Securing American Non-Profit Organizations Against Terrorism Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the consideration of H.R. 3354, and that I may include tabular material on the same.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I rise today to present H.R. 3354, the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act. This legislation moves Congress one step closer to completing its critical work on our fiscal year 2018 appropriations bills ahead of the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

Our bill respects the American people, their priorities for our Nation, and their hard-earned tax dollars, and it will help move our great country forward to a more stable and prosperous future.

This funding, totaling $1.2 trillion, supports important domestic and international programs that keep our people safe and help our economy grow and thrive, protects us from terrorists and those who want to do us harm, and assures that America has a critical role across the globe both militarily and diplomatically.

Most importantly, this bill continues the work started with the national security funding package that passed the House in July, the Make America Secure Appropriations Act, and it prioritizes the safety of the American people, targeting funding towards critical law enforcement programs, securing our borders and our cyber networks, fighting terrorism, combating opioid abuse, and stemming the flow of illegal drugs and goods.

Other funds are directed to programs that provide the greatest national benefit, including those that keep our food and drug supplies safe, that support public health preparedness, fight devastating wildfires, invest in critical infrastructure, and otherwise protect and support our economy and economic freedom.

All of these investments are made responsibly. In each of our bills within this package, we have found savings, gotten rid of waste, fraud, and duplication, and increased oversight to ensure that no taxpayer dollar is misspent, but we still have more work to do. This is the next step in the process, but it is not the end.

We must also address new needs arising from terrible flooding and damage

inflicted by Hurricane Harvey, which is affecting hundreds of thousands of people across Texas and Louisiana, as well as continue all government operations until the final appropriations package can be conferenced with the Senate and signed into law.

This legislation today represents the House priorities and shows the American people that this Chamber is moving forward, governing effectively, and getting things done here in Washington.

Before I close, I would like to thank the members of the Appropriations Committee for their hard work over the past few months, and the staff that allows us to consider this bill today, especially the 12 chairs of the subcommittees. The committee drafted, considered, and marked up all 12 appropriations bills in under 2 months, a record- breaking pace, and as a result, we have a fine package of solid bills on the floor this afternoon.

I particularly would like to thank the chairs and ranking members of the committee of the bills we are considering today, as well as the ranking member of the full committee, Mrs. Lowey, for her partnership and friendship throughout this process. I would also like to extend my personal thanks to our staff on both sides of the aisle for their efforts on these bills.

This package is a product not only of the committee's work, but also of the contribution of all Members of this body. While drafting these bills that compose this package, we took Members' submissions very seriously, creating a more representative bill that reflects the will of the American people.

In July, the House took the first responsible step of providing funding for critical national security priorities. With this bill, we complete our work on all 12 of our appropriations bills for the fiscal year.

This morning, the House came together on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis to pass desperately needed emergency funding for the victims in Texas and Louisiana whose lives were destroyed by Hurricane Harvey. Funding these important responsibilities of the Federal Government is our constitutional duty to the people we serve.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), the chairman of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, my predecessor as full chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman.

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Aderholt), chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Appropriations.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman to thank the staff.

Mr. Chairman, let me associate myself with the remarks of Ms. Kaptur.

Taunja, thank you for your service to our Nation, your help to both Republicans and Democrats, and to the Nation. We are indebted to you. Good luck to you.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson), the chairman of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, who spoke so eloquently this morning.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Carter), the chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations. As I learned this morning, he is a true son of Houston, whose eloquence and compassion we heard this morning.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert), who is the chairman of the Appropriations Committee's Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), chairman of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), chairman of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee on Appropriations.

Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Graves), the chairman of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee on Appropriations.

Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman.

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), the chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) for the purpose of three colloquies.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Carter).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Aderholt).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho).

