Hemp and Hemp-Derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act of 2021

Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 555, I call up the bill (H.R. 4502) making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Though, to consume time is not what I am here to do today. To consume time is a luxury that we can no longer afford.

Madam Speaker, after decades of disinvestment and the devastation of the pandemic, the time is now to reinvest in the American people. The time is now to create jobs, grow opportunity, and support our Nation's most vulnerable. The time is now to meet the moral test of government.

Vice President Hubert Humphrey defined this test by how government treats ``those who are in the dawn of life . . . , those who are in the twilight of life . . . , and those who are in the shadows of life.''

As I have led the Committee on Appropriations over the past 6 months, this idea has served as a guiding light. It has challenged us to dig deeply into the areas of greatest need and to provide every American the opportunity to contribute and succeed.

I believe the package of seven appropriations bills before us, H.R. 4502, will not only pass this moral test, it will fulfill the sacred mission we are charged with as a body to leave this Nation stronger and better than we found it.

With investments in education, nutrition assistance, and rural and underserved communities, we are providing every American the resources they need. By rebuilding our Nation's infrastructure and confronting the climate crisis, we are creating and sustaining good-paying American jobs. And with renewed urgency to protect our democracy, close racial disparities, and advance women's rights, we are building back better and fostering a brighter future. We are meeting the moment and more than meeting Hubert Humphrey's moral test.

As chair of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, I want to take a moment to turn to the investments we are making in this legislation more specifically to lift up the most vulnerable and prepare our Nation for future challenges.

The $253.8 billion we provide in the Labor-HHS bill represents a historic increase of 28 percent. It includes $7.4 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, $12.2 billion for Head Start, nearly a $20 billion increase in Federal support for high-poverty schools, and record funding for students with disabilities.

It provides continued support for social and emotional learning and makes post-secondary education more affordable with a $400 increase for the maximum Pell grant. It includes $1.1 billion for programs serving historically Black colleges and universities, minority-serving institutions, community colleges, and underresourced institutions of higher education. And it provides $100 million for the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grant program.

To give workers the skills and protections they need, this bill includes an increase of $1.6 billion for the Employment and Training Administration, including a total of $285 million for registered apprenticeships and $3.1 billion for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act State grants, and $2.1 billion for worker protection agencies.

This bill heeds the lessons of the pandemic by providing record funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including $1 billion for public health infrastructure and capacity. It invests $6.5 billion in the National Institutes of Health, which were crucial in developing the COVID-19 vaccine in record time, including an increase of $3.5 billion for biomedical research at existing NIH institutes and centers. And it supports the President's request to establish the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, which will be indispensable in achieving breakthroughs in the treatment of diseases, such as diabetes, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease.

This bill further provides $100 million to help communities create a new mental health crisis response partnership pilot program in partnership with our law enforcement agencies. And it provides $50 million for gun violence prevention research at the NIH and the CDC.

Finally, this bill ensures equal treatment for women by repealing the discriminatory Hyde amendment and supports the more than 3 million men, women, and young adults who receive the full range of family planning and reproductive health services funded by Title X.

I have just scratched the surface of the historic and unprecedented investments contained in this funding package, which together meet this moment and, I believe, faithfully fulfill the moral test of government.

I thank all the subcommittee chairs, the ranking members, and all the members of the Committee on Appropriations and their staffs for their hard work on these bills.

In particular, I must note my deep appreciation for my partnership with Ranking Member Cole; my partnership with the ranking member of the full committee, Congresswoman Granger; and my gratitude for the Labor- HHS staff led by Stephen Steigleder, and including Jared Bass, Philip Tizzani, Jennifer Cama, Jackie Kilroy, Laurie Mignone, Becky Salay, and Trisha Castaneda. Thank you as well to the minority staff, Susan Ross and Kathryn Salmon. Last but not least, I must thank my personal staff, including Liz Albertine, Christian Lovell, Caitlin Peruccio, and Marie Gualtieri.

Madam Speaker, I urge support for the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), the chair of the Committee on Appropriations' Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies.

I reserve the balance of my time, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), who is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop), who is the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies.

Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop).

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), the chair of the Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies for Appropriations.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the majority leader of the House.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Maine (Ms. Pingree), the chair of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies of the Appropriations Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Quigley), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, our country faces dire needs. Far too many people are struggling to put food on the table, to pay their rent. Many more struggle to afford childcare or the cost of education and skills training. The deck has been stacked for so long for the wealthy and the well connected, while our infrastructure crumbles and the existential threat of climate change looms. From the mountains of Appalachia to the struggling neighborhoods of our largest cities, the biggest deficit we face is one of hope.

