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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (1st District of Washington)

DelBene Statement on Republican Budget Resolution

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-GA)

Washington, D.C. (April 29, 2026) | Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) issued the following statement on the U.S. House vote on S. 1318: Foreign Intelligence Accountability Act:

“Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we have faced a Constitutional dilemma, how to balance the constitutional responsibilities of the federal government to ‘provide for the common defense,’ while simultaneously protecting an individual’s right to privacy, and ensuring due process. Since the passing the Patriot Act, I have opposed the government intrusion into a U.S. citizen’s private communications without the due process requirement of obtaining a search warrant. With my experience in military intelligence, I also understand the importance of FISA in deterring attacks on the United States, our citizens, and allies. This is why I fought hard to impose reforms in FISA, to strike a balance between the government’s responsibility to provide safety and individual right to privacy.

“With the recently adopted reforms yielding positive results, and additional enhancements to ensure compliance, I believe the legislation just passed continues to allow those charged with the defense of the U.S. the tools and authority necessary to maintain our national security, while also protecting the rights of Americans. Individual liberty is paramount to a free society, and I am confident that this legislation is sufficient in maintaining that liberty.”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-GA)

Washington D.C. (April 29, 2026) | Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) issued the following statement following the U.S. House vote on S.Con.Res 33: Setting forth the congressional budget for the United States for fiscal years 2027 through 2035.

“Border security and immigration enforcement are vital elements of any sovereign nation and are too important to be left unfunded. I continue to believe that Homeland Security should be funded in its entirety through proper annual appropriations; but the ability to ensure ICE and Border Patrol can operate without the threat of constant interruptions is vital to our national security.

“Americans consistently show support for enforcing secure borders and the removal of foreign criminals, and my Republican colleagues and I are using every avenue available to deliver on this issue, as our colleagues across the aisle stand in opposition to the rule of law. Protecting the American homeland should be a core function of our government, and this legislation allows us to ensure that it will.”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Rick Allen (R-GA-12)

Congressman Allen Votes for Budget Framework to Fund ICE and Border Protection

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CA-07) released the following statement after House Republicans voted to pass S. Con. Res. 33, a budget resolution that will act as the blueprint to fund ICE and CBP through the reconciliation process.  

“Today, I voted no on one of the cruelest measures I have seen during my time in Congress. House Republicans passed an outrageous budget resolution that sets the stage to blindly pour billions more into ICE and CBP. No real accountability. No effort to fix the deep injustices in our immigration system,” said Congresswoman Matsui. “ICE has become a rogue, paramilitary force. They have killed innocent people in the streets, detained children, and used recklessly aggressive tactics that tear families apart and inflict lasting harm on our communities. We have to be clear-eyed about what we are confronting. This is a system that is fundamentally broken at its core. We need to tear it down and replace it with one that protects constitutional rights and due process, treats people with dignity, and lives up to our values. Instead, Republicans are choosing to double down on cruelty. I will not stop fighting back. Our country is and should be better than this chaos.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (8th District of New York)

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MS NOW’s The Briefing, where he emphasized that Democrats will continue to aggressively push back against Republican efforts to undermine our elections and voting rights.

