Adriano Espaillat: “Today I rise in opposition to H.R. 4364, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act of 2024. First, let me thank Mr.…”

“Today I rise in opposition to H.R. 4364, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act of 2024. First, let me thank Mr. Amodei for his efforts and, of course, my Democratic staffers, Faye Cobb, Monica Garay, and Raquel Spencer, as well as our Republican staffers, Michelle Reinshuttle and Jacquelynn Ripke for their tireless contributions to this subcommittee. As the chairman indicated, the bill before us today includes $5.3 billion in discretionary appropriations to fund the offices of the House of Representatives and joint legislative branch items. It also has a decrease of 4.7 percent from the fiscal year 2023 enacted House level and a 2.4 percent decrease in total allocation including Senate items. This bill merely keeps the lights on, but it could and should have done so much better. Unfortunately, extreme MAGA culture war provisions have haunted all 12 of the House appropriations bills and, of course, legislative branch was not spared. This bill, too, contains provisions that harm diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and the LGBTQ+ community. Moreover, this bill does not allow legislative branch agencies to employ individuals under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the DACA program. These are young kids who are capable and have contributed to this Nation. All they are missing is a piece of paper, but they are Americans in every sense of the word you can imagine.…”