The moral test of our government today is how we meet these challenges. It is whether we can rise to the occasion and deliver hope for the American people who have been left behind for far too long.

The bills before us meet that moral test. Their transformative investments create jobs, grow opportunity, and provide a lifeline to the vulnerable. They invest in our infrastructure and in a cleaner, safer future.

Madam Speaker, I urge support for this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 555, I offer amendments en bloc.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

While I have offered this en bloc amendment for the purposes of legislative efficiency, I strongly oppose it.

The amendment would cut funding for important programs and services that provide opportunities for working families. The simultaneous public health and economic crises of the last 18 months have demonstrated, once again, that these programs are underfunded. They fail to meet the existing needs across the country.

A few examples. This amendment would cut Head Start by $2.4 billion. That leads to tens of thousands of children losing access to high- quality early learning programs.

It cuts the Child Care and Development Block Grant by $1.5 billion, at a time when parents want to return to work, but there is no one available to care for their children.

It cuts the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. It is a bipartisan priority, but it cuts it by $780 million.

It cuts senior nutrition, including Meals on Wheels, resulting in 25 million fewer home-delivered or prepackaged meals for low-income seniors.

It cuts biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health. It is a reduction of 10,000 new grants for potentially lifesaving research.

It cuts $2 billion from mental health and substance use disorder. CDC data shows that 93,000 deaths in 2020 were related to drug overdoses, the highest number ever.

It cuts title I funding for low-income public schools, reducing needed resources for 25 million low-income students.

It cuts special education grants to States by more than $3 billion. It reduces support for services for 7.6 million students with disabilities.

It cuts Federal financial aid programs--the Pell grants, the FSEOG program, and work study--by $5.4 billion for students and families in need.

It cuts funding for job training programs, resulting in fewer supports for Americans who are seeking better economic opportunities for themselves and their families.

I urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, the Hyde amendment is a discriminatory policy. For more than 45 years, it has been routinely extended every year as a legislative rider, but the time has come to reckon with the status quo, a status quo that denies health to the poor, in this case, disproportionately denying people of color health services available to those who can afford this choice.

The inequities in our country's healthcare system have been exposed by COVID-19. Systemic racism makes itself felt here, and it is time we insist on equality for women, particularly women of color. However we feel about abortion, we shouldn't deny health coverage just because someone is working to make ends meet.

When Medicaid covers the cost of pregnancy-related care, including abortion, it means someone can make a decision based on what is best for their circumstances. Thirty-three States and the District of Columbia deny State funding to women seeking access to abortion. As a result, millions of economically insecure women in these States are hostage to their geography.

I work every day to advance the respect for life and dignity for every human being. I believe that government has a moral purpose, and I am committed to helping the poor and the disadvantaged, reducing the rising rates of poverty, taking seriously the decision to go to war.

We cannot pick and choose among life issues. Increased access to education is a life issue. The COVID-19 vaccine is a life issue. The Affordable Care Act is a life issue. Medicaid expansion is a life issue. Separating children from their families is a life issue. Gun violence prevention research is a life issue. Food and nutrition assistance, housing and homelessness assistance, supporting background checks, addressing climate change are all life issues.

The bills today all address these issues, all of which my colleagues on the other side of the aisle oppose. I am proud that the bill we consider today moves us forward, ensuring access to essential reproductive healthcare services. It protects women's health and empowers all women by eliminating these riders which for years have allowed certain politicians to insert themselves into a woman's most personal care decision. The decision to get an abortion should be made by a woman and her family in consultation with her doctor and in accordance with her own faith. The decision should not be made by people in this Chamber.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum), the chair of the Subcommittee on Defense.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Trone), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline).

Madam Speaker, this amendment would cut Head Start, cut childcare, cut low-income home energy assistance, cut senior nutrition, cut biomedical research, cut mental health programs, cut title I for low-income public schools, cut special education, cut Federal financial aid programs like Pell grants and work-study programs, and cut funding for job training, and so much more.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself 45 seconds.

Madam Speaker, the en bloc amendment includes a number of proposals offered by Members on both sides of the aisle. It includes amendments offered by both Democrats and Republicans and several offered jointly by Members of both parties on which the vast majority of this body can agree.

Madam Speaker, I urge support for this bipartisan en bloc, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Speier).

Madam Speaker, I misspoke earlier. This en bloc amendment includes a number of proposals offered by my Democratic colleagues, and it reflects our shared values of investing in the American people to create good paying jobs, grow opportunity, and provide a lifeline to the vulnerable; and I urge support.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McNerney).

