[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 16, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          H.R. 244, THE FY2017 CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT

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                           HON. GARRET GRAVES

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 16, 2017

  Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I did not ultimately support 
this legislation, however, there is much contained within the bill's 
almost 1700 pages of statutory text in addition to the explanatory 
statement that will advance the safety, security and economy of our 
great nation.
   The bill includes $551.1 billion in base defense discretionary 
funding and $76.99 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO)/
Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) defense funding. The total FY2017 
defense funding is $598.5 billion, $25.7 billion over FY16 levels, and 
includes $21 billion in new funding requested by the Administration. 
These funds provide for our national defense, pay our troops, and 
provide the resources and equipment our military needs to restore 
readiness, and protect our national security. I support these amounts 
to ensure American troops have what they need as we continue to engage 
threats to our national and homeland security around the world. Mr. 
Speaker, this bill also takes the first of many steps toward additional 
border security improvements by providing $1.5 billion for critical 
funding for infrastructure, innovative technology, and agents at the 
border.
   Other key provisions that I support include putting appropriate 
parameters in place for the Environmental Protection Agency; and 
providing $50 million in additional current-year funding for the 
Department of Veterans Affairs to improve opioid and substance abuse 
prevention and treatment for veterans.
   Mr. Speaker, the bill also and importantly provides $57.7 billion 
for our nation's infrastructure, provides funding consistent with 
authorized levels in the FAST Act, which I was involved in crafting, 
and $948 million in additional disaster relief for the Emergency Relief 
Program and Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery 
assistance. Importantly, the bill includes $15 million that I requested 
for the state and local law enforcement agencies through the Bureau of 
Justice Assistance. These agencies experienced so many challenges over 
the last several months. These challenges include a police-involved 
shooting on July 5, 2016 and subsequent violent protests, the ambush 
and murder of Baton Rouge City Police and East Baton Rouge Parish 
Sheriff Deputies on July 17, 2016 and a 1000-year flood event in mid-
August of the same year. Five of our officers were shot in the ambush 
and the flood resulted in the loss of an estimated 100 police vehicles, 
critical law enforcement equipment, weapons and personal and family 
losses for many of our peacekeepers.
   Mr. Speaker, ultimately I could not vote for this bill despite the 
numerous provisions I support because appropriating over a trillion 
dollars in thousands of pages of new text over a few days does not 
afford the degree of transparency and consideration that I believe we 
should have. Further, the bill represents a lost opportunity to deliver 
on the commitment towards the recovery needs of tens of thousands of 
flood victims in my district and state of Louisiana. As I mentioned, 
there are provisions that can help, like providing some assistance 
through Community Development Block Grants--of which Louisiana victims 
will receive a small. Yet this funding varies wildly from the assessed 
needs of both HUD and the state. This is wholly inadequate given the 
scale of the flood event that struck Louisiana last August. That is why 
I offered four amendments to the bill that would have increased the 
total amount of Community Development Block Grants available to 
disaster impacted areas by $750 million, made $100 million available 
for Army Corps projects like the Comite River Diversion Canal to reduce 
the risk of future flood events, and provide much needed relief for our 
local school districts as they seek to rebuild and reopen 8 months 
after the flood. These amendments were not ultimately adopted, but I 
will continue to fight and advocate for these priorities and more as we 
work on a FY2018 funding bill.
   Mr. Speaker, I feel strongly about the federal government's need to 
balance the budget, eliminate deficits and pay on the national debt. 
There is this misconception that under-funding CDBG-DR recovery 
assistance saves money. The reality is that we requested a fraction of 
the per capita assistance afforded to the victims of Hurricane Sandy 
and this calculation excludes the tens of billions of recovery funding 
provided in other federal programs. We have no desire to be greedy, but 
Americans need to know that when a catastrophic event occurs their 
government will be there--that we have their back. We have already seen 
many leave our community, bankruptcies, homes foreclosed, flood victims 
selling their homes for a fraction of the pre-flood value and many 
still living in tents, travel trailers, gutted homes and other 
inappropriate conditions. Rather than tailoring an appropriate response 
for this extraordinary flood, our own government's bureaucracy at the 
state and federal level are contributing to the pain rather than easing 
it. We can and should do better.

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