John Culberson: “It is important for the House to oppose this amendment because, as in our personal lives or our business lives, the…”

“It is important for the House to oppose this amendment because, as in our personal lives or our business lives, the Appropriations Committee has prioritized the very precious and scarce, hard-earned taxpayer dollars that we are entrusted to appropriate to make sure that they are spent on the most urgent priorities first. We do not want to cut, as Mrs. Blackburn would, the FBI. We do not want to cut our operations of our cybersecurity forces, as Mrs. Blackburn would. I do not want to cut the work that is being done by our law enforcement officials across the country, as Mrs. Blackburn would. This amendment would also cut, for example, the good work that is being done by the U.S. Marshals Service. This would cut the 55 new immigration judges that we have included in the bill. This would cut the amount of money we set aside for the operation of our prison system, of the ATF, all Federal law enforcement agencies that perform such a vital role. We prioritized them and made sure they are protected from cuts. I would oppose this amendment on the basis that we do not want to cut Federal law enforcement. We also don't want to cut our Nation's investment in the sciences and the National Science Foundation or our work to preserve America's leadership role in space exploration. We want to make sure that we are doing all that we can to accelerate our work in bringing American astronauts back into space on an American-made rocket as quickly as possible. This amendment would cut NASA.…”