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor).

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Escobar).

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Madam Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman from Texas an additional 30 seconds.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Manning).

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley).

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Ms. Sherrill).

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Ms. Bush).

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the en bloc, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Pursuant to House Resolution 555, I offer amendments en bloc.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself 45 seconds.

This is an en bloc amendment and includes a number of proposals offered by Members on both sides of the aisle. It includes amendments offered by both Democrats and Republicans and several offered jointly by Members of both parties on which the vast majority of this body can agree.

I urge support for this bipartisan en bloc, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta).

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer).

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Garcia).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Carter).

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise to clarify that if this amendment passes, it does not fund the specific project referred to by Mr. Pfluger in debate.

I support this general type of funding, and the text in the summary of the amendment are general, but the Committee on Appropriations has established a process for consideration of a specific community project funding request. That process is designed to ensure transparency and accountability.

The intention of this amendment, as explained by Mr. Pfluger during debate, appears to fund such a project without going through the vetting process. Accordingly, I would encourage my friend to submit the project to the Appropriations Committee under the established process next fiscal year.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Virginia (Ms. Spanberger).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I am ready to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I support this amendment and urge Members to pass it.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 555, I offer amendments en bloc.

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

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

While I have offered this en bloc amendment for the purposes of legislative efficiency, I strongly oppose it. The en bloc makes severe harmful changes to the bills under consideration.

Within the Labor-HHS-Education division, the amendment would support discrimination, it would attack workers' rights, cut money from education, put affordable child care further out of reach for families.

The amendment strikes a general provision from the bill that prohibits funding to organizations that do not follow the Federal regulation that prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, race, color, national origin, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

Under the previous administration, HHS used taxpayer dollars to fund child welfare organizations that were willing to discriminate against families.

The United States has over 400,000 children in foster care, over 125,000 of whom are waiting to be adopted. Children in foster care need and deserve every chance to be placed in loving homes.

America's workers, this amendment prohibits the Department of Labor from revising the previous administration's antiworker rule, granting taxpayer-funded contractors the extraordinary power to hire and fire employees based on religious beliefs. The rule weakens antibias protections for workers by shielding Federal contractors from complying with workplace antidiscrimination laws.

The amendment undermines the highly successful registered apprenticeship grant program by wasting taxpayer funds on low-quality, predatory programs with no accountability.

At a time when quality, affordable education is more important than ever, this amendment cuts $122 million from the higher education account and the underlying bill. The amendment takes money away from Hispanic-serving institutions, historically Black colleges and universities, Tribal colleges and universities, Asian-American and Native-American Pacific Islander-serving institutions, and other minority-serving institutions.

Finally, as our Nation faces a childcare crisis, the amendment reduces childcare options for student parents who rely on university childcare programs supported by the Childcare Access Means Parents in Schools Program.

Harmful changes. This barely scratches the surface of funding cuts and harmful policy provisions espoused in this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this en bloc. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Schrader).

Mr. Speaker, for the reasons I spoke of earlier, I urge a defeat of this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Speaker, through scientific research, institutions of higher education advance our understanding, advance our knowledge of various aspects of our world, expands our knowledge. Without such research, there would be limited scientific discovery and breakthroughs helping to shape our daily lives.

As more States and localities move to legalize cannabis, including my home State of Connecticut earlier this month, many institutions of higher education are expanding the knowledge base on this controlled substance, offering scientific information to better inform decisionmaking and medical use.

What are its properties for medical use? I don't know. I am not a scientist. I am not a medical professional. That is what science is about, to expand our minds, to give us information about what directions we ought to take.

In advancing our understanding of cannabis, many institutions fear that they will lose access to Federal funding because of the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act, which, in part, prohibits the possession of a controlled substance, including cannabis.

The underlying bill includes a provision to prohibit the Department of Education from penalizing institutions of higher education that conduct scientific research on marijuana. Evidence-based research regarding cannabis ought to be encouraged in academic settings, not discouraged. We should ensure that we broaden our understanding of marijuana, not limit it.

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

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

Madam Speaker, my thanks to the ranking member for the time.

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to this package of appropriations bills.

As the ranking member of the Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, I have great respect for my colleague, Chairman Mike Quigley. We work well together, and that is saying something because he is a Cubs fan, and I am a Cardinal fan.

The bill we are debating today, Madam Speaker, is packed with unjustifiable spending and ignores our unsustainable fiscal trajectory.