JEN PSAKI: Joining me now is House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Okay, so I think when we all saw the ruling come down today, I mean, it shook a lot of us to the core, probably shook you. Not that it was necessarily unexpected, but it threw into question so much of what many people have fought for for decades over the course of time. And I think for a lot people, just on the technicalities of it, they made them freak out. Like it’s gonna make it harder to win the House. I know, today, I mean, I referenced earlier, the New York Times said that this could result in half of the, in a dozen seats lost to Democrats in the South over the course of time. That’s not immediate. Mark Elias said today it could be more like two seats at risk leading up to November. As you’re thinking about the nitty gritty of this, you have a lot of skin in the game here. You could be the House Speaker soon enough. How many seats do you think this could impact leading up to November?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, it was a totally despicable decision in terms of gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which up until this point had been the preeminent piece of civil rights legislation in American history as part of our march toward a more perfect union and achieving a multiracial democracy. And there was a lot of sacrifice. A lot of people bled. People died to actually get to a point where you had an unfettered right to vote that was free of racial discrimination and intimidation. And the Supreme Court majority, of course, has just ushered that back in, in part because they are doing everything they can, it appears, to artificially give Donald Trump a Republican majority in the Congress and in the Senate, which of course he’s at risk of losing because his presidency has been a disaster and the Republicans have been nothing but sycophants and rubber stamps for Donald Trump’s extreme agenda. We’re going to make sure that there’s a free and fair election in November and this voting rights decision by the Supreme Court has come late enough in the process that I agree entirely with Mark Elias that at the end of the day, at best, it may give the Republicans an additional seat or two in advance of November of 2026 and then we have to battle it out in connection with 2028.

JEN PSAKI: So I want to get there in just one second. I just want to ask you too about Florida because Florida just passed, of course, this redistricting effort today. That could garner them a couple of additional seats in Florida. You kind of threatened maximum warfare. I think it was last week you said that. Just in that specific case, what does that look like? I know there’s a question of like who has standing to file a lawsuit. What’s the next steps there to even fight that particular effort?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, they’re going to be Florida voters who are going to file a lawsuit as soon as DeSantis signs this gerrymandering scheme into law because the Florida voters in 2010 enacted the Fair Districts Amendment that explicitly prohibits partisan gerrymandering and explicitly prohibits communities of interest, towns and villages and cities and counties, from being broken up, particularly to benefit one party, which was done in this instance, the Republican Party, and to target Democratic incumbents who were elected by the people of Florida. And so this map is blatantly illegal and unconstitutional. And we’re going to pursue every litigation avenue in state court that is available to the voters. At the same period of time, as was done in Texas, this DeSantis dummymander is going to create additional opportunities for Democrats to defeat Republican incumbents while fighting hard to hold on to our Democratic incumbents who were put into harm’s way. They’re not getting an additional four seats out of Florida in the same way that Texas Republicans are not getting an additional five seats out of Texas, particularly in this midterm election where everything continues to break in our way because Republicans have been a complete and total disaster. And we’re continuing to center the people as it relates to our commitment to making their life more affordable and driving down the high cost of living.

JEN PSAKI: And they’ve miscalculated. I mean, this could be the case in Florida too, even as they’ve, even some Republicans there have expressed that concern. So let’s talk about—because it’s not that you and many people want you to be the House Speaker, it’s also you want to stay House Speaker and we’re talking about a lot more states at risk leading up to 2028. There are a lot of things on the table that could be fighting back I mean, of course there would be fighting, passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. But Trump is not—he’s still going to be in office. He’s not going to sign that. There is additional redistricting efforts that could be undertaken, but some of those could impact, I mean, majority-minority districts potentially. How do you think about the balance of those things? What are the tools that you are willing to deploy in this maximum warfare effort?

LEADER JEFFRIES: The Congressional Black Caucus will continue to lead in this effort and we’ll partner with them, with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. But here’s an important thing to understand. When you see these caucuses grow over time, the growth has largely come in districts that aren’t majority-minority. In fact, many Asian American, Latino and African American Congressmembers right now represent swing districts that we’ve repeatedly flipped. With respect to the CBC, right now there are 56 members of the Congressional Black Caucus in the House, four in the Senate. But of those 56, only 11 represent majority-Black districts. Only 11. And you have at least 15 or 20 who are representing districts that are about 15% or less African American population in the community. So we have the ability, as has been demonstrated repeatedly, to get elected in communities that are diverse all across the country and to put the American people first regardless of race and we’ll retain that ability notwithstanding what Republicans may try to do. Now the Deep South has a history of intense racial discrimination and we’re going to have to deal with that in a variety of different ways, including by recognizing the fact that this Supreme Court still is going to have to contend with the 14th Amendment and intentional discrimination claims that we can still bring. That’s the reason why the Governor of Alabama today, the Republican conservative Governor, said our hands are tied in Alabama, there’s nothing that we could do to try to impact the two congressional districts that are represented by African Americans in the state of Alabama because they are prohibited by the 14th Amendment from changing their map.

