Rosa DeLauro

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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

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

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, in my hometown of New Haven, on the corner of Chapel and College Streets, there is an eclectic, gourmet vegetarian restaurant that is among the most popular and beloved in the city. Today, Claire's Corner Copia marks its 50th Anniversary--an outstanding milestone for this one-of-a-kind culinary treasure. I am proud to rise today to join the many family, friends, patrons, and community leaders who have gathered in extending my heartfelt congratulations to its owner, Claire Criscuolo, and her exceptional team on this very special occasion. Love and family have always been at the heart of Claire's Corner Copia. Claire and her late husband, Frank, opened the restaurant as a way to spend more time together and focused on bringing the essence of the recipes Claire used for her home-cooked meals to their customers. That sense of family extended not only to those who came to eat but, most importantly, to those who worked for them. Unlike most in the industry, instead of making her employees rely on tips, Claire pays her staff a fair wage, provides health benefits, and paid time off. By investing in her employees, Claire has created a unique work environment, built on mutual respect and trust. It is why so many have stayed with her for more than a decade, weathering even the worst of economic trials with her. They are not just people who work for her, they are family. That is the secret of the success of Claire's Corner Copia. What is it, you may ask, that makes Claire's Corner Copia so popular? Perhaps it is the mismatched furniture placed throughout the dining area. Maybe it is the menu artfully scrawled in multicolored chalk across a series of blackboards. It could be the charm of the immersive dining experience--waiting in line to place your order, picking up your cutlery and bussing your own table. Personally, I believe it is the quality and care that is put into everything that is served. Claire is meticulous in designing her all-vegetarian menu, always ensuring the freshest of ingredients are used and taking great pride in how it is prepared. While Claire's Corner Copia is known for its incredible selections, its most popular items are the delicious baked goods that are made in-house every day. If you find yourself in downtown New Haven, I highly recommend stopping into Claire's and trying their signature Lithuanian Coffee Cake--it is not to be missed. I want to extend a special note of congratulations to Claire Criscuolo. The restaurant business is not easy, and her determination, vision, creativity, and entrepreneurial skill have made Claire's Corner Copia an iconic local landmark. Claire is also a dedicated member of our community, supporting a variety of organizations including New Haven Reads, St. Francis and St. Rose of Lima Schools, and Smilow Cancer Hospital. I cannot remember a time when I did not know her, and I consider myself fortunate to call her my friend. I am honored to rise today to extend my very best wishes to her and her staff on this very special occasion. Happy 50th Anniversary.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to have this opportunity to join the many family, friends, and community members who will gather this evening in extending my heartfelt congratulations to New Haven legend, Carl John McManus, as he marks his retirement from Phil's Barber Shop, ending his sixty-year career as a barber. Carl began his career as a barber in his hometown of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, the path to his calling, and a unique story. While working at a local grocery store, Carl befriended the butcher who liked to play the horses at Suffolk Downs. Carl used to take his choices to the local bookmaker, you guessed it, the town barber. He found himself drawn to the friendly atmosphere and what he has described as the ``kibitzing'' between the barber and his customers. He soon found himself a student at the Massachusetts School of Barbering in Boston, the first stepping stone of what would become an illustrious career path. Following his parents and siblings, Carl moved to New Haven and soon found himself a home at Phil's Barber Shop. Over the course of his sixty-year career, he has met a multitude of people, from the Presidents of Yale University to future Presidents of the United States, and famous actors to local theater favorites. But the most important connection he made was that to an older barber in town who worked at the Graduate Club. Carl had noticed a photo of the barber's daughter and when he expressed an interest in meeting her, the barber arranged a date, despite her slight hesitation. In the end, Carl and the barber's daughter, Ethel, were married for nearly fifty years before her passing just two years ago. Carl did not just give a shave and a haircut; he helped people to find themselves. Today, as he celebrates his retirement, Carl can be proud of the legacy he leaves. When you sat in his chair, you became more than a client, you became a friend. And while he will most certainly be missed by many, I am honored to join his daughter, Rose and granddaughter, Autumn, as well as all of those who will gather this evening in wishing him the very best as he begins this new life chapter. I congratulate him on his retirement.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to instruct conferees.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the motion to instruct conferees to adopt the Senate funding level for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, WIC, as part of the conference on three fiscal year 2026 funding bills: Agriculture, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and legislative branch. Besides cutting WIC to unacceptable levels, House Republicans are coming to the table with funding bills that are filled with extreme reckless cuts and harmful riders that have been rejected on a bipartisan basis. We are now 9 months into this administration and weeks away from the end of the fiscal year, and the cost-of-living crisis has only gotten worse under President Trump. Americans are struggling with rising costs of everyday necessities. They are living paycheck to paycheck, but the President and House Republicans are not laser focused on the cost-of- living crisis. They are making it worse. Instead of lowering prices, Republicans passed a bill to cut nearly a trillion dollars from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, which will strip healthcare coverage for more than 15 million people. Over $500 billion in cuts to Medicare will be triggered by this law, harming America's seniors. In their signature law, Republicans slashed nutrition benefits for poor families, which will cause an additional 1 million kids to go hungry. They did all of this in order to pass trillions of dollars in tax cuts for big corporations and for billionaires, adding $4 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years. Since then, House Republicans have only doubled down on their attacks on the working class, the middle class, and vulnerable Americans. Last night, Republicans on the Appropriations Committee forced through their