In light of unprecedented pandemic spending, it was my hope that this fiscal year we would prioritize making the tough choices necessary to chart a responsible fiscal path forward. Instead, the Financial Services division of the bill proposes a 20 percent increase in discretionary spending over fiscal year 2021 and numerous agencies funded receive a double-digit percentage increase over last year.

Those numbers are unconscionable, Madam Speaker, when you consider the fact that this country is well over $28 trillion in debt.

I noted with interest the comments of the overall chairwoman when she talked about the moral test of government. Madam Speaker, to me the moral test of government is for us to do our work and to take care of the urgent needs of our country, but not burden future generations in the course of doing so.

Furthermore, my colleagues on the other side continue to call for trillions in new government spending, and a new GAO report came out just recently that says more than $1 trillion of the spending that we have commissioned through the coronavirus phenomenon remains unspent. Not just that, this spending has created an inflationary spiral that is affecting every taxpayer budget in my district.

There are also several controversial policy changes included in the FSGG division, such as allowing D.C. tax dollars to fund abortions and removing the prohibition on Federal employee health benefits funding for abortions. These policy changes are no-goes and make this bill and minibus, as a whole, dead in the water.

Again, I oppose this package of appropriations, including the Financial Services division due to the radical increases in spending and these partisan policies.

But, Madam Speaker, I do look forward to working across the aisle with both my counterparts in the House and in the Senate to come up with a bill and a compromise that will actually work for America.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern), my friend from Tulsa.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Fortenberry), the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), who is all the way from Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina, the ranking member on the Education and Labor Committee.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Boebert), a freshman from Silt, Colorado.

Madam Speaker, it is a great pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) from Columbus, Indiana, and a respected member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much time remains on both sides.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen), my friend who serves on the Agriculture and Education and Labor Committees, from a city unlike any other, Augusta, Georgia.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern).

Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining on both sides.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, you have heard from Members of Congress from all across our country, and there was a purpose in me identifying their hometowns.

These are people who represent real American lives, and they are in touch with their constituents on a daily basis, in Augusta, Georgia; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina; Silt, Colorado; Lincoln, Nebraska; Columbus, Indiana; and in my hometown of Rogers, Arkansas. They all understand when the Federal Government is on a spending spree because they feel it in their own pockets.

We are feeling it today with unrivaled inflation that is the result of trillions of dollars of taxpayer money flowing into this economy. The money that is going to the cities and counties, it was so much money that we had to do it in two tranches. Some of it has gone out this year, but there is so much that we have to wait until next year to send out the remaining $185 billion or so--money that these counties and cities didn't ask for and, in many cases, don't even need. In fact, they are taking suggestions on how best to spend it.

Yet, here we are today, talking about a bloated discretionary bill that is going to further burden future generations by adding to deficits and debt.

Madam Speaker, the interest on our debt this year is going to approach $350 billion. Let me say that again: $350 billion net interest on the debt, which would pay for more than half of the titles that we are debating here today of around $600 billion.

Madam Speaker, I urge support of the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and rise in opposition for a number of reasons, some of which we will detail in a more articulate way here as the debate continues. But suffice it to say that we have thrown a lot of money at the economy of the United States of America. While I realize that part of our function in government is to fund the discretionary programs of the U.S. Government--and that is an important function of our Committee on Appropriations--we have seen the other side take the opportunity to capitalize on a real crisis moment in our country, that being the coronavirus phenomenon.

Trillions and trillions of dollars have gone out the door, fueling inflation and creating real problems for people at home who are experiencing rising costs in virtually everything that a consumer would purchase, from gasoline to groceries. You name it, those costs are escalating.

It is not for any reason other than the fact that we have poured trillions and trillions of dollars into the economy while at the same time these very same policies have caused a lot of people not to work. We have incentivized this notion that they could stay at home and made it more lucrative than actually going to work.

The people that we are going to ask to make things, build things, and produce things are the very people that haven't been functioning. As a result of that, the supply chain has been weakened. So, now, because of simple supply and demand, there are fewer products, and those products are going higher. As I say, simple supply and demand philosophies.

But here we are today, basically adding about 20 percent across the spectrum of these seven titles of discretionary budget. A lot of these are very, very good programs, programs that we have all supported in the past. But with the amount of money that has gone to the coronavirus phenomenon, and the fact that a lot of that money has not been spent--I think the report this week by the GAO was $1 trillion of unobligated funds out of coronavirus. Here we are, adding insult to injury by compounding the problem by adding more to the nondefense discretionary side of the budget.

Now, we will reserve the argument for a little later on what we are doing to national security by not pumping dollars into national security against the known threats that we have around the country. But as I said, we will save that argument for another day.

