[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 46 (Thursday, March 14, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2394-S2396]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Appropriations

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, we have now at long last passed our first 
six funding bills for fiscal year 2024. While we are still now working 
around the clock on the final six bills, I am hopeful we will pass them 
in a timely, bipartisan way very soon. But I do want to take a moment 
to step back and really dive into the six bills that we did pass last 
week and what they mean for my home State of Washington.
  I come to work every day focused on how I can use my voice here to 
help folks back home. When I sit down at any negotiating table, I bring 
with me the stories of every parent who is struggling to afford 
childcare or groceries or rent; every farmer and fisher whose 
livelihood depends on our crops, our salmon, and our environment; every 
researcher focused on making the next big breakthrough; every mayor 
focused on improving our infrastructure; and every young person who is 
concerned about climate change and our most basic rights.
  And I take those voices that I hear at home in Washington State--the 
people I meet--into every room I enter and write their concerns into 
every bill I negotiate. It is a responsibility I take very seriously, 
especially as chair of the Appropriations Committee.
  And I am thrilled to say the legislation that we passed last Friday--
the bill I wrote with my colleagues--includes more than a billion 
dollars I helped secure for local projects and programs in Washington 
State and delivers a historic $3 billion investment for the Hanford 
site cleanup.
  I have practically been a broken record in saying the Federal 
Government has a moral and legal obligation to properly fund the 
cleanup at Hanford. Our work is far from done. But with this historic 
$3 billion investment, we are moving in the right direction.
  And as long as I am Appropriations chair, I am going to make sure we 
keep up that momentum. No matter what, we are not going to shortchange 
the vital cleanup mission at Hanford.
  We are facing a housing crisis. And it has been especially hard on 
families in Washington State. That is why I fought hard to make sure 
that bill protected and strengthened programs that help families afford 
the cost of housing and help keep families in their homes.
  At the Federal level here, that means homeless assistance grants, 
eviction prevention grants, and Native American Housing Block Grants, 
rental assistance programs, programs that help people develop economic 
independence and help keep kids with their parents, and vital 
investments to maintain our Nation's affordable housing supply.
  But it is not just funding for key national efforts that help 
Washington State. I am especially proud to have secured funding through 
congressionally directed spending for the Aurora senior housing 
development for seniors in Seattle, which will have 90 housing units.
  That is a great start, but I know we have a lot more work to do when 
it comes to tackling the housing crisis. And I will keep pushing for 
progress with my colleagues every day.
  In addition to the roof over their heads, families need food on the 
table. I held a roundtable in Seattle a few weeks ago, talking with 
experts and even a mom who depended on WIC; and as I told them, I take 
this personally.
  I remember what it was like when my family fell on tough times and we 
had to rely on food stamps. Making cuts that leave our kids hungry was 
never an option for me, which is why I fought tooth and nail to make 
sure that bill fully funded WIC, which serves over 130,000 moms and 
kids just in my home State of Washington.
  And we fully funded the brandnew permanent summer nutrition program I 
established--Summer EBT--which will now help feed half a million kids 
in Washington State alone this summer.
  Plus, I secured $1.8 million for the South Kitsap Helpline. This is a 
resource for struggling families to help expand food distribution. In 
the richest country in the world, there is no reason to leave our 
families hungry. It is really that simple.
  Now, another important need for working families in Washington State, 
like in every other State, is childcare. I hear about the childcare 
crisis everywhere I go.
  We are still negotiating the bill that funds the actual Federal 
investments in childcare. But guess what. For parents to have access to 
childcare, we need physical childcare centers close to where people 
live.
  So a big priority of mine in the last package was working with local 
organizations to help them build or expand their childcare centers. And 
so through Congressionally Directed Spending, we are going to be 
constructing an early learning center in the Meridian School District 
and another in Lewis County that will serve 80 students a year; 
building 17 early childhood education classrooms at the Cora Whitley 
Family Center in Tacoma; and relocating a Head Start facility for the 
Spokane Tribe Indians.
  We also provided new funding to design child development centers to 
expand access to childcare for our military families, something I know 
we need more of.
  I remain focused on protecting and strengthening the Child Care 
Development Block Grant now as we negotiate the next set of bills.
  And I will always work to pass my Childcare for Working Families Act, 
but I will keep fighting alongside that for every step of progress we 
can make.

[[Page S2395]]

  In addition to investments to support our families, I worked hard to 
pass funding for local projects that support our cities and our 
communities. Congressionally Directed Spending I secured will help 
Grant County upgrade security at its district court, Bainbridge Island 
build a brandnew visitors center at the Japanese American Exclusion 
Memorial, and the Indian American Community Services in Kent rebuild a 
community hub that will offer everything from small business support to 
early learning services.