JEN PSAKI: This is—this fight is going to continue because they’ve decided that the only way to win is to disenfranchise voters and make it harder to participate. Leader Jeffries, thank you for being here. I really appreciate it.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you.

Full interview can be watched here.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (8th District of Illinois)

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee unanimously passed the bipartisan Federal Fraud Prevention Workforce Training Act led by Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-WI) following a full committee markup. The legislation would create a government-wide training initiative to help federal employees better detect fraud risks, apply effective safeguards, and protect taxpayer-funded programs.

“Every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar taken away from the American people,” said Congressman Krishnamoorthi. “With this bipartisan bill advancing through committee, we’re giving federal, state, and local officials the tools they need to detect risks early, strengthen safeguards, and protect taxpayer funds—while making sure eligible Americans can access the services they’ve earned. I’m proud to work across the aisle to deliver stronger accountability and smarter oversight.”

Background:

The Federal Fraud Prevention Workforce Training Act directs the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), to establish a standardized, government-wide training program to help federal, state, and local officials identify fraud risks, apply best practices, and use existing tools such as the Do Not Pay system.

Today, there is no consistent, government-wide approach to training program administrators on fraud prevention, leaving gaps across federal assistance and procurement programs. By creating a unified training framework and extending it to state and local partners, the bill would strengthen oversight, reduce waste, and help ensure taxpayer dollars are used as intended.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Sanford D Bishop Jr (GA-02)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02) issued the following statement in response to today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which erodes Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965:

“The price of freedom is truly eternal vigilance. Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision is the latest in a line of decisions which has decimated the Voting Rights Act and left it a shell of the landmark legislative achievement of the Civil Rights Movement. This decision ignores our country’s history of racism and reopens the door to Jim Crow era, undemocratic tactics that suppressed and denied power to minority voters and communities.

“Nonetheless, we shall not be moved, and I will not be deterred. I will continue to use the democratic process to fight for free and fair elections and do all I can to strengthen democratic safeguards.

“Congress should pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, forthwith. As John Lewis, my dear friend and colleague, once said, ‘the right to vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument in a democratic society. We must use it.’”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (1st District of Washington)

DelBene on FISA Vote: “Federal Government Shouldn’t Have a Loophole That It Can Exploit to Override Our Civil Liberties”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Ed Case (Hawai‘i – District 1)

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Representative Ed Case (HI-01) today voted in his Appropriations Committee against his majority colleagues’ Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Related Agencies funding measure.  

The bill, which covers most of the federal government’s efforts for U.S. agriculture and rural development through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and related agencies for the Fiscal Year 2027 beginning October 1 of this year, totals some $204 billion, most of which is mandatory spending through national farm support and other programs.

The discretionary spending level subject to the annual appropriations process is set at $26.3 billion, a $1.1 billion decrease from the current year, for USDA’s non-forestry and rural development programs, the Farm Credit Administration, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Food and Drug Administration.

“I opposed this bill because it slashes funds for the SNAP program, which has already seen more than 6,700 people in Hawai‘i lose critical food assistance following enactment of the President’s budget reconciliation bill, which I opposed last year. The FY 2027 funding bill also decimates the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and fails to fund the McGovern-Dole international emergency food assistance program,” said Case, who is in his eighth year on Appropriations and previously served four years on the House Committee on Agriculture.  

 Case highlighted further deficiencies with the bill, including:

• Eliminating $200 million from the fresh fruit and vegetable benefit from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).  
• Reducing funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which provides food to low-income or elderly individuals at no cost to them during times of disaster
• Slashing Food for Peace by 25 percent, a program that supports American farmers while delivering critical assistance to people facing famine worldwide.
• Eliminating the Geographically Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Program, which provides reimbursements to producers for the high costs of transporting agricultural commodities or inputs. 