We are going to argue and continue to argue that this is spending way too much money. The American people know that. That is why there has to be an adult voice in the room to bring these subjects to the light of day, and that is what our purpose will be today.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa), a distinguished Member--and may I say a freshman Member, although he is a returning Member from before--a respected member of Committees on Foreign Affairs and the Judiciary and the former chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform in the Congress of the United States.

Madam Speaker, as a testament to the gentleman's amendment, I am a proud cosponsor of that particular amendment and I am pleased that he has offered such.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good), who is a member of the Budget and Education and Labor Committees.

I reserve the balance of my time, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Valadao).

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry), my friend from Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, a general, who is a very respected member of the Foreign Affairs and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).

Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I will just take the remaining few seconds of my time just to say this. As an appropriator, I am not a big fan of how all of this is being choreographed and structured, but I also recognize that time is not on our side. People witnessing this event, probably are not real sure what these en blocs are all about, but it is a simple way to save a little bit of time.

Frankly, I think we ought to get back to regular order, where we can have a full-throated debate, an open rule, if you will, and just talk about each one of these very important issues one by one, and truly represent the will of the American people. That is what the Congress is here for. It was what it was built for.

However, I do recognize that given the political circumstances we are in today, and the fact that we don't have a lot of time, that this is what we are left with.

Madam Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the en bloc and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I won't belabor the point that I made a few minutes ago that I am not a big fan of this process, but there does come a time in the process where we come to some agreement on things, and I guess we are at that stage of the game.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pearland, Texas (Mr. Weber).

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tipton, Michigan, Michigan's Seventh District (Mr. Walberg), a valued and respected member of the Education and Labor and Energy and Commerce Committees.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from San Angelo, Texas (Mr. Pfluger), a very distinguished member of the freshman class of this Congress, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees. I am proud of his service to our country in uniform as a pilot of that F-22.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), the distinguished Republican leader of our conference, all the way from Bakersfield, California.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut. As I would want her to know, I am ecstatic about the great leadership of her chairwomanship as well as all the Cardinals who have worked, and I thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, many of whom really know that this is a very, very fine response to the needs of the American people.

Might I just say to the chair of the Appropriations Committee, just very quickly, that I was here for the Hyde amendment. I was on the Judiciary Committee. I think my colleagues need to understand that for all the years of the Hyde committee, women who were poor, who were Medicaid recipients, many of them might have died in childbirth and might have had other important emergency health issues because they were subjected to decisions that they did not make for themselves. In that instance, we have discriminated against women just because of their poverty.

Again, abortion is that of the woman, her faith, and her family. I believe this eliminating of the Hyde amendment is finally saying to all women in America that we respect you and your bodies.

I am very grateful for the support of an amendment that recognizes the crisis of diabetes and the need for research professionals and patients participating in clinical trials. Diversity in medical trials is essential to ensuring that cures, especially vaccines and therapies, work for the greatest number of persons. So my amendment decreases and increases the amount for $10 million to emphasize and get more emphasis to develop that diversity pool in research professionals and patients participating in trials.

Diabetes impacts all social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds, particularly African Americans. I meet many people in my constituency who have had an amputation because they were not able to receive medical care.

Finally, I have an amendment that increases and decreases funds $10 million with the intent of supporting individuals who might not finish college because of the impact of COVID. COVID is now resurging but the delta variant is surging. People are being hospitalized, the unvaccinated.

I make a national plea for people to be vaccinated.

As well it is impacting young people. That means that we need to focus on young people getting vaccinated. They are in college. We don't know, if they are not vaccinated, how it will impact their education and their future life.

So this is to provide the targeting programs to reach out to young people to tell them: One, get vaccinated. But to give them a bridge so that their education will not be interrupted, that they will never go back again, and that they will not suffer economically.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate my amendments being brought to the floor. I thank the leadership and as well I thank leadership for all the community projects that are helping the impoverished in my district.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of En Bloc Amendment No. 2 to Rules Committee Print 117-12, which incorporates Jackson Lee Amendments Nos. 25 and 26.

I thank the Rules Committee for making these amendments in order and Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chair DeLauro for including them in this En Bloc Amendment.

Division A--Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and

Education, and Related Agencies

Jackson Lee Amendment #25, increases and decreases funds by $10,000,000 increase in funding to support greater diversity in the pool of diabetes research professionals and patients participating in clinical trials.

Diversity in medical trials is essential to ensuring that cures, especially vaccines, and therapies, work for the greatest number of persons impacted by an illness.

34.2 million people, or 10.5 percent of the U.S. population, have diabetes. An estimated 26.8 million people--or 10.2 percent of the population--have been diagnosed with diabetes.

