Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Defense, Interior-Environment, LHHS, and Homeland Security Bills

Committee approves Defense bill in 27-1 vote

Committee approves Interior-Environment bill in 28-0 vote

Committee approves LHHS bill in 26-2 vote

Committee approves Homeland Security bill in 24-4 vote

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee met and approved the Fiscal Year 2024 Defense; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; and Homeland Security appropriations bills.

“The bills before us today are the product of hard work from our Chairs and Ranking Members to make tough choices, under tough circumstances to address pressing challenges we face. They may not be what any one of us would have written on our own, but they are solid bills that provide necessary resources to keep our families safe and healthy, our military the best in the world, our economy strong, our communities growing and thriving, and to keep us moving forward—not back,” said Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) in her opening remarks. “As with the other eight bills we have already passed in overwhelming votes, these are serious, bipartisan bills that can actually be signed into law and which actually get our country and communities much-needed resources.”

At the conclusion of the markup, Chair Murray reflected on the significance of passing all twelve bills out of Committee.

“This Committee just finished passing all twelve individual appropriations bills in overwhelmingly bipartisan votes—and we did it before the end of July. Everyone who follows this process knows: that is a big deal,” said Chair Murray in her concluding remarks. “This is the first time since 2018 we have marked up all twelve of our bills—and the first time we’ve done it, actually, on live video. It is not mission accomplished. As we all know: we still have to get these bills passed through the full Senate, and the House, and signed into law, and I know that all of us are going to work really hard to get that done. But this is a really big deal.”

“I think what this Committee has achieved is good proof that it is possible to work together, that it is possible to make a real difference and to find common ground and produce serious, bipartisan bills that can be signed into law,” continued Chair Murray. “There is no reason for chaos or gridlock when it comes to making sure our government is funded—as this Committee has shown in working together this summer.”

Chair Murray’s full opening and closing remarks are available HERE. You can watch Chair Murray’s opening remarks HERE.

In a 27-1 vote, the Committee approved the Fiscal Year 2024 Defense Appropriations Bill.

The Fiscal Year 2024 Defense Appropriations Act provides $831.781 billion in total funding. The bill:

• Strengthens our deterrent capabilities and global readiness to maintain our edge with new investments to improve U.S. INDO-PACOM deterrence, improve readiness among the services and the National Guard and Reserve, bolster strategic modernization efforts, and more.
• Supports our servicemembers and their families with new resources to improve military housing, double enrollment in full-day universal pre-K, ensure survivors of sexual assault can seek justice, implement suicide prevention and response recommendations, and more.

“As Chairman of the Senate committee that sets the military’s budget, my top priority is making sure our armed forces have the necessary resources to defend our freedoms and keep our nation safe,” said Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. “I’m committed to securing a budget that invests in our ability to stay ahead of the threat of China, defend our country from foreign adversaries, and take care of our servicemembers and their families. Today’s markup was a critical step toward delivering for our military, and I look forward to getting our defense budget across the finish line.”

“This bill provides important new resources to make sure we maintain our edge as our competitors work to gain ground—with investments in our capabilities in critical regions like the Indo-Pacific and essential modernization efforts,” said Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Importantly, this bill also supports our servicemembers who put their lives on the line to keep our country safe with new funding so that military families can get the child care and early learning, mental health care, and other support they need.”

A summary of the bill is available HERE.

Final bill text, report, and adopted amendments will be available online later today HERE.

In a 28-0 vote, the Committee approved the Fiscal Year 2024 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.

The Fiscal Year 2024 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act provides $42.695 billion in total funding. The bill:

• Protects our environment, public lands, and Americans’ health, including by:
  • Delivering essential funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect our environment and people’s health—and increasing funding for EPA’s clean air and climate programs.
  • Protecting funding to conserve and manage our nation’s public lands.
• Funds essential wildfire preparedness and suppression efforts as wildfires grow in size and frequency across the nation, threatening communities, wildlife, and people’s health.
• Invests in Tribal communities and honors their sovereignty, including by:
  • Continuing to provide the historic advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service so it can provide essential health services to patients without interruption or uncertainty.
  • Boosting investments in Tribal schools, public safety and justice programs, and more.

“This Interior-Environment bill is the result of a bipartisan effort to meet our trust and treaty obligations to Tribes, protect our lands and waters, and ensure clean air and clean water—all in the face of tight budget constraints,” said Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. “This bill maintains strong funding for critical programs that we have built up investments for over the past two years, including $100 million for environmental justice, $2.76 billion for aging water infrastructure, and $5.6 billion for wildfire suppression and preparedness. Ranking Member Murkowski and I also made targeted increases to address some of the most pressing problems across the programs funded in the bill, such as an increase of $82 million in funding to staff newly constructed Indian Health Services facilities, an increase of $12.5 million to address Tribal public safety and justice issues including tribal jails suffering from overcrowding and staff retention, $10 million to support housing for Firefighters and National Park Service staff who are facing skyrocketing housing prices, which is limiting hiring and staff retention, and an increase of $2 million for protecting people from the health impact of wildfire smoke. Finally, I’m fully committed to making sure that wildland firefighters don’t get a pay cut on September 30th, and I look to a near-term supplemental funding package to lock in that funding.”

