Barbara Lee: “Let me first thank our chair, Congresswoman DeLauro, for yielding and for her tremendous leadership throughout this…”

“Let me first thank our chair, Congresswoman DeLauro, for yielding and for her tremendous leadership throughout this overall process because, I tell you, this continuing resolution, it really should not be necessary. We have had ample time under the previous CR to complete bicameral, bipartisan negotiations to complete our full-year funding responsibilities, but not all parties have agreed to even come to the table. But Democrats are determined to keep our government open, so I urge everyone to support this continuing resolution. There are immense needs, though, and challenges outside our borders. We must complete our work on a full-year appropriations bill that provides the much-needed investments in diplomacy and development to meet those challenges. For far too long, we have had an imbalance between defense, diplomacy, and development. So I am very proud that the House passed the State-Foreign Operations bill, increasing funding for global health and pandemic response efforts, humanitarian assistance, and our commitment to key allies and partners. We must provide our international agencies the resources they need to defeat the global COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that we are taking the proper steps to protect ourselves in the future. The House bill also has a tripling of environmental funding from the prior year, which are critical investments to address climate change and accelerate the progress in adaptation of clean energy.…”