Approximately 7.3 million people have diabetes but have not yet been diagnosed (2018).

Diabetes impacts all social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds, particularly African Americans.

Type 1 diabetes accounts for about 5.2 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes, affecting approximately 1.6 million people.

Jackson Lee Amendment #26 increases and decreases funds by $10,000,000 with the intent of supporting programs that provide outreach and support services targeting program participants at greatest risk of not completing a college degree due to COVID-19 education disruption.

I urge all Members to vote En Bloc Amendment #2.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask support for en bloc No. 3 and these important amendments. Let me emphasize my first amendment, really, with a great deal of gratitude, because this is so very important.

Human trafficking is a scourge on this Nation, and it has no boundaries; it is both domestic and international, but one of the things that is needed is for those who are trafficked, when they are found, to be able to cooperate with law enforcement. Many of those women are nondocumented immigrant women.

My amendment says none of the funds made available by this act for domestic food programs, Food and Nutrition Service, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program may be used in contravention of section 107(b) of Division A of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000.

The effect of this amendment will be to make clear that nothing in this bill restricts the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture or any Federal agency head from providing assistance and benefits to victims of trafficking under current law so that they can engage with law enforcement and get the scourge, the person who trafficked, because they take advantage of these immigrants, and they cannot survive if they don't have subsistence. Many times they are denied it, because we have not made it clear to the States they are allowed to have it.

This amendment is going to save lives. I thank my colleagues for providing this particular amendment, and as well it is clear that it is needed, because it provides victims of trafficking access to information about their eligibility to receive SNAP benefits. It does not constitute the type of SNAP recruitment activity or advertising of the SNAP program prohibited by the bill, but more importantly, it helps those who are victims.

Trafficking in humans, and especially domestic child trafficking, has no place in civilized society. It is the most lucrative business, better than drugs, and that is why it is--over and over again.

Having held the first field hearing on human trafficking, I can tell you this is an important amendment. I ask my colleagues to support the Jackson Lee amendment and en bloc No. 3.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of En Bloc Amendment No. 3 to Rules Committee Print 117-12, which incorporates Jackson Lee Amendment No. 68.

I thank the Rules Committee for making these amendments in order and Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Bishop for including it in this En Bloc Amendment.

Jackson Lee Amendment #68 is simple and straightforward, but it makes an important contribution to the bill and to a goal that every Member of this body shares--and that is ending the scourge of human trafficking.

My amendment provides that:

None of the funds made available by this Act for ``Domestic Food Programs--Food and Nutrition Service--Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program'' may be used in contravention of section 107(b) of Division A of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7105(b)).

The effect of this amendment will be to make clear that nothing in this bill restricts the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture or any federal agency head from providing assistance and benefits to victims of trafficking under current law as authorized by 22 U.S.C. Sec. 7105(b) of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (114 Stat. 1464, Pub. Law 106-386).

In particular, Jackson Lee Amendment #68 is necessary to make clear that providing victims of trafficking access to information about their eligibility to receive SNAP benefits does not constitute the type of SNAP recruitment activities or ``advertising'' of the SNAP program prohibited by the bill and by Section 4018 of the Agriculture Act of 2014 (Public Law No: 113-079).

Trafficking in humans, and especially domestic child trafficking, has no place in a civilized society. Those who engage in this illicit trade should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This House made that clear again last month when it passed H.R. 3530, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, which contained my Sense of the Congress amendment added during the Judiciary Committee markup.

That means we need to ensure that state and local law enforcement agencies have the tools, resources, and training necessary to identify, apprehend, and prosecute criminals who ruthless traffic in children and young persons.

And one of the most effective resources in bringing criminals to justice is the cooperation and assistance of their victims.

Perpetrators of crime know that they are more likely to evade detection and punishment when their victims refuse to assist or cooperate with law enforcement. That is why they make it a point to instill fear in their victims--for their own safety or that of family and loved ones.

I urge all Members to vote En Bloc Amendment #3.

Madam Speaker, last year we lost Senator Tom Coburn, a dear friend of mine, and a legend in both this Chamber and across the Capitol for his consistency and dedication to the fiscal responsibility of our country.

Tom taught me so much about the way our government works, about our broken budget process, and about the importance of spending American tax dollars wisely.

It is pretty clear that a lot of my colleagues have forgotten one monumental fact: that the Federal Government has no money of our own. Every dollar comes from the American people.

When we are in this Chamber debating spending another billion here and a trillion there, it doesn't come from some bottomless bank account. It comes from the hardworking American people, and we can never take that for granted.

