The Daily Record

House Appropriations Getting the Job Done

by: Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11)

10/30/17

The conventional wisdom is that Washington is broken. However, if one were to go looking for what actually works in Congress, one need only look to the House Committee on Appropriations.

This committee, charged with providing the funding for every federal government program, agency and office, passed 28 bills this year alone. This total includes the “regular” FY 2017 and the FY 2018 appropriations bills, several stopgap “Continuing Resolutions” and two emergency disaster assistance bills to aid the victims of hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. These 28 bills were developed, drafted, debated and passed between January and October of 2017, upholding Congress’ authority under the Constitution to fund our obligations at home and abroad. In essence, we completed more than two appropriations cycles in just eight months.

The ultimate achievement was passage in September of all 12 of our FY ’18 appropriations bills before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. This was the first time it had been accomplished since 2004 and it was done through “regular order” with each of the bills fully debated, along with over 400 amendments. Furthermore, the deed was accomplished within just four months of receiving the details of the new President’s first budget proposal — a new congressional record.

Of course, process and speed are important. But so, too, are the actual contents of these bills which contain important funding for projects in New Jersey. A prime example is the more than $900 million the committee included for eligible programs such as the Gateway project in the New Jersey-New York area. Now more than ever, it is imperative to our economic survival.

While important, Gateway is just one example of provisions that will benefit New Jersey.

To protect our state from emerging terrorist threats, the committee continued to fund the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), which assists the New Jersey-New York Metropolitan Region with efforts to build and sustain the capabilities to prevent future 9/11s. We also doubled funding for Nonprofit Security Grants to support security enhancements for synagogues and other faith-based centers which were targeted earlier this year in a series of bomb threats.

The committee also supported New Jersey Task Force 1, which responded to lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001, and performed critical work during this year’s hurricane season.

In addition to providing funds for New Jersey’s military installations, Picatinny Arsenal, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Naval Weapons Station Earle and the 177th Fighter Wing in Atlantic City, the legislation includes funding that will increase New Jersey’s military contributions. For example, the committee provided significant new funding to allow scientists and engineers at Picatinny, the DoD Joint Center of Excellence for Armaments, to accelerate their work to ensure that our weapons systems overmatch those of our adversaries. The bill also includes funding to expand production of the new KC-146 air refueling tankers that will soon be stationed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, enhancing the future missions, and jobs, at the New Jersey base.

The committee also provided full funding for the Chemical Safety Board, a program slated for elimination by the Trump Administration. We approved a $28 million increase in the Superfund hazardous waste clean-up program and targeted an additional $10 million for open space preservation from willing sellers in the New Jersey Highlands, a major source of drinking water for northern New Jersey.

The committee also continued to fund the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the Green Brook Flood Control Project, and boosted the number of disabled people who will be able to use “Frelinghuysen Rental Vouchers” to pay their rent.

In fact, many programs important to New Jersey, such as Community Health Grants, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and research and development at colleges and universities, including New Jersey Institute of Technology, Stevens Institute of Technology and others, were funded despite the President’s attempt to slash or eliminate them.

At the same time, the Appropriations Committee recognizes our obligations to the next generation. Clearly, we need to reduce government spending. And we have, with bipartisan support, cut discretionary spending to levels, not seen since Fiscal Year 2008.

We have come very far in just a few months: 28 bills developed, drafted, amended and passed this year alone. But we also have much work to do to complete our work on behalf of the nation and our state.