Legislative Branch

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5860, a bill that keeps the government open until November 17^th.

While I would rather be here speaking on the floor about final appropriations bills, I want members to understand why passing this short-term funding bill today is so important.

First, I want to explain how we find ourselves in this situation.

Just nine months ago, when Republicans took back the Majority in the House, our commitment was to Regular Order for appropriations.

No more omnibus measures released in the dead of night. No more Christmas Eve votes on thousands of pages of text that Members of Congress had not read.

Unfortunately, there were a few stumbling blocks as we sought to change the process.

For example, the Administration's budget request was more than a month late. It then took months for the President to come to the table on the debt ceiling negotiations.

Thank you, Chairwoman Granger.

I would like to start by saying thank you to our Ranking Member, Mr. Espaillat. His cooperation and patience as we have moved through the process this year is greatly appreciated.

Thank you to the Chairwoman, Ms. Granger for your leadership getting the Legislative Branch bill to this point, and Ranking Member DeLauro for all your support of the Legislative Branch.

The Fiscal Year 2024 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill provides $5.313 billion – a 4.5 percent decrease from the fiscal year 2023 enacted House levels and a 2.2 percent decrease in total allocation when you add in Senate items.

First, I want to thank the Subcommittee Chairman for his work on the Legislative Branch appropriations bill.

This bill is a great example of what needs to be done to reduce overall spending while funding our highest priorities.

This bill responsibly reduces funding for the Legislative Branch by 2%.

This is done without impacting the day-to-day operations of Congress or sacrificing the security of the Capitol complex.

It supports our brave Capitol police officers.

It also ensures that the House of Representatives can keep a close watch on the actions of this Administration.

This bill strikes the right balance, and I look forward to getting it passed out of committee today.

I want to close by thanking all the members and staff – majority and minority – for their hard work on this bill.