Washington, DC—July 27, 2021....Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3), a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee—where he serves as the Ranking Member of the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Subcommittee and also sits on the Defense and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Subcommittees—rose on the House floor during general debate on Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations bills. His remarks outlined the fiscally irresponsible and unprecedented spending levels of the majority party’s proposal, noted the impact of rapid inflation, and called for House and Senate leaders to come together to amend the package and reach a bipartisan compromise.

Watch Congressman Womack’s floor remarks here.

Transcript of full remarks:

“Thank you, Madam Speaker, and my thanks to the Ranking Member for the time.

“I rise in opposition to this package of appropriations bills. As the Ranking Member of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, I have great respect for my colleague, Chairman Mike Quigley.

“We work well together, and that is saying something because he’s a Cubs fan, and I’m a Cardinals fan.

“The bill we are debating today, Madam Speaker, is packed with unjustifiable spending and ignores our unsustainable fiscal trajectory.

“In light of unprecedented pandemic spending, it was my hope that this fiscal year we would prioritize making the tough choices necessary to chart a responsible fiscal path forward.

“Instead, the Financial Services division of this bill proposes a 20% increase in discretionary spending over Fiscal ‘21, and numerous agencies funded receive a double-digit percentage increase over last year.

“Those numbers are unconscionable when you consider the fact that this country is well over 28 trillion dollars in debt.

“I noted, with interest, the comments of the overall Chairwoman, when she talked about the moral test of government.

“Madam Speaker, to me, the moral test of government is for us to do our work, to take care of the urgent needs of our country – but not burden future generations in the course of doing so.

“Furthermore, my colleagues on the other side continue to call for trillions in new government spending. And, a new GAO report came out just recently that says more than $1 trillion of the spending we have commissioned through the coronavirus phenomenon remains unspent. And not just that. This spending has created an inflationary spiral that is affecting every taxpayer budget in my district. 

“There are also several controversial policy changes included in the FSGG division, such as allowing D.C. tax dollars to fund abortions and removing the prohibition on federal employee health benefits funding for abortions. These policy changes are no-go’s and make this bill and minibus as a whole dead in the water.

“Again, I oppose this package of appropriations, including the Financial Services division, due to the radical increases in spending and these partisan policies.

“Madam Speaker, I do look forward to working across the aisle with both my counterparts in the House and in the Senate to come up with a bill and a compromise that will actually work for America.

“And with that, I yield back the remainder 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

###