[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 183 (Tuesday, October 19, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7043-S7044]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I just want my colleagues to know that the 
Senate Appropriations Committee, yesterday, released nine 
appropriations bills. They allocate important resources and they help 
to address the pressing priorities of America's families and 
communities, but they also promote U.S. national security.
  For more than a decade, this country has underinvested in our 
children, in our infrastructure, in science, and in public health. 
Frankly, that means we underinvested in our future.
  These bills include historic increases to educate our Nation's 
children, to combat climate change, promote affordable housing, and 
improve healthcare. I am proud of the work of the committee in 
producing these bills, and I commend each of the subcommittee chairs 
for their commitment to America's future.
  Now, the bills comply with the topline spending allocation contained 
in the fiscal year 2022 budget resolution passed by both the House and 
the Senate earlier this year.
  So you combine this with the three bills reported from the 
Appropriations Committee in August, the bills provide a 13-percent 
increase for nondefense discretionary programs and a 5-percent increase 
for defense programs compared to what fiscal year 2021 enacted.
  The 5-percent increase for defense programs, that is consistent with 
the National Defense Authorization Act, NDAA, which was reported by the 
Senate Armed Services Committee on an overwhelming bipartisan vote, and 
it passed the House last month again with overwhelming bipartisan 
support.

[[Page S7044]]

  The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill makes long 
overdue investments to help care for and educate our Nation's children, 
including doubling the funding for Title I-A grants to local 
educational Agencies. That program I mentioned is the foundation of 
Federal support to schools across this country.
  It also increases funding for the Child Care and Development Block 
Grant by 23 percent, and Head Start by 11 percent. We do this to 
provide high-quality childcare and education to working families across 
the Nation.
  It provides a 24-percent increase over last year for the Centers for 
Disease Control. That is done to strengthen U.S. public health 
infrastructure. We know we have to do that in the wake of a global 
pandemic that has created terrible problems in that area.
  The Commerce, Justice, Science bill provides historic funding levels 
for the Department of Justice Violence Against Women Act programs. That 
is a 48-percent increase over the last fiscal year. It is the largest 
appropriation for the Violence Against Women Act since its creation.
  The Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development bill includes 
significant increases to reduce homelessness and improve housing 
conditions and increase affordability--something that touches all 50 of 
our States.
  The Interior bill includes significant resources to promote 
conservation, to preserve our natural infrastructure, and to protect 
our Federal lands. And we made climate change front and center when 
drafting these bills, and each contains new and critical funding to 
help combat this challenge.
  For example, for the first time ever, we invested $54 million in a 
new Climate Conservation Corps; and we provide historic increases, 46 
percent over last year, for EPA's air and climate program. And, for the 
first time in 4 years, the U.S. will contribute to the Green Climate 
Fund and the Clean Technology Fund, rejoining the international fight--
it has to be an international fight--against climate change. We had a 
global retreat with the last President. The United States is standing 
up again and is back in the game.
  We also make historic investments in medical research. I don't know 
anybody who doesn't want us to always improve our medical research. It 
ensures that America remains on the cutting edge of advanced medical 
science and research. So we put a 6-percent increase for the National 
Institutes of Health, and $2.4 billion to create the first ever 
Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, and that is because of 
the President's bold and promising proposal to accelerate the pace of 
breakthroughs in medicine.
  And, finally, the bills contain critical funding increases for mental 
and behavioral health services and to combat substance abuse--something 
that is a problem in every single State. These funds are desperately 
needed, as we saw the rates of anxiety and depression soar during the 
COVID-19 pandemic and drug overdose deaths are expected to reach their 
highest levels to date.
  Now, these are just some of the highlights of the important programs 
funded in the nine bills we released yesterday. They make a real 
difference in the lives of millions of Americans, especially after 
the tough year and a half we faced with COVID-19. These bills 
demonstrate the good work we can do with a topline in fiscal year 2022 
budget resolution, which was passed by the Senate and the House earlier 
this year.

  Now, I wish we could have followed regular order and done these bills 
in committee, but our Republican colleagues said they would prevent any 
additional consideration of bills until we have a negotiated topline. I 
cannot and will not allow that to stop our work. It would be 
irresponsible. We need to move the ball forward. In posting these 
bills, we show the American people what we are for.
  Now, some on the other side of the aisle may characterize these bills 
as partisan. That is simply not true. In the spirit of comity and 
bipartisanship, which is the tradition of our Appropriations Committee, 
we worked hard to accommodate the funding priorities of all Members, 
both Democrats and Republicans. And the posted bills reflect that 
effort with many, many, many of the priorities of Republicans and many 
of the priorities of Democrats.
  I am proud of the work of this committee in producing these bills, 
but our job is not done. The Federal Government is existing under and 
operating under a continuing resolution only until December 3. Time can 
go by very quickly around here. Between now and then, it is imperative 
that we make progress on negotiating a topline--one that is bipartisan 
and bicameral--so we can enact these bills into law.
  I think we struck the right balance with the bills we produced and 
made public this week. As with everything in Congress, we rarely end 
where we begin.
  So I look forward to working with Chair DeLauro, Ranking Member 
Granger, and Vice Chairman Shelby to move this process forward with the 
goal of enacting all 12 bills by December 3.
  If we fail to do that, then we face a long-term continuing 
resolution, which would lock in outdated spending priorities that will 
not serve the American people, will not meet the challenges of today, 
and, unfortunately, will not contain those things that both Republicans 
and Democrats have asked and were submitted and included in the bills 
that we have put in.
  I know that my friend and colleague from Texas is waiting to speak.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.