  Funds I secured will also support city efforts to improve public 
safety and make our justice system work better for everyone. And for 
the first time ever, the funding bill we passed includes $10 million 
for a new grant program to increase access to sexual assault nurse 
exams.
  I worked very hard alongside Washington State advocate Leah Griffin. 
She bravely shared her story with me about her sexual assault. And we 
worked together to pass a new law and fund programs to help survivors 
get the care and exams they need to pursue justice--from a story Leah 
came to my office with, to a conversation I had with her directly, to 
years of advocacy and coalition building on the Hill together, to 
passing a new law--and now funding a new program to help survivors.
  It is so important to me that my constituents know anyone can make a 
difference and have a voice in their government. And Leah's story and 
her voice made a difference. I am so proud of her.
  I also worked to secure local funding for projects like a public 
safety radio network in Kittitas and Okanogan Counties and mental and 
therapeutic court programs in Spokane, Tacoma, and Stevens County.
  I was just in Tacoma talking to city officials and others about the 
partnerships they are building around mental and behavioral healthcare. 
And I am overjoyed to be able to help and tell them the good news that 
new Federal resources are on the way to support their efforts.
  As another example, I secured a half a million dollars for CHOOSE 
180. This is an organization in Burien that is focused on mentoring 
youth and helping them stay out of trouble and build a brighter future 
for themselves.
  I visited last month, and I got to hear firsthand from amazing young 
adults who participated in that program. This organization is changing 
lives for the better. And I am so proud of the work that they are 
doing.
  Infrastructure, critically important. In the bills we passed last 
week, there are many, many important investments to help build our 
cities, update their infrastructure, make the streets in downtowns work 
better for pedestrians, commuters, and families. And that includes 
safety and accessibility improvements and funding for infrastructure 
projects in my home State of Washington--in Cle Elum, in Pierce County, 
in Spokane, in Seattle, in the Heights District development project in 
Vancouver, and Walla Walla, as well as road projects being undertaken 
by the Lummi Nation and the Makah Indian Tribe.
  Speaking of pedestrians and commuters, we cannot forget about the 
investments in public transit in this bill. I am thrilled to say I 
secured new funds in this bill for Sound Transit light rail extension 
projects to Ballard, West Seattle, and Lynnwood.
  And I have to say, House Republicans wanted to cut funding for public 
transit in their bill to a level where the Lynnwood Link simply would 
not have had the Federal dollars it needed to get done.
  I made sure we stood firm on funding the Capital Investment Grants 
program. And because of that, we are now going to deliver the full 
Federal funding this program needs to get across the finish line.
  There is also funding in this bill for upgraded bus shelters in 
Pierce County, a regional transit facility on Whidbey Island. And let's 
talk about our ferries. When it wasn't easy enough under the toplines 
in this bill--they were tough--I was able to secure millions in 
additional funding for the Federal Passenger Ferry Grant Program and 
include, for the first time ever, language to make sure Washington 
State Ferries can now apply for the rural ferry grant program.
  I can't talk about ferries without talking about our harbors and our 
ports and our waterways. This package includes a historic $2.77 billion 
for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund and new language I have worked 
hard to get in to make sure Washington State ports get their fair share 
for those funds.
  There are also other crucial investments in our waterways and water 
infrastructure; millions for maintenance and repairs to the locks of 
Lake Washington Ship Canal--better known by everyone back home as the 
Ballard Locks--and preconstruction work at Tacoma Harbor; to say 
nothing of the bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds that are pouring 
into our communities. It is so important to all of us.
  There is also funding for wastewater treatment projects at Soap Lake, 
Snoqualmie Pass, and to help the Discovery Clean Water Alliance return 
more clean water to the Columbia River.
  I also worked to protect our State's incredible natural beauty and 
resources by fighting off devastating cuts and policy riders that House 
Republicans wanted to make to critical environmental and conservation 
programs.
  This bill that we passed will help our State conserve new public 
lands, including in San Juan Island National Historical Park, the 
Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, and the Okanogan-Wenatchee National 
Forest to protect the Yakama and Wenatchee watersheds. And there are 
funds for the Mt. Adams Forest project.
  I also secured full funding for essential Federal wildfire programs 
and protected a hard-earned pay raise for our brave Federal 
firefighters.