Mr. Chairman, how much time is remaining on each side? I am prepared to yield back, if the gentlewoman is prepared.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 305, I

call up the bill (H.R. 244) to encourage effective, voluntary investments to recruit, employ, and retain men and women who have served in the United States military with annual Federal awards to employers recognizing such efforts, and for other purposes, with the Senate amendments thereto, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on further consideration of H.R. 244 and that I may include tabular material on the same.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 6 minutes.

I rise today to present the House amendment to H.R. 244, a bill that will provide funding for the Federal Government for the rest of the year 2017.

This bill reflects shared values, which will help make our Nation stronger, safer, and more prosperous. It fulfills our constitutional duty to fund important services the American people rely on every day, and it does this in a responsible way, making the best use of every single taxpayer dollar, ensuring more reliability and predictability than a government operating under a continuing resolution. In short, it moves our Nation forward in the right direction.

The bill includes full-year funding for the remaining 11 annual appropriations bills for defense, infrastructure, health, and safety programs through the end of the fiscal year on September 30, as well as critical emergency and defense and border security funding requested by the President.

In total, it provides $1.63 trillion in base and overseas contingency operations funding. These levels meet the caps provided by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.

This bill makes the smart decisions investing funding where it is needed most: rebuilding our military, securing our borders, and bolstering economic growth, getting people back to work.

First and foremost and most importantly, this bill prioritizes funding for national defense, restoring the strength and capacity of our Armed Forces. Overall defense funding is increased by $25 billion above fiscal year 2016 levels.

This funding will help ensure our military has proper training, the best weapons and equipment needed to defeat ISIS, battle radical extremism around the world, and support our allies in the critical regions around the world against threats from Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and other sources. To rebuild our end strength, this bill includes $1.6 billion for an additional 36,000 troops above the previous administration's request.

Most importantly, this bill supports our men and women in uniform-- all volunteers--and provides them with a 2.1 percent pay raise, the largest in 6 years, and it takes care of their families.

To help secure our borders and protect our homeland, the bill provides Customs and Border Protection with a total of $12.2 billion, nearly a billion increase over fiscal year 2016. In fact, this is the largest increase to border security technologies and infrastructure in a decade, a downpayment on stronger, more effective systems and barriers.

Funding is also prioritized to tackle gang and drug crime, combat terrorism, and support law enforcement. Vital agencies like the FBI, the U.S. Marshals, the DEA, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement all receive funding boosts.

Other domestic funding is directed to proven, effective programs that improve the health and safety of all Americans. This includes increases for the National Institutes of Health and the CDC.

Significantly, we have increased funding to battle the opioid abuse epidemic by $781 million from last year. This funding will provide treatment, education and enforcement, and help the unacceptably high numbers of communities that have been devastated by this crisis.

Lastly, this legislation funds important national priorities like critical infrastructure and essential disaster relief, and supports our local communities, including renewing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program and giving choice in the District to parents.

This bill should also be noted for what it doesn't do. Our legislation cuts, freezes, and eliminates funding for dozens of programs that have been wasteful, ineffective, or just plain unnecessary. For example, we cut funding at the EPA by $81 million and reined in its regulatory program to prevent overreach.

We froze IRS's funding at current levels and directed funds to improve services to taxpayers. And to ensure that each and every tax dollar is well spent, the bill implements strong oversight and accountability at every level of government.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support this bill, as it reflects the needs of the American people and our common values. We are investing in the security and success of our Nation, and, for that, this bill deserves solid bipartisan support.

Mr. Speaker, there are many people to thank for their help in bringing this bill to the floor today. First and foremost, I want to thank my colleagues in the House. Each and every Member contributed to this effort, and, as a result, it is a better bill.

I especially want to thank my committee chairmen. They are stewards of these bills, and I appreciate all the hard work they have done to get us here today with their committee members.

I would also like to thank my counterpart, ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Mrs. Lowey, for her dedication to bringing this bill to the floor today, as well as our colleagues in the Senate for their partnership.