reckless 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies funding bill that assaults public health, slashes medical research, eliminates funding for reproductive health, and eviscerates education and job training. They used this bill not to right the wrongs of their big, ugly law, but to make healthcare even more expensive and slash research into lifesaving cures. They cut funding for the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They slashed funding for State and local health departments, substance use prevention and treatment, mental health services, and eliminated funding for tobacco prevention and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. To top it all off, House Republicans continue to full-scale attempt to eliminate public education, decimating support for children in K through 12 elementary schools, and threatening the future of the entire generation. The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education funding bill was cut from the same cloth as the agriculture funding bill we are preparing to conference. At a time when families around the country are struggling to afford healthcare, housing, and other essentials for their families, House Republicans fail to provide WIC with the resources it needs to help Americans keep food on their tables. That is why the House conferees must support the WIC level in the Senate bill, $500 million over the budget request and the House bill. This should be a simple ask. On Monday, the Office of Management and Budget, OMB, asked for funding of the continuing resolution at the Senate's level of $8.2 billion. Mr. Speaker, this should be a simple ask. On Monday, the Office of Management and Budget asked for funding in the continuing resolution at the Senate's level of $8.2 billion. Yesterday, the administration released its Make America Healthy Again report. The report commended the WIC program for its science-based approach to evaluating the health and the diet of participants and working to improve them. Unfortunately, the report made no mention of the administration's drastically insufficient budget request for WIC or the need to fully fund vouchers issued to participants for fruits and vegetables. House Republicans must do more than pay lip service to the goal of making healthy food available to children and families. They must fund WIC at the Senate's proposed level and support the fruit and vegetable vouchers. House Republicans' Agriculture funding bill also fails to provide the Food and Drug Administration with the funding it needs to keep Americans healthy and safe from foodborne illnesses and harmful additives. From keeping track of food recalls to rigorously inspecting processing facilities to protecting infant formula to banning toxic dyes, the FDA cannot accomplish its missions if we slash its resources. Given many recent food recalls, and particularly with contaminated foods and medical products that are imported, there is a need for the FDA to expand its presence. That cannot be done for free. We must follow the Senate's lead on funding the FDA. The Senate bill provides $3.5 billion for the vital agency, $332 million over the House bill and roughly equally to the 2025 level. This level provides significantly more funding for human foods and drugs work, two of the most vital responsibilities of the FDA. Even beyond the insufficient and dangerous funding levels for WIC and FDA, there are other reckless cuts and policies in the Agriculture funding bill that must be addressed in conference. Despite Republicans claiming to support farmers and rural communities, their bill cuts investments in rural America, including grants that help hardworking Americans buy homes in rural areas and programs to help build drinking and wastewater infrastructure in rural communities that need it most. House Republicans are using this bill to eliminate protections for small meat and poultry producers against large corporations that have dominated the market, forced small producers out of business, and price gouged consumers. We are in an era of unprecedented corporate consolidation. Mr. Speaker, four countries control over 80 percent of the beef market, four companies control 70 percent of the pork industry, and four companies control more than half of the chicken industry. House Republicans' bill will help these major companies dominate the market, grow their power, and raise prices on the backs of hardworking Americans. The two other bills in this package, the Military Construction and Veteran Affairs and Legislative Branch funding bills, also need significant improvements in order to earn support from Democrats. As it stands now, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill would worsen the quality of life for servicemembers and their families and raise costs for Americans, while helping big corporations profit from privatizing medical care for veterans and hurt military readiness. This extreme proposal also furthers Republicans' constant attempts to roll back women's rights by restricting healthcare access for servicemembers and their families. House Republicans' Legislative Branch funding bill, typically a bill that has been quickly agreed to by both parties, jettisons bipartisan priorities in order to aid and abet OMB Director Russ Vought in stealing funds from American taxpayers. This bill's drastic cuts and restrictions on the Government Accountability Office and the Library of Congress will inhibit our ability to hold government accountable and will let waste and fraud run rampant. It is astonishing that for all the talk about finding and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, that House Republicans would defund the watchdog that is tasked with precisely that role. The only plausible explanation is that the majority, and the administration to which it is blindly loyal, is upset that GAO has repeatedly found that the White House is stealing funds away from taxpayers. This conference takes place as our entire legislative branch of government is being undermined. The Trump administration, guided by Project 2025 author and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, is unlawfully stealing funds that we, Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate, elected by our constituents for this purpose, passed into law. Russ Vought continues to withhold more than $410 billion from families, from farmers, from children, from small businesses, and from communities in every part of the country. As the courts have repeatedly concluded, this administration's disregard for our Nation's spending laws and Congress' power of the purse has harmed every corner of our country. Children in elementary schools have been denied resources they need to succeed. Farmers in rural communities have been left to fend for themselves. Communities have been robbed of resources to keep people safe. Russ Vought has stripped hope away from cancer patients and singlehandedly made the cost-of-living crisis even worse for working families. Make no mistake. This is all part of Russ Vought's plan to centralize and hoard power for himself over all others. He is poisoning these negotiations. Every illegal action he takes is designed to spite Congress and make sure his dark vision comes to pass. Russ Vought wants a shutdown. He wants the country to continue spiraling