Despite drastic reductions, Case successfully worked to protect Native Hawaiian programs that are under direct threat by the Trump administration. As one example:  “The bill provides $5 million for Education Grants for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions. This program addresses the educational needs of food and agricultural sciences-related disciplines and prepares low-income students for careers related to food, agricultural and natural resources.”

Through his assignment on the Committee, Case secured $1.9 million for the Honolulu Fire Department (HFD) through two Member-designated Community Project Funding (CPF) projects that specifically focus on local needs in Hawai‘i.

The first project, an aviation fuel tender, will significantly strengthen HFD’s ability to sustain aerial firefighting and rescue operations during extended emergencies. The tender will allow for reliable on-site fueling capability, ensuring firefighting aircraft can remain operational near the incident rather than losing valuable time traveling long distances to refuel.

The second project is for a helicopter hoist training simulator. The simulator will allow HFD’s personnel to improve their skills, rehearse emergency procedures and practice complex hoist maneuvers without placing additional strain on the aircraft. It will boost readiness and extend the life of essential equipment, enabling HFD crews to consistently provide fast, dependable aerial rescue services.

The House’s CPF rules require that each project must have demonstrated community support, must be fully disclosed by the requesting Member and must be subject to audit by the independent Government Accountability Office. Case’s disclosures are here.

Case further worked with his Democratic colleagues Representatives Veronica Escobar and Henry Cuellar of Texas to offer an amendment to fully restore proposed cuts to the Rural Water and Waste Facility Loans and Grants Program. These grants are designed to specifically assist American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Colonia (any identifiable unincorporated community within 150 miles of the United States-Mexico border with a population less than 1 million residents) communities with their safe water and waste disposal need. 

Case spoke in full Committee on their amendment to educate colleagues on the unique history and needs of the Hawaiian Home Lands with which this program assists; his remarks are here.

While Case and his colleagues earned bipartisan support for their amendment, it was not adopted on an unusual tie vote. Case did secure the undertaking of his colleagues to continue to work on the omission as the measure moves through the legislative process.

Other provisions in the bill of interest to Hawai‘i that Case worked to secure include: 

• $124 million for the USDA Wildlife Damage Management Program, which helps to prevent the spread of the Brown Tree Snake to Hawai‘i
• $3 million for agricultural canine detection and surveillance for invasive species and diseases.  
• $1.6 billion for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, including $209 million for combating specialty crop pests.  
• $365 million for agriculture quarantine inspections to prevent infestations of pests and diseases.  
• $15 million for the Minor Crop Pest Management Program to provide expert assistance to minor and specialty crop producers.  
• $8 million for the Grassroots Source Water Protection Program that is designed to prevent water source pollution.  
• $5 million for Aquaculture Centers and $2 million for related aquaculture research programs.  
• $2.5 million for the Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural Research Grants for Insular Areas Program.  
• $10 million for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Account.

The measure also incorporated the following Case requests: 

• Provides just under $17 million for the Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, allowing it to continue researching Rapid ‘Ōhi‘a Death, genetic improvements in coffee and cacao and additional plant disease cures.
• Provides $1 million for the Food Donations Programs for Pacific Island Assistance.
• Funds Hatch Act agricultural research to land-grant universities in all 50 states, insular areas and the District of Columbia to conduct research on all aspects of agriculture. The University of Hawai‘i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience receives roughly $1 million per year from this program.
• $1.2 billion for the Food Safety and Inspection Service, which is $11 million above the FY 2026 enacted level, to fund our nation’s frontline meat and poultry inspectors.
• $37.9 billion for Child Nutrition programs, which is $59 million above the FY 2026 enacted level 

This measure is the fourth of the twelve bills to be taken up by the House Appropriations Committee that will collectively fund the federal government for FY 2027.

Despite Case’s opposition, the bill now moves on to the full House of Representatives for its consideration.  

A summary of the Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA and Related Agencies Appropriation bill is available here.

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