Rosa DeLauro

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to have the opportunity to rise today to join family, friends, and parishioners in paying tribute to Monsignor Robert Tucker, as he celebrates his 55th pastoral anniversary with a special Mass at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut. Born in Torrington, Monsignor Tucker attended St. Francis School and Torrington High School before pursuing the priesthood at St. Thomas Seminary and St. Bonaventure University. Following his ordainment by Archbishop Whelan in 1970, he served parishes in Meriden, Simsbury, and New Britain where he served in various youth ministries as well as archdiocesan vocation director. However, it was at St. Anthony of Padua in Litchfield where he found his pastoral home and where he spent a majority of his pastoral career. In addition to his duties at St. Anthony of Padua, Monsignor Tucker became pastor of both St. Thomas of Villanova Church in Goshen and Our Lady of Grace Church in Bantam. In 2017 his steadfast faith and deep commitment to his congregants led all three parishes through a restructuring, bringing them under the umbrella of St. Louis de Montfort Parish Corporation. Over his more than fifty years of ministry, he has earned the respect and admiration of his parishioners and the community which is why it was so fitting that in 2020, Pope Francis approved his nomination by Archbishop Blair's for the honorary title of monsignor. Over the course of his ministry, Monsignor Tucker did so much more than preside over Masses at the churches he led. He visited the sick at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital where he was chaplain, fortifying the spiritual centers of patients and their loved ones. He spent many summers working at Camp Workcoeman, one of the oldest continuously operated Scout camps in the country. And his weekly column in the Register Citizen, strengthened his deep connections to the community as well as parishioners and friends. Though he stepped down from his leadership role at St Louis de Montfort Parish in 2022, today, he continues his ministry by serving as chaplain for the cloistered order of nuns at the Abbey of Regina Laudis. As a religious leader, advocate, mentor and friend, Monsignor Tucker has touched the lives of thousands. Through all of his good work he has instilled hope and promise in all of those who have had the good fortune to work with him. His spiritual guidance has nourished the souls of many and his compassion has encouraged others to give more of themselves. He has embodied some of the many mottos he has lived by including ``Success is in the effort, not the outcome'' and ``Joy, pass it along.'' Today, as he celebrates his 55th year as a priest, he continues to make a difference in the lives of others--his work a reflection of the heart of Catholic teachings. I am proud to extend my deepest thanks and appreciation as well as my heart-felt congratulations to Monsignor Robert Tucker as he celebrates this very special milestone. Happy 55th Anniversary and best wishes for many more years of success.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, Democrats will always be a friend to those fighting for their freedom--and the American people will always stand with Ukraine. While ceasefire negotiations may be underway, Ukraine is not giving up, nor should they. Russia's offensives have stalled. European partners and allies are still committed to the struggle against aggression from Putin. And the Ukrainian people are speaking clearly, through their elected President Zelensky, that they are a sovereign Nation, and they speak for themselves. Only Ukraine can decide when it is done fighting--no one else. It is our job in America to continue to support our ally. History teaches that aggressors never stop of their own accord. And they are never satisfied with appeasement. If Vladimir Putin's war is rewarded with Ukrainian land, he will try again for more. I will continue to advocate for our ally Ukraine--for their defense, for the civilian and military resources they need, and for allowing them to control their own destiny. That is our obligation as an ally and as the world's strongest democracy. It is my promise to them. As the lead Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, I promise that I will never give up that fight. I will continue to support resources and funding for the Ukrainian people, and I urge them not to give up. We must all continue speaking out, for as long as it takes, until Ukraine is safe and free once more.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to join the West Haven St. Patrick's Day Committee as well as city and community leaders as they gather to honor our dear friend, Steven ``Steve'' Dargan, as West Haven's 2025 Irish Person of the Year. This special award is bestowed annually on a West Haven resident or couple of Irish descent who personifies service in the city's close-knit Irish community. Steve hails from an ancestry whose legacy is woven into the tapestry of the American story. Like so many of us, his family's story is one of emigration--of leaving the only home you know to search out a better life for yourselves and family. In the mid-1800s, Steve's paternal great-grandparents, Pierce and Ellen Dargan, emigrated from Ireland to the United States and settled in New Haven. His maternal grandparents, John Glacken and the former Margaret McGowan, who left County Donegal and Derry, Northern Island respectively, for America at different times in the early 1900s. They met and married, first settling in Norwich before making West Haven their home. Steve was born in New Haven in 1955 to Margaret and Robert Dargan, Jr. He and his siblings--Robert Dargan, III, Timothy Dargan and Mary Margaret Dargan--were raised by their hardworking parents in a traditional Irish Catholic household on Richards Place in the center of West Haven. Steve attended public schools and graduated in 1973 from West Haven High School, where he ran track. He also attended Quinnipiac College. It was through his parents