into chaos so that he can keep stealing from our communities and dismantling Congress' power of the purse. I stand ready to move forward to fund the government in a bipartisan way, and to pass funding bills that address the cost-of-living crisis that President Trump is escalating. Any funding agreement must reflect Democratic priorities. We must pass full-year spending bills that ensure that lawmakers, not President Trump and Russ Vought, decide how taxpayer dollars get spent. Democrats want to lower the cost of living for all Americans and deliver critical services and investments to the working class, the middle class, and the vulnerable. That victory can be achieved through bipartisan cooperation to pass annual funding bills, signed into law by President Trump, that ensure this elected body's commitments to our constituents are fulfilled. It cannot be achieved through another full-year continuing resolution that only increases Russ Vought's power. If Republicans choose to empower an unelected bureaucrat over the voices of the American people, then Democrats will not provide our vote to such a dangerous usurpation of congressional power. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the Motion to Instruct, and 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, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, as our leader said, we are ready to move forward to fund the government in a bipartisan way, as we have done historically, and to pass funding bills that address the cost-of-living crisis that is the central issue for the American public today. It is the cost-of-living crisis that the President is escalating. Take a look at food prices today. He said that prices were going to come down on the first day. They are skyrocketing. While I am prepared to meet anytime, anyplace, anywhere, what is critical is that any funding agreement must reflect Democratic priorities. We must pass full-year spending bills that ensure that lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, decide how taxpayer dollars get spent and not the President and not Russ Vought. They have no authority to steal the funds that Democrats and Republicans, in a bipartisan way, historically appropriated. We need to lower that cost of living. Bipartisan cooperation is essential, and we need to ensure that this body's commitments to our constituents are fulfilled. I also believe it cannot be achieved through another full-year continuing resolution. That only increases Russ Vought's power. If Republicans choose to empower an unelected bureaucrat over the voices of the American people, then Democrats will not provide our votes to such a dangerous usurpation of congressional power. Once again, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the motion to instruct. I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the motion.

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

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chair, I want to thank all of the Energy and Water appropriations subcommittee staff for their hard work, in particular Scott McKee, Anisha Singh, and Adam Wilson. I am opposed to this bill. Not only will it raise energy costs for American households and businesses, hurt our competitiveness, jeopardize our energy independence and weaken our national security, we are holding this debate weeks before the end of the fiscal year, with no path forward to prevent a shutdown and Congress's authority being attacked by unchecked Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought and a lawless Administration. Since taking office, the Trump Administration has stolen resources, appropriated by this committee, for programs and services across the federal government that help to grow the middle class, protect the working class, support small businesses, and make sure billionaires and corporations play by the rules and pay their fair share. The cost-of-living crisis is felt by every American family--middle class families, working families, rural families, seniors and other vulnerable Americans. But the president is not laser focused on the cost of-living crisis. President Trump has attacked and destroyed programs created by Congress and funded by the Appropriations Committee that protect our national security and help increase domestic energy production. They are substituting Congress' decisions and judgment with their own, turning Article I of the Constitution on its head. These cuts are not only felt in Washington, D.C. They affect all of our constituents. Just a few months ago, states across New England, including my state of Connecticut, were ready to begin an ambitious and collaborative effort to increase energy transmission capacity across our region, to build resiliency and lower energy bills. Nearly $400 million was going to be invested through the Department of Energy's Grid Innovation Program to provide onshore connections for offshore wind power, improve the electric grid, and install energy storage through a project called Power Up New England. But the President's Day One executive order abruptly halted offshore wind energy projects in their tracks, and the Department of Energy froze Power Up New England's grant. That project was expected to bring enough energy online to power about 2 million homes, and reduce energy costs for customers by up to $1.5 billion per year. Energy demand is higher than ever and only increasing. Cheap, reliable energy is key to affordability. The future lies with low-cost wind and solar, not more expensive oil, gas, and coal. We have to increase energy supply or costs will continue to rise for the American people--and we will be dependent on importing energy to meet our goals. Instead of focusing on ways to help lower energy costs, House Republicans are using this bill to further gut critical federal resources and advance their own ideological agenda. Their cut of nearly half the budget for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is a direct attack on the programs that lower energy bills for working families, create good-paying jobs in our communities, and keep America competitive. This bill revokes funding that supports hydrogen energy, batten, recycling, and energy improvements in public schools, as well as support for public-private clean energy projects. Their bill undermines the very programs that help us stop the spread of nuclear weapons, detect nuclear activity, and uphold arms control efforts that make America and the world safer--and it underfunds efforts to clean up sites contaminated by our Nation's early atomic energy program. All of this after Republicans passed the Big Ugly Bill, a law that gives massive tax breaks to billionaires and the biggest corporations while driving up home energy bills for families by as much as 30 percent. I cannot support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to vote NO. Instead of working with Democrats to lower prices and invest in technology that promotes our energy independence, House Republicans are pushing a bill that raises energy costs for families and businesses, and eliminates good-paying jobs.