Lastly, I must thank the hardworking staff of the House Appropriations Committee. They have put in months of nonstop work to bring this bill before the House today. We wouldn't be here without the leadership of the full committee staff, led by Nancy Fox and Jim Kulikowski on the majority side, and Shalanda Young and Chris Bigelow on the minority side.

In the front office, we have, also working hard, Stephen Sepp, Shannon O'Keefe, Carol Murphy, Jennifer Hing, Marta Hernandez, Tammy Hughes, Rachel Kahler, David Roth, and Brad Allen. I thank all of you.

I also want to thank our hardworking clerks and their Democratic counterparts. All deserve our gratitude. The clerks: Tom O'Brien, John Martens, Jennifer Miller, Donna Shahbaz, Dena Baron, Valerie Baldwin, Dave LesStrang, Susan Ross, Liz Dawson, Maureen Holohan, Craig Higgins, and Doug Disrud.

Lastly, I want to thank Katie Hazlett, my chief of staff, and my personal staff.

I yield myself an additional 1 minute.

Our subcommittees, as well as the minority staff, have worked night and day to get these fiscal year 2017 bills behind us and to get ahead and move ahead to the 2018 process. I appreciate all of them and their hard work.

Before I close, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge one special member of the committee staff, Dale Oak, who retires this week. Dale has dedicated over 20 years to the committee and even more to the government. He tacked one extra week on to that total, sticking around to help us complete this bill. This commitment is true to form for him, and we are immensely grateful for it.

Dale, we thank you for your years of service, and we wish you the best of luck in the future.

Mr. Speaker, it is now 7 months into the 2017 fiscal year. We must complete our work today. It is time to look ahead and begin work on the 2018 priorities. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), my predecessor.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger), who is the distinguished chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan), the Speaker of the House.

(Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson), chairman of the Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

I yield the gentleman an additional 15 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Aderholt), chairman of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson), the chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 10 seconds to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Carter), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert), chairman of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), chair of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Yoder), chairman of the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico (Miss Gonzalez-Colon).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I thank the gentlewoman and my ranking counterpart, Mrs. Lowey, for that kindness, and may I associate with her our remarks, pay tribute to her leadership, the wonderful work of the staff that she has behind her and that I have behind me. I think the debate and the comments have been positive today.

The men and women of the greatest military in the world, the United States Armed Forces, are waiting for our support today with the passage of this package, this appropriations bill. Please don't let them down. Please support this bill, which provides for our national and economic security and takes us out from a very damaging and restrictive continuing resolution.

Today is a vote to keep the government open and get back to our appropriations process, which is our responsibility under the Constitution, the power of the purse. Let's take it and use it wisely.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank our distinguished ranking member for her recognition and her leadership on this legislation that we have the opportunity to vote on. So I thank Ranking Member Nita Lowey.

I thank the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey, Chairman Frelinghuysen, for his leadership as well. And I commend his staff, Nancy Fox, and others for their hard work on this; and to Ranking Member Lowey, Shalanda Young, Chris Bigelow, my own staff Richard Meltzer, and House and Senate staff members for getting us to this very important place.

The omnibus reflects significant progress defeating some dangerous riders, which I think are dangerous, and securing key victories.

Here is the thing: I spent many years in the Appropriations Committee. And I know, left to your own devices, the Appropriations Committee can find your common ground. You appreciate each other, you grant each other your positions on issues, and you understand the art of negotiating in a successful way.

There were some items that were suggested other than from the committee. From the White House, for example, a border wall, deportation force, things like that, 160 poison pills, which were ranging from undermining a woman's right to choose to dismantling Dodd- Frank, et cetera. But you all worked together to balance the equities and come up with a bill that will have, I believe, broad support in the Congress, certainly bipartisan support in the Congress.

But just not to speak about what we didn't like about the bill, there are some very positive aspects of it that I want to recognize--some nondefense increases in spending, which will save lives and create jobs.