I have with me today Senator Tom Coburn's black book, an outline of his deficit reduction plan in 2011 to get the United States on track to eliminate our debt and balance the budget.

My colleague from Oklahoma, Senator Lankford, has taken on Tom's mantle as the fiscal hawk of the Senate and now produces a similar report detailing the many, many line items of waste and abuse in the Federal Government.

In his memory, I helmed the Republican Study Committee Budget and Spending Task Force this Congress, and we produced what is still the only budget introduced to the House. My budget is not only a clear path back to black, as my friend Tom would say, it balances in just 5 years.

Our interest costs on the debt alone are expected to nearly triple in the next 10 years, making interest costs the third largest Federal expense behind Social Security and Medicare.

As our spending continues to rise, so, too, do the concerns of our constituents.

Our esteemed majority leader just criticized the Senate on their lack of passing appropriations bills. Speaker Pelosi has often said, ``Show me your budget, and I will show you your values.''

It is alarming to me the Speaker abandoning her responsibilities outlined in the Congressional Budget Act for the third year in a row.

This majority and their leadership do not care about American taxpayers, and they don't care about the fiscal health of this country.

When I came to Congress at the end of 2018, our national debt was $19 trillion. In just 2\1/2\ years, we are quickly approaching $30 trillion. Our debt has grown some 58 percent. Meanwhile, our economic growth has been somewhere around 2 percent.

In the past 12 months, our country has been devastated by COVID-19, both physically, mentally, and financially. With millions of Americans losing their jobs, businesses, or both, they turned to the Federal Government for help.

Since last year, Congress has spent $13.3 trillion of American taxpayers' money on government COVID relief programs. To date only $8.7 trillion of those funds have been spent, leaving us with $4.6 trillion of the American people's money in government bonds.

Pelosi and Biden are spending money as fast as they can without any oversight into the effectiveness of what has already been appropriated.

From day one of the Biden administration, President Biden and Vice President Harris have shown nothing but contempt for the American taxpayer, choosing to increase spending, increase taxes, and destroy jobs across the country. All they have to show for it is rampant inflation and continued unemployment.

What we are looking at today is a drastic expansion of Federal spending across the board. My colleagues across the aisle are throwing money at every Federal department and agency except for the defense of our people, of course.

Flagrant overspending is on the menu today. The Department of Energy will be increased by 7.6 percent; the Department of Interior's budget is expected to expand by some 19 percent; the Department of Labor by 17.6 percent, with $4.2 billion to bolster Biden's unemployment programs, preventing people from returning to work.

HHS is getting a 23 percent expansion, including $110 million to research the impacts of climate change and $400 million in Title X funding, which Planned Parenthood is now eligible for since Democrats are eliminating the Hyde amendment. The Department of Education will receive a staggering 40 percent increase in funding, and it just gets worse from there.

Every penny they spend comes at the cost of the American taxpayers.

When Oklahomans lose their jobs, Democrats will be to blame. When American job creation and wage growth halts, Democrats will be to blame.

That is why today I am offering amendments to each division of this package to do one simple thing: cut spending by 20 percent.

Speaker Pelosi doesn't want fiscal accountability, which is why she piled all these amendments into an en bloc, to ensure none of them pass.

Congress has spent recklessly this past year, and the American people are sick of it.

I want to thank my colleagues who have talked about these amendments, who have joined me in these amendments, who are wanting to speak today, and I urge adoption of this en bloc to rein in Democrats' reckless spending and ensure a fiscally secure future for generations of Americans to come.

Madam Speaker, I would like to spend my 2 minutes speaking directly to the American people.

We talk a lot in here to each other and about each other and to one another and behind each other's back, but I want to speak to the American people because they are the ones who need to call their Members of Congress. You understand that when you increase budgets 30 to 40 percent, and then my amendments are a 20 percent cut, that somehow that is destroying America? We know better.

You, as the American people, know that you have to create a budget. Your counties create a budget. The cities create a budget. Your States create a budget. The only place in this free United States of America that no budget was created for the last 3 years is here in the United States Congress.

My team on the RSC Budget Committee produced the only budget that was floor-ready for a vote, and the Speaker chose not to put it on the floor.

Why, you ask? Well, I am going to answer the question.

It is because the Democrats didn't want you to see what fiscal accountability and responsibility are.

They didn't put their own budget on the floor when they had control of the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. They could have passed a budget without one single Republican vote. Ask your Member of Congress why they didn't produce a budget.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to be fiscally responsible and accountable to your money, the taxpayer's money.