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, there is another critical point I must make about the rescissions proposal that the House is now considering. OMB's defiance of the norms around review of special messages and the law mandating disclosure of apportionments appears to be designed to evade review of the rescission proposals by the Congress, Congress's watchdog, and the public alike. Unlike in the past, OMB has refused to make the apportionments for the accounts at issue available to the Government Accountability Office for their required review under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. In its report to Congress on the June 3, 2025, special message proposing these rescissions, the Government Accountability Office noted that for ``previous special messages, GAO has reviewed updated apportionment data to ensure [OMB's] instructions were consistent with the special message.'' But for these rescissions proposals, OMB flat out refused ``to provide GAO with updated apportionment data that would permit GAO to conduct the same analysis for the President's special message of June 3, 2025.'' This is unacceptable, and it is unlawful. In the FY 2022 and FY 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Acts, when I was chair of the Appropriations Committee, Congress--on a bipartisan basis--required OMB to post apportionments publicly. If OMB were obeying this law, then not only would Congress and the GAO have critical information we needed to consider the rescissions package before us, but the public would have had the critical information they needed to share their opinions with us about the impact of these cuts and any other funds OMB or these agencies may be withholding in violation of the Impoundment Control Act. Congress has required OMB to make this information public, and once again, I urge OMB to comply with the law and do so--now. And, yes, I know that OMB has made the wrongheaded argument to the Committees that somehow apportionment decisions on congressionally passed and duly enacted appropriations are both legally binding as well as predecisional and deliberative, and that the requirement to post such information is unconstitutional, but that is not so. OMB and Director Vought continue to be deeply confused about the Constitution, the rule of law, and foundational fiscal laws like the Antideficiency Act and the Impoundment Control Act. The Constitution vested the power of the purse in the Congress, not the President, and the Congress assigned the President the responsibility to apportion appropriations to protect Congress's power, not cede it to the Executive Branch. And as the constitutional stewards of the power of the purse, Congress can--through enacted laws--certainly require the apportionment information to be published to the benefit of both the Congress and the public, who deserve access to information about the use of taxpayer dollars. Finally, I must speak out against the pattern of unlawful impoundment that is being led by OMB Director Russ Vought, who insists that there is somehow a loophole in the Impoundment Control Act that permits the Executive Branch to unilaterally cancel appropriations--that otherwise expire under current law at the end of the fiscal year--by transmitting a special message proposing rescissions late in the fiscal year and withholding the amounts until they can no longer be used. But to quote the late Justice Scalia, the Congress ``does not, one might say, hide elephants in mouseholes.'' Indeed, unilateral actions by the Executive Branch that would impound congressionally passed and duly enacted appropriations is the very thing the Impoundment Control Act prohibits. Director Vought refers to his unlawful maneuver as a ``pocket rescission,'' which is just another name for unlawful impoundment. The December 2018 Government Accountability Office legal opinion (B- 330330), requested jointly by then House Budget Committee Chairman Steve Womack and Ranking Member John Yarmuth, is exactly right though and confirms that the Impoundment Control Act bars this maneuver. The Government Accountability Office stated unequivocally that ``[t]his interpretation would, in effect, give the President power to amend or to repeal previously enacted appropriations merely by calibrating the timing of the submission of a special message'' and that ``[a] withholding of this nature would be an aversion both to the constitutional process for enacting federal law and to Congress's constitutional power of the purse.'' As part of its analysis, the Government Accountability Office reasons that ``[t]he plain language of section 1012(b) provides that absent Congress's completion of action on a rescission bill rescinding all or part of amounts proposed to be rescinded within the prescribed 45-day period, such amounts must be made available for obligation,'' which requires that the ``budget authority must not be expired.'' And I remain in agreement with Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Hal Rogers, as the Senate Chairman and House Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs of the Appropriations Committees, when they wrote in 2019 to President Trump that ``[w]e supported the budget deal and did so in good faith. Preventing agencies from obligating such large sums seems an abdication of this bipartisan agreement, and Congress thus expressed strong opposition to this precise exercise last year. Furthermore, the U.S. Government Accountability Office's December 2018 legal opinion concluded that the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act does not permit the withholding of funds through their date of expiration and notes the President's responsibility in ensuring prudent obligation of funds.'' Republicans and Democrats alike should reject this ploy for what it is: a direct assault to Congress's Article I power. Allowing any Administration to erase duly enacted funding through procedural delays that amount to unlawful impoundment would destabilize the appropriations process and corrode the separation of powers that the Impoundment Control Act was enacted to defend. I remind my colleagues that Congress alone holds the power of the purse. It is right there in the Constitution. Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 proclaims that Congress, not the President, determines how the taxpayers' dollars are spent. I urge my colleagues to reject this rule, which would automatically adopt the rescissions package pursuant to the June 3, 2025, special message.