Coal miners' health. We were so proud to secure more than $1 billion to deliver permanent health benefits to thousands of coal miners and their families who stood to lose their health benefits this month. God bless them for their advocacy. It was so important to our discussion.

Opioid epidemic. An additional $600 million for fighting the opioid epidemic.

Protecting EPA. There was going to be a huge cut, and now just a 1 percent cut in the EPA. We see that as a success.

Year-round Pell grants. So important.

Science funding. The omnibus increases funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy, the Department of Energy Office of Science, and ARPA-E, all initiatives that some wanted to cut but were happy had survived that interest in cutting.

Our colleague, Congresswoman Velazquez, has led us on the Puerto Rico issue. The omnibus includes vital funds to stabilize Puerto Rico's underfunded Medicaid program, which threatened so many of our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico.

Democrats are very happy and give credit to, in a bipartisan way, led by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, securing nearly $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to alleviate famine resulting from more drought and displacement in Africa and the Middle East, saving countless lives around the world. Left without assistance, maybe 1.5 million children would die of malnutrition in the next 6 months in Africa.

And then it takes us to biomedical research. I served with Mrs. Lowey and others on the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee for many years. And the National Institutes of Health is this place that has the Biblical power to cure. It has scientific opportunity. And where there is scientific opportunity, we want to place additional resources. Lives depend on it.

So in stark contrast to the skinny budget that came out earlier, this legislation increases funding for the National Institutes of Health by $2 billion. And I want to say on that, as we relish that $2 billion and what it could mean to the good health of the American people, we have to protect our investments.

As we invest in new treatments and cures, we must also ensure that all Americans have access to them. That is why it is curious to me that on the same day that we vote on this omnibus bill and increase funding for the National Institutes of Health, increase funding for our veterans, and all the rest of that, Republicans are working furiously to advance TrumpCare's devastating impact on America's health care. No matter what anybody says to you about activities they are having today to tweak one piece of the bill, it will still be a bill that has higher costs, forcing families to pay higher premiums and deductibles and out- of-pocket costs. This will block some people from access to the lifesaving cures that we are investing in the National Institutes of Health to create.

Less coverage will take coverage from 24 million hardworking Americans.

Higher costs.

Fewer people covered.

Veterans tax. TrumpCare will deny tax credits for health care to 7 million military veterans.

TrumpCare destroys protections for preexisting conditions. So many of the investments at the National Institutes of Health that we are talking about are to find cures and to find preventions. But when we are trying to find cures, that means that the people we are trying to cure have a preexisting medical condition. This would destroy the guarantee protection for a preexisting medical condition and gut the essential health benefits in the Affordable Care Act.

There is a crushing age tax. If you are 50 to 64, you will pay five times higher than others pay for health care.

It undermines our investments in Medicare.

So I mention this because I have always thought, when I sat on that committee year in and year out, day in and day out, hour on hour, listening to the challenges facing America's families for illnesses that they were suffering, a diagnosis that they were frightened by, that what they wanted us to do was to invest in a cure, but that meant access to that cure.

So they are trying to say: Well, we are going to help with high-risk pools, and that is going to neutralize everything I said about higher costs, lower coverage, et cetera. But the conservative Mercatus Center said: ``The amendment at hand focuses on high-risk pools, but the $8 billion amount is a pittance.''

And said: ``Spread over 5 years, it's a fifth of a pittance.''

That was Robert Graboyes, a healthcare expert at the conservative Mercatus Center.

Karen Pollitz, a healthcare expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said that the additional $8 billion would likely not be enough to make the high-risk pools workable. She said that would be enough money to cover costs for only 1 percent of the individual market.

So, again, let us protect the investment that we are making. Let us elevate it with pride and say $2 billion for the National Institutes of Health.

But what does that mean to you, the average American, if you can't have access to that in a way that is affordable?

Again, 51 years ago, Dr. King said, and I say again, because I say this all of the time: ``Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death.''

