Chellie Pingree: “I thank the gentleman for yielding the time. I, too, rise to support the fiscal year 2024 Consolidated Appropriations…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding the time. I, too, rise to support the fiscal year 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act. I particularly thank Ranking Member DeLauro for her leadership and perseverance in working on this. I also thank my chair on the committee, Chairman Simpson, who is a pleasure to work with. I appreciate his collaboration and partnership throughout this process. I thank Chairwoman Granger for her work on this and to all the staff who have made all the difference in us being able to put this together. As my colleague, Chairman Simpson, said, this wasn't necessarily an easy bill. It is never easy to make cuts to programs that I consider vital and particularly important to what we do, but I am pleased that this bill continues our investments to care for our planet, fight the climate emergency, and meet our trust obligations to Tribal nations. This bill rejects the $13 billion in devastating cuts imposed in the House Republican bill originally and does not include more than 100 poison pill policy riders. The bill provides necessary resources to deal with the threat of wildfires in the West and additional funding to continue the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's pay supplement for wildland firefighters. The bill also protects arts and humanities, maintaining the enacted funding level for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, supporting arts in communities across this country.…”