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I remain strongly opposed to this rescissions bill, which is a rubberstamp on stealing from the American people. Since taking office, the Trump administration has stolen funds appropriated by the Congress, passed by Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate, and signed into law by the President of the United States, upending the separation of powers and our constitutional order. This rescissions bill is another effort to subvert the Congress' power of the purse. That is precisely what they are trying to do. For what ends? To hand billionaires and the biggest corporations that already pay little or no taxes a massive tax break and, ultimately, to embrace privatization; to give the biggest companies unchecked power to rig the economy against the middle class, the working class, and vulnerable people; and to ensure the American people have no faith in their government. This bill will shut down rural television and radio stations, cutting off coverage of local news, eliminating emergency information like severe weather alerts, jeopardizing access to PBS KIDS, children's programs like Sesame Street--yes, Sesame Street. This bill rips lifesaving support away from hungry, displaced, and sick people in developing countries and conflict zones and will end programs that prevent conflict and pandemics. This bill abandons the people of Ukraine while they resist Putin's tyranny. This bill puts America last. When we retreat from the world diplomatically and through our assistance to vulnerable people, America will be alone without allies in a less stable world without the support of the international community. Do you know who will come out ahead? China, Russia, Iran. All of this is being done in the name of combating waste. I will tell you what waste is: 500 tons of food grown by American farmers destroyed at a cost of $130,000 to American taxpayers because of the chaos caused by dismantling USAID. It was left there to expire. This is the bill to help Republicans claim that they are practicing fiscal responsibility while concealing that what they are doing is ripping health insurance away from at least 17 million Americans in order to make billionaires even more rich, and they increase the debt by $4 trillion. How dare they talk about the deficit when they have just increased it? They are not addressing the cost of living in this country, the single biggest issue. They are making it worse.

Ms. DeLAURO. This bill codifies the right of the Trump administration to steal from vulnerable American communities, children, and the global poor for the sake of handing even more money to billionaires. Congress needs to reassert its role. Fight for the middle class, the working class, the vulnerable, not to protect the interests of billionaires and big corporations. I strongly oppose this bill. It forfeits our global leadership, undermines our national security, and steals from the American people. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chair, I thank the ranking member for yielding. I also want to thank all the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee staff on both sides of the aisle. In particular, I want to shout out Jennifer Chartrand, Jason Gray, and Ed Etzkorn. Through this bill, we have the solemn responsibility of appropriating the funds necessary to defend our Nation and to protect the safety and well-being of our men and women in uniform. However, I must oppose this bill which abandons our allies, damages our military readiness, and promotes divisive policies that undermine morale. I come from a defense-dependent State. I understand the importance of the investments we make in our Nation's defense. We must always work to ensure that our servicemembers have the best possible equipment to defend our Nation. I am proud that the American-made Black Hawk helicopters, the best helicopters in the world, are made by Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford, Connecticut, in my district. I am also proud that Pratt & Whitney produces the F135 engine, the power plant for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, in my district. The highly skilled workers in this plant are critical for our defense industrial base, and the rising cost of living is making it harder for them to make ends meet. These workers bring immense value to Pratt & Whitney, to Connecticut, and to our national security, and they recently fought for their value to be recognized. I proudly joined them on the picket line. While I am pleased that Pratt & Whitney and the union representing that facility's workers have agreed on a contract, Congress must do more to address the cost of living. The cost-of-living crisis is felt by every American family, and it has a direct effect on our military readiness and capabilities. Instead of addressing the cost of living, President Trump and Republicans are only making it worse. Safety net programs and other basic services have been attacked by the administration and defunded in the Republicans' big, ugly bill. I said this to Secretary Hegseth in our hearing last month: America's future servicemembers are learning in our public schools. They might rely on Medicaid to see a doctor. They may only have a meal to eat because of WIC or food stamps, or they may live in subsidized housing. If tomorrow's servicemembers are worried today about having their most basic needs met, then they are being held back from their fullest potential, and that weakens our national security. In the bill before us, rather than working with House Democrats to strengthen our national security and prioritize the issues that matter most to our men and women in uniform, House Republicans are abandoning our allies, undermining democracy at home and abroad, and failing to support our servicemembers. Despite broad support in Congress for helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia's brutal invasion, they empower Putin by failing to include $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The majority's bill holds the door open for disinformation created by America's enemies rather than allowing the Department of Defense to counter the threat, allowing extremism and propaganda to proliferate across the internet and media landscape. The bill continues House Republicans' attacks on the right of women to seek an abortion and the rights of minorities to be protected from discrimination, while destroying the Department's efforts to build a more inclusive, effective, and modern military. Moreover, the bill weakens the department by continuing the administration's reckless and indiscriminate cuts to vital civilian personnel and yielding to DOGE and Elon Musk. In further conceding Congress' prerogative over funding the Department of Defense to DOGE, the majority directs the Department to find nearly $8 billion in undetermined cuts, with everything from military healthcare to troops' pay and operations accounts, potentially facing reductions to the detriment of our readiness, and to servicemembers' and military families' quality of life. Instead of focusing on how to keep the American people safe and improve the quality of life for members of our Armed Forces, House Republicans' bill undermines readiness and abandons our allies. I cannot support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. I would ask my House Republican colleagues: Have you no shame? This bill hands $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to billionaires and the biggest corporations. It takes healthcare aware from 17 million Americans. People will die, and 42 million Americans will go hungry. This bill triggers $500 billion in Medicare cuts. It increases the budget deficit by $3.3 trillion. President Trump and House Republicans have abandoned their promise to lower the cost of living. They are making it worse. I would say to my Republican colleagues: Have the moral courage to oppose this bill. The consequences of this vote will come due. They will not wait until next November. It will come tomorrow, and every day after, and every phone call and letter that your office answers. When your constituents tell you they cannot find health coverage or afford groceries, and they ask what you have done to help, I hope you have the moral courage to tell them the truth; that you did nothing. Vote ``no.''