So, again, this appropriations bill is a way for us to help meet the needs of the American people. This Appropriations Committee did an excellent job in resolving differences and putting forth a balance of equities as we go forward.

But let us not give with one hand and take away with the other as we, in the same 24-hour period, say: Aren't we wonderful. $2 billion for medical research.

Under the Republican's healthcare plan, it will most likely benefit the privileged few at the expense of America's working families.

That is not what we are supposed to be doing here. That is what we are taking pride in. What we are taking pride in is of the great possibilities, but let's make those possibilities available.

And I say that as one who served for many years on the Appropriations Committee, one whose goal in life was to sit on the Labor-HHS Subcommittee and to increase the funding of the National Institutes of Health, but to do it for the purpose of all Americans having access.

Having said that, getting back to this omnibus bill, again, I am very proud of the work of Nita Lowey, of the ranking members of the subcommittees, and of the staff who worked so hard. I am especially proud of the work, also, of our distinguished chairman, Mr. Frelinghuysen. I join him in recognizing the work of his subcommittee chairs on all of this. It is a product to be proud of. I thank Mr. Frelinghuysen and Mrs. Lowey.

I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak about Senate Amendment to H.R. 244, ``Making Consolidated Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2017.''

The legislation before us is an imperfect vehicle for appropriations for FY 2017, but this Omnibus Appropriations package contains new funding for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2017 for federal agencies under the eleven remaining Appropriations subcommittees.

The Omnibus Budget Agreement appropriates $1.070 trillion in base discretionary budget authority, allocating $551 billion for defense and $519 billion for nondefense in line with the Budget Control Act's statutory discretionary spending caps, as well as $93.5 billion in additional funding designated for Overseas Contingency Operations(OCO).

Mr. Speaker, this budget agreement is far from perfect, but it is a positive step since it ensures that funding for appropriated entitlements will continue at a rate maintaining program levels under current law and prevents congressional Republicans from shutting down the government again and manufacturing a crisis that only harms our economy, destroys jobs, and weakens our middle class.

The government shutdown of 2013, which was manufactured by the Republican majority lasted 16 days and cost taxpayers $24 billion.

The enormous harm and disruption of the lives of federal employees and the people they serve, however, was irreparable.

As I stated, Mr. Speaker, this Omnibus Budget Agreement is a product of goodwill and realism, and averts a shutdown of government operations and the disruption a shutdown causes to the lives of millions of Americans who depend upon federal programs to do their jobs, educate their kids, care for their parents, and contribute to their communities.

Our constituents look to the Congress and the President to make responsible choices and decisions to keep the nation safe, the economy prosperous, and to make necessary and prudent investments in education, healthcare and research, transportation and infrastructure, economic development, science, the arts and humanities, and the environment.

This is, after all, just another way of saying that the American people expect their leaders in Washington be guided by the Constitution's Preamble and pursue policies and provide the resources that will:

``establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.''

The funding priorities that have been floated by the Trump Administration fail this essential test of leadership because they are irresponsible, impracticable, unrealistic, and, in many respects, insensitive or indifferent to the deleterious impact they will have on the lives of real people living in the real world.

They do not command majority support in the Congress or of the public and have been rejected in this budget.

Instead, in a stinging defeat for the Trump, the Omnibus Budget Agreement does not fund the immoral and unwise border wall or create a cruel new deportation force.

Also eliminated are more than 160 Republican poison pill riders, ranging from undermining a woman's right to reproductive health to dismantling Dodd-Frank's vital Wall Street consumer protections.

Mr. Speaker, I am also pleased that we succeeded in securing Democratic policy priorities and funding increases for critical nondefense items.

This will save lives and create jobs.

Mr. Speaker, let me identify some of the important policy and funding priorities included in this budget agreement:

Fully funds community development block grants and low income housing programs in urban and rural communities.

