Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
Chairman John Carter
HT-2 The Capitol
(202) 225-3047
Majority | Minority |
| John Carter – Chair | Debbie Wasserman Schultz – Ranking Member |
| John Rutherford | Sanford Bishop, Jr. |
| Michael Guest | Veronica Escobar |
| Ryan Zinke | Mike Levin |
| Stephanie Bice | Henry Cuellar |
| Scott Franklin | |
| Mark Alford – Vice Chair | |
| Nick LaLota |
Recent Activity
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.
Thank you, Madam Chair, for yielding. First, I want to thank the chair and ranking member for their work on fiscal year 2023 appropriations for Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. I also want to acknowledge the committee staff who have worked on this bill.
Unfortunately, just like the other markups before this one, this bill is based on a funding level that passed the House without Republican support. In addition, we disagree with several policy provisions that were both dropped from, and added to, this particular bill.
Good afternoon. Thank you for recognizing me, Madam Chair.
I am pleased we are considering the FY23 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill today.
Even though I would have done some things differently, this is a good bill. My chair, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, deserves credit for her great hard work and I am happy to work with her.
I hope we can agree on a framework, which must take into account the PACT Act that will be considered in the House soon. We need an agreement to allow us to resolve our differences and finalize the FY23 bills in a timely manner.
WASHINGTON – Today, the full committee met to consider the fiscal year 2023 subcommittee spending levels, known as "302(b)" allocations. The appropriations bills for the subcommittees on Defense and Legislative Branch were also considered by the full committee.
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:
Madam Chair, thank you for presenting the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill today. I appreciate the work that you and Ranking Member Carter have done this year to fund many projects important to our Members.
Unfortunately, just like the other bills we marked up earlier today, this bill is based on a funding level that passed the House without Republican support. In addition, we disagree with policy provisions that were dropped from, and added to, this particular bill.
This bill fails to include long-standing language prohibiting the transfer of detainees currently at Guantanamo Bay. These detainees are the worst of the worst, and we need assurance that they will never be moved to the United States.
WASHINGTON – Today, the Defense Subcommittee; Legislative Branch Subcommittee; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee; and Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration Subcommittee considered their appropriations bills for fiscal year 2023. The measures were reported out to the full committee with concerns raised by Republicans.
Mister Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2471, a bill that will provide funding for the Federal Government through the end of this fiscal year.
While it has taken us far too long to get here, I am glad we were able to produce a bill that includes many funding priorities that I support.
Since last summer, I have made it clear that House Republicans wouldn't oppose appropriations bills unless they:
- Increase defense spending,
- Restrain non-defense spending,
- Include all long-standing policy provisions, and
- Do not include any poison pill riders.
After months of negotiations, we reached a deal that meets all four of these criteria.
The bill before us:
