Madam Chair, for yielding.

Before I start, I want to recognize the subcommittee chair, Mr. Ryan. This is the last Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill he will bring before this committee, and I want to thank him for his dedication to improving the Congress during his time as chair.

Now to the bill before us – I want to thank Chairman Ryan and Ranking Member Herrera Beutler for their work and also acknowledge the efforts of the committee staff.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I appreciate Chairman Ryan working with you on the Legislative Branch Bill, it's really been a pleasure. Chair and Ranking Member Granger, I appreciate the chance to get to work with you all on this tiny, but mighty subcommittee.

The recommendation for the fiscal year 2023 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill provides $5.7 billion, excluding funding for Senate programs.

Thank you, Chairman Ryan, for presenting the fiscal year 2023 Legislative Branch appropriations bill. I also want to recognize Ranking Member Herrera Beutler for her work on this subcommittee. Both of you are dedicated to addressing priorities of all Members of Congress, and I will start with some of the items you have worked on together.

The bill before us will enable more collaboration between Members and staff, specifically through funding to develop new electronic systems to draft legislation. Across the Capitol campus, buildings and infrastructure are in desperate need of attention. This bill allows the Architect of the Capitol to perform delayed maintenance, as well as implement safety enhancements.