[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 65 (Friday, May 1, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E640-E641]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        H.R. 2028 AND H.R. 2029

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 1, 2015

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I voted against H.R. 2028, the FY16 
Energy and Water Appropriations Act and H.R. 2029, the FY16 Military 
Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, because they 
failed to provide funding for programs that help our veterans, protect 
the environment, and grow a

[[Page E641]]

clean energy economy. We should be able to do better than this.
  The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill is 
usually something that we can all find common ground on--the importance 
of standing up for our nation's veterans transcends partisan battles. 
This year, however, the bill Republican leadership put on the floor not 
only shortchanged our veterans and servicemen and women, but the modest 
increase in spending over last year's bill will require cuts to 
critical public spending on education, health care, and infrastructure 
in later appropriations bills. Even veterans service organizations like 
Veterans of Foreign Wars urged opposition. The bill also included a 
policy rider preventing the transfer of detainees from the Guantanamo 
Bay detention facility, a prison whose very existence undermines 
America's security and international standing. Further, part of the 
spending of this bill is through the Overseas Contingency Operations 
(OCO) fund, an unrelated war slush-fund that is exempt from all budget 
caps.
  During consideration of this bill, I offered an amendment that would 
have allowed VA doctors to recommend medical marijuana to their 
patients in the states where it was legal if they so choose. Our 
veterans should have the same medicines available to them as everyone 
else, and we should not prohibit VA doctors from consulting with their 
patients in accordance with their medical training and state law. I am 
disappointed that my amendment very narrowly failed, but I remain 
encouraged that we continue to build momentum in this issue, and gained 
significantly more bipartisan support than last year.
  The Energy and Water appropriations bill, while it contains some 
infrastructure funds that are critical to ports, waterways and freight 
movement integral to Oregon's economy, ultimately contained too many 
provisions bad for the environment for me to support. It prohibits the 
Army Corps of Engineers from finalizing and implementing rules to 
ensure clean water in streams and wetlands that provide drinking water 
for one in three Americans. It dramatically underfunds renewable energy 
support programs, while propping up fossil fuels and nuclear weapons 
spending, and delivers deep cuts to programs that assist low income 
families with energy bills. It also contains nonsense amendments, such 
as a measure to prevent the Department of Energy from implementing a 
law requiring incandescent light bulbs to be more energy efficient, 
even though American manufacturers have already adopted the new 
standard.
  In addition, both of these bills adhere to the Republican budget's 
overall spending caps that account for sequestration. These caps 
reflect the lowest discretionary spending we've seen in ten years, and 
we simply cannot continue to cut government programs that are so 
critical to environmental protection, health, education, economic 
stability and defense.

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