that Steve learned the importance of giving back to his community and he took those lessons to heart, dedicating most of his adult life to public service. In fact, his late father, Robert, was honored with this same award in 2012, making them the only father/son recipients its 32-year history. Steve has represented his community as an appointed or elected leader since he was 21 years old. He served on the City Council from 1985 to 1991 and the First Fire Taxation District's Board of Fire Commissioners from 1980 to 2004. As a member of the Connecticut House, Steve represented West Haven's 115th District from 1991 to 2017. For 20 years, he was a co-chair of the General Assembly's Public Safety and Security Committee, which oversees all matters related to civil preparedness, state and municipal police, and the overall safety of residents. He also served on the Gaming Policy Task Force, the Police Pursuit Task Force and the Private Security Personnel Task Force as well as on the Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee and the Insurance and Real Estate Committee. In January 2017, Steve resigned to serve on the state Board of Pardons and Paroles, a seat which he still holds. In addition to his civil service, Steve has dedicated much of his time and energy to a myriad of local organizations. He is a former volunteer for West Haven Hook and Ladder Company 1, a longtime member of the West Haven Irish American Club, a lifetime member of West Haven's Elks Lodge 1537, and a former member of the Knights of St. Patrick in New Haven, Connecticut's oldest continuously run Irish society. I would be remiss if I did not also take this opportunity to extend a personal note of thanks to Steve for his many years of friendship and support. Steve has always been known for his gregarious nature, ready smile, and big heart. Elected to our respective seats, myself to Congress and Steve to the General Assembly, in the same year, we have developed a special kinship, rooted in our passion for service and desire to make a difference in the lives of others. I am so proud to stand today to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Steve Dargan on this very special occasion. Steve has dedicated a lifetime of service to the community he calls home, and I cannot think of a more fitting accolade to recognize his dedication and commitment.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, let me just say a thank-you to my colleague from Pennsylvania, who at his roots understands the plight of working Americans, middle-class families, working families, and the vulnerable and stands tall on their behalf and wants to utilize the good offices of this institution to make sure that it does what the Founding Fathers intended it to do, and that is to provide opportunity for people in this Nation. That is what my friend, Congressman Deluzio, is all about. One thing about this current administration is clear. They are doing nothing about the cost-of-living crisis in this Nation, which is getting worse. President Trump said he will fight for the working class, but instead put Elon Musk and billionaires in charge of our government. I applaud, again, Representative Deluzio for hosting this Special Order about economic patriotism, taking on corporate power, as well as for all his work supporting the right to organize, creating well-paying union jobs here in America. High prices are devastating the middle class, working class, and the vulnerable. Since my very first day in the Congress, I have been focused on lowering the cost of living for Americans who struggle to get by, and I am appalled by how many families are struggling to afford basics while corporations get bigger, richer, and more influential over our lives than ever. President Trump, as I said, campaigned on lowering prices and pledged to bring food costs down on day one. Instead, the opposite has happened. Food costs are rising. His own USDA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, recently reported egg prices could rise 41 percent over the next year. Since taking office, he has done nothing to help families struggling at the grocery checkout. As a result, big corporations are consolidating, creating monopolies, and making unbelievable profits. Cal-Maine, which controls about one- fifth of the domestic egg market and is the largest producer and distributor of shell eggs in the United States, has reported that its profits through the second quarter of the 2025 fiscal year are 342 percent higher than the same period last year. Instead of doing anything to address this cost-of-living crisis, the President has stacked his Cabinet with billionaire after billionaire, empowering them to slash the programs American families rely on with no oversight and no disclosures about the conflicts of interest. Elon Musk, the unchecked billionaire leading the efforts to end Social Security as we know it, owes the success of his company to billions in Federal contracts and huge factories in China. Yet he refuses to answer any questions from Congress about his investments. These issues concern every American. Democrats are standing up for them. We are standing up against the blatant corruption of this administration, the giant corporations padding their profits at the expense of the middle class and the working class. The Republican focus is to rip away programs like Social Security and Medicaid. The fact is that American families today are living paycheck to paycheck. Some of the biggest corporations in the country are taking advantage of it, all while Americans are paying more for less due to corporate price gouging and shrinkflation while the CEOs of the Nation's largest grocery stores and supermarkets rake in record salaries. I just came from a congressional hearing of our Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on food prices and food stamps. I listened to the stories of working Americans with families who are hard-pressed and were frightened to death of a $230 billion cut to the Food Stamp program which would end that lifeline for themselves and