Lowey statement at conference committee meeting on FY 2019 Interior-Environment, Financial Services, Transportation-HUD, and Agriculture appropriations bill

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I am disappointed that, even as we have made so much progress on Defense and Labor-HHS-Education, we have been unable to do the same with this set of four bills.

House Democrats have insisted that we fund the important priorities in the Agriculture, Financial Services and General Government, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-HUD bills without divisive partisan riders.

If we are to have any hope of avoiding a Continuing Resolution on these bills, House Republicans must drop their insistence on poison pill riders that threaten our air and water and weaken protections for American consumers.

Until that happens, we will be forced to keep the important domestic priorities in these bills in a holding pattern. That will deprive American families, businesses, and communities of the certainty they deserve.

Finally, I once again must raise my strong objections to the Majority’s refusal to fund election security grants.

The Trump administration’s top national security officials have repeatedly warned about threats to our elections.

In fact, the esteemed former Senator from Indiana and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats recently said, and I quote, “the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack.”

Yet instead of shoring up our state election systems and reassure the American people about the integrity of their ballots, this Congress would rather stick its head in the sand and do nothing. That is shameful.

We can do so much better. Democrats are ready to stand with Republicans and fund these agencies on time.  But we have to leave the policy riders for the authorizing committees to do their jobs.