$2 billion for Medical Research: the budget rejects President Trump's dangerous plans to steal billions from lifesaving medical research;

$221 million overall for Community Oriented Policing (COPS) and $137 million for the COPS hiring program;

$1 billion for Coal Miners' Health: Democrats secured funding to deliver permanent health benefits for the thousands of coal miners and their families who stood to lose their health benefits this month;

$600 million to combat and respond to the Opioid Epidemic;

Provides level funding for the Environmental Protection Agency despite Republicans' hopes to gut it;

Year-Round Pell Grants: Democrats insisted on, and won an increase of $105 in the maximum Pell Grant award and succeeded in restoring access to year-round Pell Grants which will make a huge difference in the lives of hard-working students;

Science Funding: the omnibus budget increases funding for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Department of Energy Office of Science and ARPA-E, all initiatives President Trump wanted cut;

Puerto Rico's Medicaid: the omnibus budget includes vital funds to stabilize Puerto Rico's underfunded Medicaid program, which threatened so many of our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico;

$1 billion for Emergency Famine Relief to alleviate famine resulting from war, drought and displacement in Africa and the Middle East, saving countless lives around the world;

Mr. Speaker, I support the omnibus budget agreement before us because it achieves the following goals and objectives that I laid out last week:

``To establish justice'' and ``To promote the general welfare'':

1. Funding for the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights so that they have funds needed to enforce laws protecting civil rights, voting rights, and prosecuting hate crimes.

2. Fully funds community development block grants and low income housing programs in urban and rural communities.

3. Fully funds the Legal Services Corporation so that working and low-income persons who lack an army of lobbyists to represent them in Washington will at least have the assistance of counsel to defend their legal rights in courts of law.

4. Fully funds programs providing food assistance to housebound seniors, such as Meals on Wheels.

5. Fully funds programs that provide students from low and moderate- income families access to affordable access to higher education and provides students with special needs the support needed to receive the free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE) guaranteed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA Act).

6. Funds before and after school programs and other student enrichment programs that help students succeed.

7. Fully funds programs that make federal housing safer through energy efficient healing and cooling systems.

8. Preserves tax credit programs that help revitalize low income communities.

9. Fully funds the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy programs developing the next generation of clean energy and transportation technologies.

``Provide for the common defense'':

1. Provides robust funding for the Department of State and USAID to advance national security interests in places like Iraq and Afghanistan and to end violent conflicts in trouble spots which could threaten the security interests of the United States.

2. Provides adequate funding for United Nations peacekeeping missions throughout the world and distribution of food aid to people in developing and famine stricken countries, such as South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and Nigeria.

``To ensure domestic tranquility'':

1. Fully funds cost-sharing reduction subsidies, or CSRs, to compensate insurers for reducing deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums for low-income customers on the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

2. Protects the adequacy, solvency, and integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which provide health sustaining support for 70 million Americans.

3. Fully funds the National Institutes of Health research programs so that patient access to lifesaving treatments is not delayed.

4. Does not convert funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into block grants which would hindering the nation's ability to respond swiftly and effectively to public health crises like Ebola, Zika, and HIV/AIDS.

Mr. Speaker, working together the House and Senate has reached an agreement on an appropriate budget framework that invests in the American people, preserves our national security, and keeps faith with the values that have served our nation well and made the United States the leading nation on earth.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 8 minutes.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this bill, which would turn back the clock on American excellence, following President Trump's lead on divesting from education, health, foreign assistance, science, and infrastructure.

The process for this bill has been outrageous, and this debate, frankly, is an utter waste of time. Just hours ago, Congressional leadership and the President agreed to pass a package including Hurricane Harvey assistance as well as a debt limit extension and a continuing resolution to keep government running until December 15. We should be working to pass that measure now so that we can work toward a bipartisan budget agreement instead of wasting days on a bill that undercuts economic growth and priorities on which families rely, and is so hyperpartisan it will never earn the Democratic support needed to be enacted.