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chair, I thank the ranking member for yielding. I thank all of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee staff on both sides of the aisle for their work, and in particular Farouk Ophaso and Tyler Coe. I am opposed to this bill, which will transfer billions of taxpayer dollars to private hospitals and clinics, leading to longer wait lines, poorer communication and coordination, a diminished quality of care for our veterans, and higher costs for taxpayers. This is a step toward privatization of the Veterans Administration because if you hollow out the Veterans Administration, if you make it impossible for people to be able to access their benefits, then they say: Well, we can't trust the VA. Then they will move in the direction of privatization, and that is where this administration wants to go. This bill would worsen the quality of life for servicemembers and their families while putting veterans' safety at risk. While our military faces massive recruitment challenges, the bill underfunds military construction by nearly $1 billion, hurting our recruitment and retention and undermining our military readiness. By making it harder to keep guns out of the hands of those legally barred from holding them, this bill endangers veterans' safety. The bill leaves military installations, servicemembers, and their families vulnerable to climate change and worsening natural disasters by failing to include dedicated funding to strengthen our military installations against these threats or to help them recover from past disasters. Defense leaders, including during President Trump's first term, have warned of the danger that climate change poses to our military, and the tens of billions of dollars in damage to military installations from recent severe weather reinforces their point. Former Secretary James Mattis warned that climate change threatened American interests and our defense assets around the world and said climate change is ``a challenge that requires a broader whole-of-government response.'' This bill attacks women veterans, who are the fastest growing group served by the Department of Veterans Affairs, with a policy rider that limits abortion access and prohibits abortion counseling. The women who volunteer to serve and defend our Nation, to protect Americans' sacred rights and freedoms, should not come home to find their medical care and family planning decisions being made by anyone other than themselves, their families, and their doctors. These riders do nothing but put us on a path of partisan division that will make it more difficult to come to an agreement on full-year bills that can actually become law. Ending fiscal year 2025 with an unprecedented full-year continuing resolution was a missed opportunity to invest in our veterans and in our servicemembers. We should be working toward a bipartisan bill that can actually pass this year. Finally, the bill undercuts our commitments to our military partners. The Trump administration has already done a masterful job at alienating America on the world stage, turning our back on our closest allies. This bill goes even further. It underfunds NATO, the infrastructure, by almost $200 million. It undermines the infrastructure projects of our own troops in Europe that they are relying on. Our credibility as a national security partner has been trashed by this administration, and now is not the time to retreat from our alliances even further. The majority may suggest they are supporting veterans' needs with this bill alone, but we all know that it does not contain all the programs the most vulnerable of veterans depend on. Programs and services from food assistance to education to health research, which this administration has illegally frozen and dismantled, and which their budget decimates funding for, support veterans around the country. Losing that support means abandoning our responsibilities and our promises to our Nation's veterans. While I am glad that the Democrats on the Appropriations Committee were successful in shaming our colleagues across the aisle into amending their original bill to include advance funding for the PACT Act, this bill still fails too many veterans in too many ways, so I cannot support it, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, it is with my profound gratitude and deep admiration that I rise today to pay tribute to my good friend, Dr. Steven Marans, as he celebrates his retirement from a distinguished career is psychiatry including more than four decades of extraordinary leadership and service at the Yale Child Study Center and in the field of child trauma. We know that trauma affects the human mind in a multitude of ways and there is no predicting how one might process a traumatic event--the number of different reactions as numerous as there are individuals. This is particularly true for children, all too often too young to fully understand the violence, stress, or trauma they may be experiencing. There are few, not only in this country but in this world, that understand that better than Dr. Steven Marans. Some of my first real interactions and discussions with Dr. Marans came when he founded the Child Development-Community Policing Program. This pioneering effort was based on the collaboration of mental health and law enforcement professionals in responding to children and families exposed to violence and trauma. He found a better way to help children and their families in their darkest hours. It is a program that I was proud to secure federal funding for and one that has since been replicated in communities both here in the United States and abroad. Dr. Marans went on to become the Director of the Yale Child Study Center as well as the cofounder of the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention, an evidence-based, early intervention that has been disseminated nationally