Responsibly Funding the Government 

Since assuming the majority in 2023, House Republicans have been fighting to rein in out-of-control Washington spending and responsibly fund the federal government. While the Senate did not take up a single appropriations bill individually, House Republicans passed over 70 percent of government funding to address our energy crisis, strengthen our national security, protect Americans’ rights, and more, while cutting unnecessary radical leftist agenda items from the paycheck. After fighting hard against President Biden and Senate Democrats, House Republicans secured a topline spending agreement that cuts non-defense, non-veterans spending for the first time in nearly a decade

This week, we’re bringing six of the appropriations bills to the floor in a package to ensure that vital programs are funded and remain available to hardworking Americans while prioritizing responsible spending and issues affecting our country every day: Agriculture; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; Energy and Water Development; Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; Interior and Environment; and Commerce, Justice and Science.

The Agriculture bill rejects President Biden's effort to hire thousands more DC-based bureaucrats and instead encourages hiring at local offices that understand farmers' needs. It fights China by including the Agriculture secretary on CFIUS for agriculture-related issues and requiring the Secretary to report foreign purchases of farmland to CFIUS when there could be a national security impact. It directs funding towards established programs that directly help farmers and other Americans and rejects funding for new programs proposed by President Biden. 

The Commerce, Justice, and Science bill uses the power of the purse to rein in abusive agencies. It responds to FBI overreach by cutting their operations budget by $654 million (6%) and their construction budget by $622 million (95%). It reduces the ATF’s budget by $122 million (7%). Meanwhile, the bill provides critical resources for state and local law enforcement through grant programs and increases funding for DEA to combat fentanyl. It also includes conservative policy riders blocking DOJ from targeting parents who exercise their first amendment rights at school board meetings or churches exercising their freedom of religious belief.

The Energy and Water bill funds infrastructure projects across the country through the Army Corps of Engineers, boosts the development of technologies for critical mineral extraction and processing, and modernizes our nuclear weapons complex to ensure we can deter threats from China and other adversaries. It also blocks the Department of Energy from selling oil to China from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, giving money to China or other entities of concern, and limits access for Chinese and Russians to sensitive nuclear weapons facilities. 

The Interior bill shrinks the regulatory state and prevents anti-energy policies. It cuts the EPA’s budget by $977 million (nearly 10%) and reduces the Fish and Wildlife Service budget by $51 million while limiting new hiring and pay raises. It maintains legacy policy riders and rejects Democrat proposals to increase inspection fees on offshore oil and gas production and create new fees for onshore production.

The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill preserves veterans’ second amendment rights by blocking the VA from sending their names to NICS without due process, and funds military infrastructure including new facilities in the Indo-Pacific to enhance our posture against China and family housing for our servicemembers and their loved ones. 

The Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development bill cuts funding for Department of Transportation (DOT) and Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) grant programs overfunded by Democrats last Congress, targets increases for transportation safety including air travel, prevents the DOT from imposing COVID-19 mask mandates, and reinforces the ban on illegal immigrants receiving housing subsidies. 

H.Res. __, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, introduced by Rep. Kay Granger, responsibly funds the government by cutting wasteful non-defense programs while ensuring our national security remains strong with strategic increases in defense spending, and makes the first overall cut to non-defense, non-VA spending in about a decade –  building on House Republicans promise to rein in out-of-control government spending.

House Republicans will never stop working to ensure that our government stays open and serving the American people while also spending hard-earned taxpayer dollars responsibly and on issues affecting Americans’ daily lives.