[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 11, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E20]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 SUPPORTING THE OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS AND CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS 
                               ACT, 2023

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 11, 2023

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, as we begin the 118th Congress 
and the new year, I want to take a moment to voice my strong support 
for the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Public Law 117-328. 
Given that this legislation will help so many, it is fitting that we 
enacted this bipartisan bill during the holiday season--a time of 
kindness and caring for others.
  As people struggle with higher costs, this law provides substantial 
help paying for food, housing, health care, childcare, and education. 
For example, a few notable provisions include:
  It increases affordable housing funding by 8 percent, including an 
expansion of vouchers for 12,000 households at risk of homelessness;
  It ensures that the 40 million children on Medicaid and CHIP have 
uninterrupted access to health care through the year by offering 
continuous coverage;
  It expands high-quality childcare and preschool by increasing the 
Child Care and Development Block Grant by $1.9 billion and Head Start 
by $950 million;
  It invests in mental health services for Medicare beneficiaries by 
expanding the physician workforce, creating a new outpatient benefit, 
and extending telehealth flexibilities for 2 years;
  It helps improve customer service by the Social Security 
Administration for seniors, people with disabilities, and survivors 
with an additional $785 million;
  It lowers food insecurity with an additional $13.4 billion for the 
SNAP program and by giving 29 million kids healthy meals during the 
summer with the creation of a permanent summer food program;
  It increases Pell Grants by $500, the largest increase in over a 
decade;
  It helps lower energy costs with $6.1 billion for the Low-Income Home 
Energy Assistance Program or LIHEAP;
  It helps individuals, families, and communities affected by disasters 
with $27 billion; and
  It strengthens retirement for Americans.
  I am very proud that this law includes 3 of my bills and over $24 
million to help my local organizations and constituents via community 
projects funding.
  The law includes The Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting 
Reauthorization Act of 2022 that provides historic funding for the 
Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program that funds 
evidence-based home visiting proven to improve mother and child health, 
family safety, and child development.
  It includes the Retirement Parity for Student Loans Act that improves 
retirement savings and lowers educational debt by allowing employers to 
make 401(k) matching payments for employees making student-loan 
payments, helping younger workers who currently cannot afford to save 
for their retirement to begin saving much sooner.
  In addition, the law includes key provisions of the Unclaimed Savings 
Bond Act that will help locate bondholders and heirs of unclaimed 
bonds, helping ordinary Americans claim the over $33 billion owed to 
them. Illinois citizens are owed over $1 billion in matured unredeemed 
savings bonds. Under current practice, Treasury has required 
bondholders and heirs who cannot produce the physical bond from 
redeeming those funds unless they are able to provide the serial number 
and other detailed information. This requirement likely affects poorer 
and elderly bondholders who face the most challenges in retaining all 
of their personal records and who hold a significant percentage of 
these bonds. Working with my colleague, Ron Estes, and other Ways and 
Means Members, the law included a fix to ensure that Treasury makes 
every effort to provide each state with the complete information, 
including the serial numbers, for bondholders in that state. Helping 
bondholders and their heirs redeem their investments is the clear 
purpose of the statute, and I will work with the executive branch to 
ensure it is carried out.
  Finally, this law delivers over $24 million to help my local 
organizations and constituents via community projects. These projects 
will: increase access to quality health, substance abuse, and mental 
health services; expand affordable and transitional housing; improve 
higher education for minority men; expand community well-being programs 
to improve community safety and economic security; help modernize one 
of our cherished local museums; improve the trauma-informed care system 
for children on the south and westsides; and provide high-caliber 
programming to youth.
  I am proud that the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, does so 
much to support individuals, families, communities, and businesses--
improving well-being, safety, and economic security. I look forward to 
seeing all the goods things that this law does unfold during 2023.

                          ____________________