and internationally, improving outcomes for countless children and families. Over the course of our careers, I have often sought his counsel, turning to him for advice and as a resource when our communities and our Nation faced traumatic events. From the attacks on 9/11 to the Sandy Hook shooting; from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic to the forced separation of families, Dr. Marans has only ever been a phone call away, and he has never not answered the call. I am not the only policymaker or community leader to have benefitted from his expertise and knowledge. Indeed, in addition to all of his work, Dr. Marans has also dedicated countless hours as a professor, a mentor, and advocate, educating not only new generations of mental health professionals, but also those in government, the private sector and academia. I, like so many others, consider myself fortunate to have been able to learn from him, and even more so that I can call him a friend. Dr. Marans has dedicated his professional career and much of his personal life to researching and developing innovative approaches to interventions and treatments that best meet the needs of children. His work has impacted the lives of countless souls and he has been an invaluable resource to communities across this country and throughout the globe. His work has changed the way we as psychiatrists, as communities, as policy and decision makers, and as a society, view and address child trauma. It is a remarkable legacy that leaves an indelible mark. Today, as he marks the end of his career at the Yale Child Study Center, I extend my deepest thanks and heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Steven Marans for his many years of friendship and support as well as my very best wishes in whatever pursuits he takes on. I have no doubt that he will continue to make a difference.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, there are few things that define my hometown of New Haven, Connecticut and my childhood neighborhood of Wooster Square more than a specially crafted food that draws people from across the country. It is called apizza, which is pronounced ``ah- beetz'' and is the original way ``la pizza'' was pronounced in Southern Italy. This year, the institution that started it all, Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, is celebrating its centennial anniversary. I could not be prouder to stand today to join the Pepe family, the City of New Haven, and the Wooster Square community in celebrating this remarkable milestone. Frank Pepe's story is that of the quintessential American immigrant, the story that we all conjure when we refer to the American Dream. Immigrating to the United States as a teenager in 1909, Frank served this Nation in the military during World War I, before returning to New Haven where he worked in a pasta factory and then a bakery on Wooster Street. He aspired for more and one day inspiration struck in the form of apizza, a style of pizza from his hometown of Naples. Frank first began selling his tomato pies by walking through the Wooster Square market, the pies stored on a uniquely fashioned headdress, eventually saving enough money to buy a wagon. His pies grew ever more popular and in June of 1925, Frank took over the bakery and established ``Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana.'' Frank met and married his wife Filomena and together they not only ran the pizzeria but raised a family. The business continued to flourish, employing a crew of relatives, some of whom branched out to open their own restaurants after learning the ropes at Pepe's. Over the years, both the menu and restaurant expanded as has the Pepe family. Today, Pepe's is a fourth-generation family-owned business that has built its reputation on two of its most famous pies. The first, known as a classic New Haven, is topped with tomatoes, grated pecorino cheese, garlic, oregano, and olive oil; and the second is a wholly New England inspired white clam, which boasts fresh clams, garlic, oregano, grated pecorino romano, and olive oil. The original location at 163 Wooster Street is now known as the Spot, and, if you find yourself dining there, enjoying a slice while drinking a Foxon Park soda, made by the Naclerio family in nearby East Haven since 1922, then you are probably eating the exact same meal in the exact same place that someone did 100 years ago. There is something special about New Haven apizza. Some say it is the coal-fire; some say the brick ovens; some say it is the char; some say it is the water used to make the dough. Personally, I believe it is generation after generation of dedication to the craft. One thing is for certain; it all began with Frank and Filomena Pepe, their entrepreneurial spirit and their dream of something their own. Wooster Square is the heart of New Haven's Italian American community and at its center are the immigrant families around which it grew. Frank and Filomena Pepe, the patriarch and matriarch of the Pepe family, were pillars of the Wooster Square community. They ran a successful business in the center of the neighborhood on Wooster Street and were deeply engaged with their community and neighbors. Today, the City they called home will recognize them by dedicating the street corner across from their fami]y business in their honor, a most fitting tribute to their invaluable and innumerable contributions. As a daughter of Wooster Square, a New Haven native, a Member of Congress, and a family friend, I am so proud to stand today to join all of those gathered in extending my heartfelt congratulations to the Pepe Family as they mark the centennial anniversary of Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletano. The legacy they have created, both as a successful business and as the epicenter of New Haven's pizza culture is indeed remarkable. As we say in Italian--One Hundred Years ``C'ent Anni.''