for their families. Last year, the FTC identified that large grocery store chains exploited the product shortages due to the pandemic by raising prices significantly more than needed to cover their added costs, and they have continued to increase their profits. What is the Republicans' response to this cost-of-living crisis driven by corporate consolidation and power? Why, it is to give out even more corporate tax cuts, of course, $4.5 trillion worth of them to be precise, paid for by slashing Medicaid which serves nearly one-third of all Americans. Enough is enough. It is time for this Congress and it is time for Democrats to act to rein in this habitual price gouging from massive, massive corporations, rein in the unchecked billionaires enriching themselves while Americans suffer, and rein in Republican spending while targeting Social Security and Medicaid. If the Trump administration continues to prioritize tax cuts for the rich over price cuts for the middle class, then I will continue to stand with my colleagues as we call out their broken promises and fight back against their disastrous policies. There is another path forward, one which Democrats and Republicans could take together. It is a path of economic patriotism where we take on corporate monopolies and the self-serving billionaires who are squeezing the middle class, the working class, and the vulnerable. It is a path that listens to the American people and protects programs like Medicaid and Social Security while lowering the cost of living through proven policies like the expanded child tax credit which lifted one-half of our children in this Nation out of poverty, lowered the hunger rate, and provided a path forward in economic security for millions of families in the United States. That is the path that I am taking. It is the path that I know my colleague, Congressman Deluzio, is taking, and I hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join us in this effort. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for organizing this effort.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with my colleagues the remarks recently given by my constituent, Kris Lebron Romero, a student at Common Ground High School in New Haven, Connecticut. Kris participated in a press conference held in New Haven highlighting some of the impacts our community is feeling due to the freeze of federal funding. It is a powerful reminder that behind every federal budget and program dollar we invest in our communities, there is a human face--a very real impact on the lives of those we are elected to serve. ``Hello, my name is Kris, I am a student at Common Ground High School, and I am deeply honored to stand here today as a voice for my fellow students. If you had told me a few weeks ago that a single order could drastically change my life, I wouldn't have believed you. Yet, here I am, and here we are. The federal funding freeze and the termination of critical giants have taken away so much from me and countless students and community members. My school has a program called the Green Jobs Corps. This program provides New Haven High School students with leadership development training and paid internships. Not only within our school but in collaboration with non-profit organizations across New Haven. It is an incredible opportunity for students to connect, engage with their community, and gain real-world job experience before graduating high school. For many of us, including myself, it was more than just a job, it was a way to support our families and build a foundation for our futures. I was a part of this program. I worked with one of its partner organizations, Haven's Harvest, a food recovery non- profit that collects food that would otherwise be thrown away and redistributes it to people in our community who are food insecure. I believe this is one of the most important and meaningful things anyone can do. Through this job, so many doors opened for me. I met elders from across the community, performed at events for other organizations, and learned to give back on my own time. I have a clear vision for my future. I aspire to become a graphic designer working with nonprofit organizations that need assistance in communicating effectively with hard-to- reach audiences and amplifying their outreach efforts. Through my time in the Green Jobs Corps, I've discovered a deep passion for using design to help organizations connect with their communities and share their messages more effectively. A simple program at my school helped me map my career pathway. The mentorship, training, and work experience made all of this possible. I felt secure. But then the federal funding freeze happened, and everything changed. Haven's Harvest, a volunteer-run organization that relies on grant funding to operate, is struggling to continue its mission. An organization that does nothing but feed those in need is now at risk of shutting down because of this freeze. Green Jobs Corps, which employed over 70 students with jobs, has also been put on hold. Without the necessary funding, they can no longer pay students for their very real and impactful work. This vital program, which did nothing but provide students with life-changing opportunities, is now in jeopardy. And it's not just the Green Jobs Corps. My school itself is in danger. Common Ground operates on grants, community support, and state funding. If those grants are taken away, what does that mean for us? For the students? For me? It means our education is in danger. I am currently a junior at Common Ground High School. I have been here since I was a freshman and can't imagine being anywhere else. Common Ground has opened my eyes to so many possibilities. But now, I am worried that future generations won't have the same opportunities--they won't experience the transformative power of this school. This is happening right now, and it's happening fast. I came here today to ask you to fight. Fight for youth development programs. Fight for our schools. Fight for our teachers. Fight for the future of our students.''