Madam Speaker, as everybody knows, I had the delightful opportunity of serving on the Appropriations Committee as an active member for 23 years. I am on leave, and I may be on leave forever, who knows, but I care a lot about these bills. These are the only bills that have to pass. They are the only bills that if they don't pass, the government shuts down.

They are the bills that used to bring us together. It is relatively easy to compromise on figures, but it is difficult to compromise on other issues. Although, I will say, as I begin my remarks--and I am not going to be that long, but as I begin my remarks, I voted for, in the 1980s and 1990s and over the last 20 years, for appropriations bills in which there were contained issues that I severely disagreed with, and I know Ms. DeLauro has as well.

But I know that overall we had to pass the bills, and that I thought then, and I think now, that the bills were largely dealing with what the American people wanted us to deal with.

So I rise today, Madam Speaker, in support of these bills, the seven in this package, and hopefully, three to come, and the two thereafter, whenever we bring them to the floor.

Last Congress, after Democrats took control of the House majority, we passed legislation to fund nearly all of government before the end of the summer. I was very proud of that. We passed it in June of 2019, and we passed it in July of 2020. We have done that 2 years in a row now. What we haven't accomplished, however, is the passage of these bills prior to September 30. That is what we should be doing.

I know the chair feels that way, and I think the ranking member feels that way. I haven't talked to her specifically about that, but I think she does.

Moving the appropriations process along on time made it easier to forestall shutdowns and fund the government for the American people.

Now we are doing so again and with a Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, we are passing bills of which every Member of this body can be proud. And I predict that every Member of this body will go home and claim credit for something in these appropriations bills, whether you voted for or against.

The appropriations bills we are bringing to the floor in this minibus package deliver for all of our constituents. They invest in economic growth; they expand infrastructure; they care for our veterans; they make college more affordable; advance research into combatting the next pandemic and curing rare diseases; protect America's public lands and keeping our air and water clean.

They help farmers, small business, and large business. They help farmers and invest in rural communities, and combat hunger and provide housing, among other things.

These investments in the American people will help us build back better from the pandemic and enable our businesses, workers, students, and farmers to get ahead in the global economy.

One of the provisions I want to highlight in particular, of which I am very proud, is the major increase in funding for full-service community schools. I have been proud to advocate for this program since we first launched it in 2008.

Full-service community schools help the youngest Americans and their families--that is the key, ``and their families,'' the whole family. Critical services are accessible all in one place, not only early childhood education but also nutrition assistance, dental exams, financial literacy courses, and more.

When children and their families have easy access to these resources, it means greater success for students throughout their later years in school, better preparing them for college and careers and helping us close the achievement gap.

In my State of Maryland, we have had tremendous success with our network of Judy Centers. Judy Centers are named after Judith P. Hoyer, my wife, and in her memory. She was an early childhood educator in Prince George's County and a pioneer in the development of this type of program.

Like full-service community schools, Judy Centers are proving their worth by narrowing achievement gaps and preparing more and more students for success in kindergarten and later grades.

The minibus on the floor today would invest $443 million for this critical initiative. Now, that is not a lot per child, but it is a lot of effect per child, which will help States launch and expand their full-service community school programs and serve many more children and their families.

I thank Chairwoman DeLauro, not only for her strong support and her leadership in making sure that funding was included, but also for her leadership of this committee. She has been a very faithful steward, and a steward who has acted in a very transparent, inclusive way so that every Member knew what they could have and honor their initiatives and their priorities.

All the members and staff of the Appropriations Committee for their hard work should be thanked as well by all of us. These are tough bills to put together, tough bills to move forward. I thank them for their efforts together to ensure that the House is doing its job for the people.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this package of appropriations bills.

Now, some may say, ``Well, the Senate hasn't acted,'' and that is a lamentable fact. The Senate has not passed a single appropriations bill out of committee, nor had they passed a single bill out of committee by the end of the fiscal year last year.

I would hope that our colleagues in the United States Senate would not keep treating the appropriations process as a backwater because where we put our money is where our heart is, where our priorities are. This bill, these bills--this bill, but these bills, all 10 of the ones that we are going to consider hopefully this week--show where our priorities are.

I hope that the Senate will begin its own appropriations process so that we can complete our work together, perhaps not before the end of the fiscal year but certainly before the end of the year, so we do not have some either CR or omnibus, which is the product of just a few as opposed to the many in this House and in the Senate.

I urge support of this minibus. I urge support of the three bills to come, the State-Foreign Operations bill, the Commerce-Justice bill, and the Legislative Branch bill. I thank all the cardinals and the ranking members for their help and their work.