March 22, 2024
Today Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-04) released the following statement after voting in support of the FurtherConsolidated Appropriations Act of 2024 that includes cuts in wasteful spending while boosting funding for the southern border and national security interests.
“I am proud to support these final government funding bills as a testament to what we set out to do; cut spending in wasteful areas and support our national security,” said. Rep. Dan Newhouse, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
Newhouse continued, “What we have here is a delivery on the promise we made last January to rein in the out-of-control spending that we’ve seen under one-party rule in D.C. No spending bill in the history of the Congress has been perfect, and none will ever be, but people sent us here to fight for a sense of fiscal sanity, and we delivered.”
“I thank Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger for her leadership and willingness to include many of my funding priorities around securing our border in this bill.”
Today’s vote included the following federal spending bills brought forward by the House Appropriations Committee that prevent a government shutdown, which cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and achieve no conservative wins:
- Defense
- Financial Services and General Government
- Homeland Security
- Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
- Legislative Branch
- Department of State and Foreign Operations
The following items were requested by Rep. Newhouse and included in the final bill:
- $19.9 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. An increase of $3.2 billion over fiscal year 2023.
- $2.5 billion provided for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations.
- $283.5 million for border technology with a requirement to fund at least as many Autonomous Security Towers as last year.
- $982,000 provided for Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers for additional state, local, tribal, territorial, and campus law enforcement training.
Highlights
- Provides a $27 billion increase over the FY23 enacted level, and directs that funding to critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC, increasing counternarcotics efforts, and investing in quality-of-life initiatives for servicemembers and their families.
- Maxes out production of critical munitions.
- Invests in next-generation fighter aircraft, helicopters, tactical combat vehicles, and submarines.
- Funds the largest increase (5.2%) in basic military pay in over 20 years.
- Cuts $574 million from wasteful climate change programs and projects in the President’s Budget Request, retaining 79% of cuts included in the House bill.
- Takes back $10.2 billion from the Administration, partially defunding President Biden’s supercharged army of 85,000 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents.
- Prevents the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) recent efforts to ban gas stoves, which would reduce consumer choice.
- Funds 22,000 Border Patrol Agents, which is consistent with H.R. 2 and the highest level ever funded and provides $125 million for increases to Border Patrol overtime pay authorized by the NDAA.
- Fully supports basic biomedical research investigating cures for cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, and other chronic and rare diseases.
- Targets resources to rural communities, including vital telehealth and opioid response resources.
A summary of the bills can be found here.
Full bill text can be found here.