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am opposed to this 1-year continuing resolution. It is not a simple stopgap that keeps the lights on and the doors open. This is Republican leadership handing over the keys of the government and a blank check to Elon Musk and to President Trump. As the White House has said, this bill creates more flexibility for this administration to continue to undermine the Constitution and the countless spending laws by stealing promised investments from American families, children, and businesses, unlawfully dismantling agencies, arbitrarily firing civil servants, and canceling union contracts. Read the Constitution, Article I, Section 9, Clause 7: The power of the purse resides with the Congress and not with the executive. In fact, the President has no legitimate authority to meddle in the appropriations process. Mr. Speaker, our colleagues across the aisle have gone to their districts and witnessed rage from their constituents at these actions. They have been advised by their political consultants not to do townhalls altogether. Why bother listening to the American people? It was President Lincoln who said public sentiment is everything, and without it, you can do nothing. They do not have public sentiment. Now, what should we do? The answer should not be cutting nondefense programs by $15 billion and defense by $3 billion, as compared to the Fiscal Responsibility Act agreement for 2025. They are in violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. There was an agreement with Senator Schumer and Speaker Johnson. We all voted for it here. This is a violation that cuts nondefense by $15 billion and defense by $3 billion. Why do they want to shortchange defense investments by $3 billion, I ask them. Not only is it bad for our military--there is a reason the Department of Defense has never operated for an entire year under a continuing resolution--but, above all, it transfers more power to the administration to shut off and repurpose funding as they see fit. The will of the Congress and the people would be ignored. Elon Musk and President Trump would be able to fire thousands of employees. Yes, we do not oversee Social Security. That is in the purview of the Ways and Means Committee. However, we do have control over the administration on Social Security, and the President and Elon Musk would be able to fire thousands of employees at the Social Security Administration. Just witness, they are talking about 7,000 positions gone. What does that result in? Office closures, longer wait times, and unacceptable backlogs for Americans trying to access their earned benefits. In effect, you remove the staff and personnel, thereby crippling the agency to be able to do its job and, yes, to provide benefits. It is nice if you can individually negotiate with the administration on your own to keep your Social Security office open. There are 47 on the docket to get closed. If one stays open, why not all 47? Army Corps of Engineers construction projects would be cut by $1.4 billion, 44 percent, and President Trump, not the Congress, would determine who gets the funding--what cities, States, and localities-- and how much money that is there. Instead of helping to address housing costs, the bill cuts rent subsidies by over $700 million. It leaves landlords to foot the bill or to evict. We will evict more than 32,000 households. This bill breaks promises to veterans. House Republicans wisely proposed $23 billion in advance funding for the toxic exposures fund to care for veterans who were exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. In their bill last summer, it was in there. We voted for the PACT Act on a bipartisan basis, but that $23 billion in advance funding has now disappeared. It is gone. We do advance funding here. We do it with veterans programs and others. We do it with the Indian Health Service. We do it for public broadcasting. Why do we not want to do it for veterans' care, their healthcare and treatment? Why? If I were a veteran and they said no to my advance funding--and we do advance funding so that issues like veterans' medical care don't get caught up in the political whims of this organization, of this body. Veterans today have to understand that that $23 billion for them is not there. There is uncertainty about that. There is no emergency funding in this bill for disaster relief. It abandons American families who have had their lives turned upside-down by extreme weather. The funding for the disaster relief runs out in the spring. What about Kentucky that just had a winter storm in February? Families will not be able to get back on their feet and recover. Neither will businesses that have been shut down because of a natural disaster. The decisions about investments that we make cannot be entrusted in one single officeholder. This Congress must decide: Do we have the authority to control spending as we were granted and as laid out in Article I of the Constitution? Why would we want to relinquish this, to give power to this administration, which is already doing massive harm by dismantling agencies, firing people, telling them today they are no longer needed? With the chaos and confusion that has been caused by Elon Musk and President Trump, why would we want to turn over our authority to appropriate bills? I implore my colleagues to join me and stand up for our constituents against an unelected billionaire, Elon Musk, who is stealing taxpayer dollars from American families, children, and businesses. Oppose this giveaway to the administration. Pass a short-term CR, which I introduced yesterday, which would take us to April 11, to continue negotiations. Let us finish the regular bills that we agree on. That would be such an improvement over a full-year continuing resolution. I say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that a shutdown will be the result of the Republican majority walking away from negotiations. We were that close. They pulled the rug out from under us and said to stop negotiating because Musk and Trump want to have the control with a full-year continuing resolution. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), the distinguished Democratic leader.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, the President has no legitimate authority by the Constitution to insert himself into the appropriations process. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguishing ranking member of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, the President did make a promise to drive down the cost of living. Instead, he has driven up prices. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark), the distinguished Democratic whip.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), the distinguished ranking member of the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum), the distinguished ranking member of the Defense Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), the distinguished ranking member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman confirms what we have been saying all along: impoundment. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Maine (Ms. Pingree).