Breaking from longstanding tradition that enables Members to advance amendments in an open process, the Rules Committee required amendments be submitted 12 days ago during the District work period and reported a restrictive, structured rule for relatively few of them so far.

The majority denied consideration of many amendments that would address timely, high-profile challenges, some of which cut to the core of our democracy, and would have been allowed under an open rule. In one of the most egregious examples, the majority blocked an amendment to provide safeguards to ensure the integrity of government reports on violent domestic extremism, the likes of which erupted in Charlottesville in recent weeks, resulting in the death of a young woman exercising her right to freedom of speech.

Not only were amendments to address the President's revocation of DACA deemed out of order, in an affront to the Appropriations Committee and to this institution, the majority removed a bipartisan amendment passed in committee that would have allowed DREAMers to work for the Federal Government.

My friends, we have a responsibility to pass the DREAM Act now. It is absurd that, after years of receiving bipartisan majority support, Republican leadership has refused to allow a vote.

The Rules Committee should make in order amendments to protect the integrity of our elections and the independence of the special counsel's Russia investigation.

This bill also fails on the merits. The nondefense bills are below sequestration levels set in law, slashing funding for teacher training, apprenticeship grants to help young adults train for good jobs, law enforcement grants that help keep our communities safe, environmental protections that ensure we drink clean water, breathe clean air, highway and transit grants that improve the quality of life for our constituents, and a number of scientific and research programs that are important for global competitiveness.

This bill is littered with riders with deep-rooted opposition, like cutting funding for Planned Parenthood. If the majority is serious about governing, loading must-pass spending bills with these policy riders is a surefire way to fail.

Turning to the State and Foreign Operations division of the bill, I want to thank Steve Marchese, Erin Kolodjeski, and Matt Washington with the subcommittee; Liz Leibowitz and Dean Fischer from my office; Craig Higgins, Susan Adams, Clelia Alvarado, David Bortnick, Winnie Chang, Lacy Kilraine, Megan O'Donnell, and Alex Pinson with the majority.

Diplomacy and development efforts are critical to protecting our country's national security and building stronger and more stable communities around the world. That is why cuts in this division are so deeply troubling.

As demonstrated through both the President's unworkable request and the subcommittee's unsustainable allocation, the majority does not fully embrace the vital role diplomatic and development activities add to our national security and economic interests abroad.

On the positive side, the bill sustains our bipartisan and unwavering support for our close ally and partner Israel, as well as Jordan. And I do appreciate Chairman Rogers protecting resources for basic education, water, sanitation, democracy, and some vital women's programs, which provide communities the foundations for inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction.

While he rejected the most extreme proposals in the President's budget, the allocation is insufficient to respond to global challenges. We must reverse dangerous and shortsighted cuts for programs such as multilateral cooperation, international family planning, and climate change, as well as the expansion of the Global Gag Rule to all global health programs, and the prohibition on U.S. contributions to UNFPA.

The Rules Committee should have made in order amendments I submitted to strike the expansion of the Global Gag Rule and the ban on funding for the United Nations Population Fund, and to restore essential funding for international development and diplomacy.

Despite the administration's professed hope that other nations will fill the gaps created by cuts in this bill, we are at risk of that void being filled by those who oppose our values and interests, leaving the world far different from what we want for our children and grandchildren.

It is time for the majority to set aside its most extreme proposals, including the border wall and interior immigration enforcement, and work with Democrats to write bipartisan legislation that could actually be enacted.

Mr. Chairman, I urge a ``no'' vote, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), who is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished Democratic whip.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), the ranking member of the Committee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.

Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), who is the outstanding ranking member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Defense.

(Mr. VISCLOSKY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Roybal-Allard), ranking member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies.

Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum), ranking member of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

(Ms. McCOLLUM asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Quigley), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Maxine Waters), the ranking member on the Financial Services Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.