“For communities across our country to thrive, we have to keep investing in tackling the climate crisis and making sure we have clean water, clean air, and thriving ecosystems—and that’s what this bill helps do,” said Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “The funding this bill provides is critical in protecting our kids from polluted air and contaminated water, protecting our public lands and essential wildlife, and protecting communities from wildfire, droughts, and other climate threats. And this bill plays a critical role in making sure we keep our promises to Tribes and deliver on key federal investments by sustaining funding for the Indian Health Service and providing new resources to support Tribal families, protect Tribal treaty rights, and more.”

A full summary of the bill is available HERE.

Final bill text, report, and adopted amendments will be available online later today HERE.

In a 26-2 vote, the Committee approved the Fiscal Year 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.

The Fiscal Year 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill provides $224.4 billion in total discretionary funding. The bill:

• Protects workers’ rights and puts money back in their pockets by sustaining essential funding for the Department of Labor, key worker protection agencies, and workforce development funding.
• Strengthens our investments in students and families, including by:
  • Providing $700 million more in federal child care funding and $300 million more in funding for Head Start and other early learning programs.
  • Delivering $175 million more for both Title-A and IDEA Special Education State grants, which are the cornerstone federal investment in our nation’s K-12 schools.
  • Increasing the maximum Pell Grant by $250—for a total maximum award of $7,645—and providing additional funding for Federal Student Aid to support student borrowers, implement more affordable payment options, and address longstanding issues in student loan forgiveness programs.
• Bolsters lifesaving biomedical research and protects essential health care programs, including by:
  • Delivering new resources for NIH research into mental health, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, opioid use, maternal mortality, and more.
  • Protecting vital health care programs that support community health centers and the health care workforce, deliver services to patients across the country, address the maternal mortality crisis, and more.
  • Sustaining key investments in our nation’s public health and preparedness system, increasing funding for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, and more.
• Commits new resources to address the substance use disorder and mental health crises, including by:
  • Providing over $125 million more for opioid treatment and prevention.
  • Delivering $35 million more for the Mental Health Block Grant and new resources to support the workforce responding to the nationwide mental health crisis.

“Our bipartisan legislation improves the lives of working families, and I am proud to have delivered for the American people. This legislation will help communities across the country handle some of their toughest challenges, from fighting the scourge of fentanyl and combatting our mental health crisis to ensuring workers can get the skills they need to land a good-paying job,” said Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. “While parents across the country face the skyrocketing cost of child care, we came together to expand access to quality, affordable child care and early childhood education so kids get a strong start and parents can get back into the workforce. As we continue to work in a bipartisan manner towards signing the bill into law, I am going to be fighting to protect these investments because that is what Wisconsin working families need and deserve.”

“At root, this bill is about making sure kids and families across the country have the support they need to be able to thrive—and that’s why I am so glad that despite the challenging circumstances, we were able to sustain and build on absolutely critical investments in everything from health care and education to supporting workers and retirees,” said Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “This bill will help more families get the child care they need with another much-needed boost in child care funding, will make Pell Grants go farther for students, and will strengthen our investments in K-12 schools across the country. It will also deliver additional resources to address the growing opioid and mental health crises and to bolster medical breakthroughs that will give people more time with their loved ones. And I am really glad we were able to sustain critical funding to support workers and retirees, protect their rights, and put money back in their pockets—where it belongs.”

A full summary of the bill is available HERE.

Final bill text, report, and adopted amendments will be available online later today HERE.

In a 24-4 vote, the Committee approved the Fiscal Year 2024 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill.

The Fiscal Year 2024 Homeland Security Appropriations bill provides $61.3 billion in total discretionary funding. The bill:

• Helps goods and people move through our ports and borders in an orderly and timely way, including by delivering essential funding for processing at ports of entry.
• Strengthens capacity to stop the flow of fentanyl and disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations, including by:
  • Providing $719 million to improve the detection and seizure of fentanyl and other narcotics at ports of entry with new technology and personnel.
  • Investing $105 million in new resources to disrupt transnational criminal organizations and stop fentanyl and illicit drugs at their source.
• Supports the refugee resettlement program and addresses the work authorization backlog by sustaining vital funding for refugee resettlement to meet the refugee admissions goal of 125,000 in fiscal year 2024 and delivering new resources to process work authorizations.

“One of my top priorities as Chair was to ensure this budget supercharges our fight against fentanyl, and I’m proud this bill invests nearly $900 million in new money to dramatically step up our efforts to stop the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. and crack down on transnational criminal organizations. It also provides funding to reduce employment backlogs at USCIS, support the refugee resettlement program, and help communities build resiliency in the face of increasingly frequent extreme weather events. This is a bipartisan budget that gives DHS the necessary resources to tackle threats to national security and humanely manage our borders, and I look forward to getting it to the President’s desk,” said Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.

“Our economy depends on our ability to ensure goods and people can move through our ports and borders in an orderly and timely way—and our security depends on our ability to do this while stopping threats like fentanyl and trafficking of other illicit drugs, human trafficking, and more. That’s why the investments provided in this bill are so important,” said Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “This bill provides critical new funding to stop the flow of fentanyl at its source and at our borders to protect communities across our country, and it helps continue our long tradition of welcoming people from across the globe who are seeking safety from persecution and opportunities for a better life by funding our refugee resettlement program.”

A full summary of the bill is available HERE.

Final bill text, report, and adopted amendments will be available online later today HERE.

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