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and congratulate Amanda Barlow, for the 30 years of service she has given to the Federal Government at the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families. Ms. Barlow has been with ACF since 1994, when she joined the agency as a presidential management intern, and then as a budget analyst. She became the Director of Budget in 2009 and has served as the Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs and Budget since 2017. Ms. Barlow has also served in an acting capacity for several of ACF's executive leadership positions, including the acting ACF Commissioner from January to November 2021, and the acting Assistant Secretary for ACF from February to May 2017. Through her work overseeing a budget of more than $70 billion for ACF, Ms. Barlow has played a key role supporting the programs and services that provide critical assistance to vulnerable populations, including Head Start and Child Care services for millions of children and families, and the heating and cooling of millions of households through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Over the last 30 years, these programs have helped millions of children and families achieve prosperity and independence. In addition to overseeing the 60-plus programs ACF administers, Ms. Barlow has also served as ACF's liaison to the Committees on Appropriations. She has been an indispensable resource to the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. Her budgetary expertise and round-the-clock responsiveness has helped the Subcommittee to draft annual appropriations bills and emergency supplementals--for which I am deeply grateful. In 2024, Ms. Barlow earned the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service, one of the most prestigious awards in the Federal career civil service, which recognizes members of the Senior Executive Service for a sustained record of exceptional professional achievement. It was aptly awarded and richly deserved. I thank Ms. Barlow for her tireless public service--which often included long days, evenings, and weekends--as she worked to ensure that critical economic and social services programs funded through the agency had the necessary resources to serve millions of children and families in communities across the country. Her talents and contributions will be sorely missed. I congratulate Ms. Barlow on a distinguished career and wish her the best in her upcoming retirement. I hope her retirement gives her more time with family, including her husband and two children, and much success with her community garden plot.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I am opposed to this bill to aid and abet billionaires in stealing from the American people and which does nothing to help the American people with the cost of living. Since taking office, President Trump and Elon Musk unlawfully have stolen funds appropriated by Congress, passed by Republicans and Democrats in the House and in the Senate, and signed into law by the President, upending the separation of powers and our constitutional order. For what end? It is to hand billionaires and the biggest corporations, who already pay little or no taxes, another massive tax break. It is 4.5 trillion of taxpayers' dollars. Do the Republicans want to talk about wasting taxpayer dollars? This money is going to the wealthiest people and the biggest corporations. That is where they should save the money. They want to make our government so broken, so dysfunctional, so starved for resources, and so full of incompetent political lackeys and bereft of experts and professionals that its departments and agencies cannot feasibly achieve the goals and the missions to which they are lawfully directed. That is where we are going. Ultimately, they want to embrace privatization and give the biggest companies unchecked power. They want to rig the economy against the middle class, workers, and vulnerable families. They want to ensure the American people have no faith in the ability of government to do good in their lives. Mr. Speaker, there is no inherent authority for the President to impound and steal funds, and there never has been. I don't care if the President is Republican or Democrat. The late Justices Scalia and Rehnquist said so. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh have said so. By the way, they are no liberal torchbearers. The Department of Justice and the Government Accountability Office have said so. Over 200 years of American history say so. Our Founding Fathers designed our government so. Alexander Hamilton said: ``But where the purse is lodged in one branch, and the sword in another, there can be no danger.'' The power of the purse resides in the United States Congress. This rescissions package dated May 28, submitted June 3, 134 days after the President began unlawfully freezing funding, is an admission by President Trump and Russ Vought that they are breaking the law by impounding $425 billion in appropriated funds across the government. They do not care about the consequences for Americans. This is a bill to codify the rights of billionaires and to rubberstamp the right of billionaires to steal from rural and vulnerable American communities, children, and the global poor, for the sake of handing even more money to billionaires. Congress needs to fight for the middle class, for the working class, and for the most vulnerable, not to protect the interests of billionaires and big corporations. Members considering voting for this own the reckless cuts done by Elon Musk. This is a bill to shut down rural television and radio stations, cutting off coverage of local news, eliminating emergency information like severe weather alerts, and jeopardizing access to PBS KIDS children's programs like ``Sesame Street.'' This is a bill to rip lifesaving support away from the hungry, displaced, and sick people in developing countries and conflict zones across the globe and to end programs that treat deadly diseases and prevent pandemics. This is a bill to abandon the people of Ukraine while they resist Putin's tyranny. This is a bill to cut $400 million from PEPFAR, a paragon of American leadership that has saved the lives of 26 million mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. Instead of facing a death sentence, people supported by PEPFAR are raising families, building their communities, and helping their communities grow and develop. This is a bill that puts America last. When we retreat from the world diplomatically and through our assistance to vulnerable people, then America will be alone, without allies, and in a less stable world without the support of the international community. Mr. Speaker, do you know who will come out ahead? China, Russia, and Iran. When people in need see bags of food and flour coming through that say USA, that shows the power of the United States. That now will be traded for food aid from China. We are here today considering cuts after months of unlawful impoundment, stealing, that will conceal a Republican reconciliation bill to make the billionaires in America even more rich and increase the debt by $3 trillion. Mr. Speaker, you increase the debt. You rip health insurance away from at least 16 million Americans. This bill rescinds $9.4 billion, which Congress just appropriated not even 3 months ago. Now the President is asking the Congress to rubberstamp its proposal to steal from the American people without concern for the consequences. This bill does nothing to help the American people with the cost of living. The President said he was going to bring it down on the first day. He has done nothing but make it worse. Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose this bill which forfeits our global leadership, undermines national security, and steals from the American people to hand more wealth to billionaires. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Maine (Ms. Pingree), the distinguished ranking member of the Interior and Environmental Subcommittee of Appropriations.

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

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).

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