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, we can pass a 1-month CR and do that and do what we need to do to keep the government open. There is an alternative. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Meng), who is the distinguished ranking member of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, let's have the 1-month CR that has been introduced as an alternative and do the business of the House and pass appropriations bills. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Lois Frankel), who is the distinguished ranking member of the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Subcommittee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Quigley), who is a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), who is the distinguished ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez), the distinguished ranking member of the Small Business Committee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano), the distinguished ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, for all of American history, it has been understood that Congress, not the president, has the ultimate power to determine how government funds are spent. Few principles are as fundamental to the structure of government enshrined in the Constitution. From time to time, this authority has been challenged by the Executive Branch, and each time Congress has responded by rejecting the executive's encroachment on the fisc to further underscore the legislative branch's primacy over spending matters. Those conflicts have led to bedrock laws that further bolster the Congress's fiscal authority. The collection of statutes known as the Antideficiency Act (currently codified in title 31 of the United States Code) placed controls and safeguards on top of Congress's constitutional power, reiterating the Executive Branch's inability to spend without Congressionally approved legislation. Similarly, on the other end of the fiscal law spectrum, Congress enacted the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to establish an orderly process by which the executive could request legislative action by Congress to limit already-enacted spending--simply put, affirming the existent requirement that the executive branch carry out provisions of law that require spending (that is, appropriations). Both the Antideficiency Act and the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 provide safeguards for a legal reality that existed before either law was enacted, and which carries on to this day: When a law is enacted providing an appropriation for a purpose in an amount, the executive branch is required to take care that the appropriation is fully and prudently obligated and expended to carry out its intended purpose unless Congress provides discretion in statute to do otherwise. Congress may provide such discretion, for example, by setting a minimum amount for an appropriation that serves as a floor or by setting a maximum level that serves as a ceiling. Certain appropriations in H.R. 1968 provide this flexibility. But in the absence of such discretion being expressly provided in legislation, when Congress provides an appropriation for a specific amount, that level is both a floor and a ceiling. These appropriations and levels stipulate an exact amount for a specified purpose and are therefore a directive to the executive branch to prudently obligate and expend that specific amount for the purposes specified within the timeframe allowed. Such is the case for the vast majority of the appropriations in H.R. 1968. Though H.R. 1968 is a full-year continuing appropriations Act in a format unlike a traditional appropriations Act, the legal principles underlying every appropriation in the bill are the same: an appropriation, whether explicitly spelled out in the legislation or incorporated by reference from a prior-year appropriation Act (such as those included in section 1101 of H.R. 1968) is a direction from Congress to prudently obligate and expend that specific amount, for the applicable purposes and within the timeframe defined unless discretion is provided in statute to do otherwise. H.R. 1968, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2025 (FYCAA), effectuates these appropriations chiefly through section 1101. That provision appropriates anew for fiscal year 2025 each appropriation in the referenced bills from fiscal year 2024, under the same authorities and conditions as were included in those same bills, except as specified otherwise in the FYCAA. That is, each new appropriation from section 1101 is for the same amount, and purpose, as in last year's bill except as directed otherwise in provisions in the FYCAA. Congress is explicit about any such deviations. For example, section 1103 states that the appropriations provided by section 1101 retain a ``comparable period of availability.'' That means an appropriation provided in a referenced bill that was available for obligation for two fiscal years (for fiscal year 2024 and remaining available through the end of fiscal year 2025), that is appropriated anew by section 1101 would be available for obligation for two fiscal years as well (for fiscal years 2025 and 2026). The FYCAA also includes some specific and explicit negations of authorities and conditions in last year's bills, such as section 1503(a), which loosens the requirements under which the Army Corps of Engineers is required to spend the appropriations provided in this bill to that agency. These are only a couple examples of the deviations (called ``anomalies'') specified in the bill. The FYCAA is also distinguishable from the short-term continuing appropriations Act contained in division A of Public Law 118-83. which is currently applicable through March 14, 2025. The FYCAA for example, contains no provision comparable to section 109 of division A of Public Law 118-83: whereas Congress contemplated limited funding actions from the continuing appropriations provided in section 101 of such division, that instruction does not extend to the appropriations provided in the FYCAA, nor other appropriations that were previously enacted, either in this fiscal year or in prior fiscal years. The appropriations contained in the FYCAA directly renew the appropriations with the applicable authorities and conditions from Public Laws 118-42 and 118-47--except where explicitly directed in this law otherwise--and are a reaffirmation of Congress's intent to provide for those activities in full. That intent was made clear by the original enactment of the appropriations in those laws and the accompanying Joint Explanatory Statements in March of 2024, and by the affirmation and continuation of additional funding for those same purposes under the same authorities and conditions (except where otherwise revised in statute) in September and December of 2025 through the enactment and amendment of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2025. Fully acknowledging the change in Administration on January 20, 2025, the Congress has observed dramatic changes in how duly enacted appropriations have been executed over the last 50 days. I note that the current Administration's actions to defy Congress's specific appropriations have been rejected by the Judicial Branch to date. The FYCAA also represents a rejection by the legislative branch of the current Administration's unlawful refusal to take care that enacted appropriations be faithfully executed.

Ms. DeLAURO

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

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I send to the desk a resolution, and I ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration in the House.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, while Republicans try to distract us with this resolution, our constituents are reaching out to us. What are they asking us? They are asking us to stop the Republican assault on our schools, our livelihoods, and our communities. Another constituent who reached out to me is named Kris. He is a student at Common Ground High School. Common Ground High School is an innovative, educational, environmental, and community-building venture, combining a charter high school, an urban demonstration farm, and a community environmental education center. Due to the funding freeze, Kris said essential programs at Common Ground, like the youth workforce development and community food relief, which also partners with CitySeed to help people afford food stamp purchases from the farm, have been shut down. They have been shut down because of this freeze, and 71 student workers have been laid off. Students like Kris are reaching out not just because of their own future and their education has been affected but because they see how their community is hurt by these cuts, as well. There are people today around this country, not only in my district, who are getting hurt thanks to Republican cuts. The funding freeze is not just killing the crops at Common Ground, but it is killing academic futures, new ideas for education, and opportunities for young people in this country. This is what Republicans are trying to do by distracting us with their censures.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, as ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, I am responsible for funding programs and services that the American people rely on. I also see the importance of programs like Medicaid, which help tens of millions of people afford health insurance. After all of their talk of lowering the cost of living, Republicans wasted no time in making their real priorities clear. For this majority, billionaires and the biggest corporations always come first. Elon Musk and President Trump are hard at work trying to gut Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, which helps nearly 100 million Americans afford health insurance, medications, and lifesaving care. Nationwide, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program provide medical coverage to nearly 4 in 10 children. Almost 40 percent of the children in the United States get their healthcare through Medicaid. These programs were designed, improved, and expanded over decades by both parties to help people deal with the high costs of healthcare, and they have delivered for so many families. In my district alone, there are 229,000 people on Medicaid, including 79,000 children and 33,000 seniors. Medicaid paid for 3,000 births last year, providing comprehensive prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care to newborns and mothers. These are programs that help families and children. Medicaid works. Elon Musk is only interested in helping the richest among us. His dream is to fully extend more than $4.5 trillion worth of tax breaks to his billionaire friends and the wealthiest corporations in the world. How will they pay for these tax cuts and pay for this massive giveaway? Republicans want to pay for this with cuts to Medicaid, $880 billion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, putting coverage at risk for millions of Americans and raising their premiums.