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Washington, DC—June 29, 2021....During today’s House Appropriations Committee markup, Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Subcommittee Ranking Member Steve Womack (AR-3) rose in opposition to the excessive Fiscal Year 2022 subcommittee funding level caps, known as “302(b)” allocations. He outlined how the majority party’s unprecedented spending levels are fiscally irresponsible, increase our debt burden, and get us no closer to advancing bills that will be signed into law before the start of the new fiscal year.

Watch parts of the speech here and here

Outline of full remarks:

“I thank the Chairwoman.

“Madam Chair, I rise in opposition. I join my Ranking Member in opposing the proposed allocations. And, before I talk about those, let me just recognize where we are.

“It’s the 29th day of June. We're a little more than 90 days away from the beginning of a fiscal year.

“And this is the first markup in the first chamber that has the responsibility to fund the discretionary budget of the United States government. The government that represents the best nation this world has ever seen. And yet, here we are, about 90 days away from the beginning of a fiscal year.

“Anybody in this room that thinks that we're going to have our work finished in sufficient time to give all of our organizations the necessary planning to execute their program of work over the next year, would be naive to think so.

“Let's get back to the allocations for a minute. My bill—that we are about to markup here in a few minutes—is probably a good case study because it increases the overall number by 20%, with double-digit hikes across most agencies the FSGG bill covers.

“This comes at the expense of something important to all of us. So important, it’s in our Constitution to provide for the common defense. And I'm not going to talk about all the cuts to the Army, Navy, Air Force, and so on. I'm going to speak to all of you as members of Congress who have people that you represent that are in the National Guard and the Reserves. They are already a half billion dollars short because of what we asked them to do following January 6th, in guarding these premises.

“If we don’t fix that, you can expect that every single one of us is going to be getting phone calls in August and September when NGB starts talking about having to withhold funds that normally would go to mutual training assemblies. We just simply can't let that happen. Dangerous cuts to national security.

“So, I think we can do better. I think we should do better. I think the American people are asking us to do better.

“I would hope—though I'm not entirely optimistic this will be the case—that we will go back and rethink these allocations, take better care of our men and women in uniform, and make sure that our country is on the proper path.

“That path is not just continuing to throw enormous, obscene amounts of money at the various agencies that we fund, in various tranches. And instead, let's get back to doing the business the American people ask us to.

I think we can do better. We should do better. And, Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.”

Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) has represented Arkansas’s Third Congressional District since 2011. He is a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

womack.house.gov

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