  And, of course, there are investments to protect and restore our 
salmon populations, because everyone knows how essential salmon are to 
our economy at home and our current culture in Washington State. So I 
fought hard for investments in this bill to support salmon, on top of 
everything I have already mentioned.
  Under tough constraints, I managed to either protect or build on 
Federal investments in Puget Sound restoration efforts; the Yakima 
Basin integrated plan; the Northwest Straits Initiative that I created; 
the National Marine Fisheries Service, including hatchery operations; 
and Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund.
  Last year, I joined leaders from the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, local 
environmental advocates, and experts to track evasive European green 
crab. This is something I never heard of before the last few years. But 
they are now invading Washington waters, and I learned more about the 
threat that they pose to our native species. And I am very glad to say 
we now have funding to help fight that invasive green crab and language 
calling for a coordinated Federal approach to this threat.
  Another crucial investment: a much-needed $50 million down payment 
for the fish passage project at the Howard Hanson Dam. And I am so glad 
the President's fiscal year '25 budget that just came out requested 
$500 million to build that fish passage facility. And you can bet I 
will be working to fund that request and finish the job in next year's 
funding bills.
  Of course, how we manage our water resources doesn't matter to just 
our fish. It is also critical to our communities and farmers, which is 
why I am pleased we could also include funds in this bill to improve 
drinking water systems in Dupont and Mattawa and support bridge 
replacement in Adams and Grant Counties as part of the Odessa 
Groundwater Replacement Project, which is critical to improving 
irrigation for our farmers and matters so much to our State's economy.
  And I fought hard to secure other critical investments to support our 
farmers as well.
  Last year, I visited WSU for the groundbreaking of their new Plant 
Sciences Building, which will be at the forefront of responding to 
challenges Washington State farmers are facing right now.
  And I am thrilled to build on that progress by delivering investments 
in this bill to support researchers at WSU, UW, and the USDA center in 
Prosser, WA, as they tackle issues like little cherry disease, 
livestock resiliency, pollution from tires, pulse crop quality, and 
more.
  Of course, when it comes to cutting-edge research, agriculture is 
just one of

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the many fields for where I am very proud to see Washington State 
researchers leading the way. Whether it is quantum computing in 
Bothell, clean energy in Tri-Cities at PNNL, or aerospace work in Kent 
and across western Washington, this bill will propel the innovation 
that is happening in my State.
  And through Congressionally Directed Spending, this bill will help 
fund new scientific equipment at Gonzaga's Bollier Center for 
Integrated Science and Engineering, Evergreen State College in Olympia, 
and Western Washington University's Advanced Technology Laboratory--not 
to mention funding for WSU to upgrade its electron microscope and 
develop a new nuclear hot cell facility; and for UW's Tidal-Powered 
Ocean Observation project in its new lab in Tacoma.
  I couldn't leave the floor today without talking about the critical 
investments in this bill that we made for our veterans and our 
servicemembers. As chair of the MILCON-VA subcommittee and the proud 
daughter of a World War II veteran, I worked hard to make sure our 
funding bill lived up to our Nation's commitment to every man and woman 
who serves in uniform.
  This bill fully funds our veterans' medical care and delivers record 
investments to tackle veteran homelessness, strengthen mental health 
services, and support women veterans' healthcare needs.
  I also worked hard to secure funding for new barracks and a parachute 
rigging facility at Joint Base Lewis-McChord; build storage tanks and 
fuel supply at Point Manchester; update electrical infrastructure at 
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard; and advance other projects across 
Washington State bases like equipment, maintenance, and training 
facilities.
  I also made sure our Senate bill reallocated $19 million to build 88 
new homes at Smokey Point for our servicemembers and their families who 
are stationed at Naval Station Everett. I am proud to have gotten this 
through our final bill to help address a major need for more military 
houses in Snohomish County.
  When it comes to support for our veterans and our VA facilities, I 
pushed to make sure this bill contains funding to help the American 
Lake VA Medical Center upgrade its facilities so they can provide 
quality care and for funding for the Tahoma National Cemetery and its 
work to ensure we honor the veterans we have lost.
  Mr. President, I just covered a lot of ground, so I will wrap things 
up. The bottom line is: While these first six funding bills are not the 
bills I would have written on my own, they do protect absolutely 
critical programs and make needed investments in Washington State and 
every State in America. Again, let's be clear: We are not done yet. I 
am working to make sure we see similar results for people in Washington 
State and across the country in the remaining six bills that we are 
working on right now, this minute.
  I am going to keep bringing the concerns I bring with me to every 
negotiating room for my constituents and work to get solutions to help 
them with every bill that I pass.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Fetterman). The Senator from Texas.