MIL USHOR-2b Engine

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04)

House Claws Back $9 Billion in Wasteful Spending, Sends Rescissions Package to President Trump’s Desk

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA-03)

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) issued the following statement after voting against President Donald Trump’s dangerous rescissions package that will cut $1.1 billion in funding for public television and radio stations, threatening at least 10 local news stations in Massachusetts, undermining emergency alert systems, and jeopardizing valuable educational programming for families and children:
“Public broadcasting isn’t just Big Bird and Sesame Street – it’s how families in Massachusetts and across the country get lifesaving emergency alerts, stay connected to their communities, and access trusted educational programming. Slashing support for public radio and television will silence local newsrooms, especially in rural areas, and undermine the emergency broadcast systems we rely on in times of crisis.”
“We saw the consequences of weakened alert systems during the catastrophic floods in Texas. Communities were caught flat-footed, in part because they lacked access to timely, reliable emergency broadcasts. Contrast that with what we saw just yesterday in Alaska, where public broadcasters immediately issued alerts after a powerful 7.3 magnitude offshore earthquake, potentially saving lives. These two realities show exactly what’s at stake. If these cuts move forward, the Trump administration will be making a conscious choice to leave communities more vulnerable, more isolated, and less safe.”
“I voted no because I will always stand up for public safety, for local journalism, and for the families who depend on these vital services every single day.”
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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Scott Peters (52nd District of California)

The ePermit Act would digitize the permitting process across the federal government

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representatives Scott Peters (D-CA) and Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) introduced the bipartisan ePermit Act to digitize the United States permitting process, reducing processing time for all federal permits, including National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews.

In April, President Trump published a memorandum to emphasize the importance of modernizing permitting technology. This process began under the Biden Administration in the codification of an e-NEPA study that explored the creation of a digital permitting system. The ePermit Act builds on this momentum and provides legislative clarity and direction on how agencies should implement such an electronic permitting system.

“Our permitting system is old, complicated, and slow — if we want to build the infrastructure, roads, bridges, broadband, and clean energy of the future, we need to modernize and streamline the permit process,” said Peters. “Our bipartisan ePermit Act builds on the efforts of the last two administrations and brings our permitting process into the 21^st century. I look forward to working with Representative Johnson to pass this commonsense bill into law.”

“The government, industries, and citizens all agree that it takes too long to build in America,” said Johnson. “Completing the permitting process by paper is an archaic waste of time. Digitizing the system will speed up the process, save federal dollars, and cut down delays. Making this commonsense change will unleash investment in American communities and workers.”

Background:

The current permitting process has failed to ensure project permitting is on-time and on-task. Oftentimes, the root causes of delays in the environmental review process have little to do with questions about environmental protection and a lot to do with failure to embrace modern technology and move on from legacy bureaucratic approaches, like paper forms.

Congress must address the root causes for delays, which include compiling and reviewing lengthy paper documents, a lack of accessibility and transparency – leading to misunderstanding, conflicts, and all too often, protracted litigation – and continued reliance on outdated technologies and processes for interagency review and comment.

The ePermit Act would address these root causes by establishing a framework for agencies to implement a digital permitting system and unified portal.

Click here for bill text.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lois Frankel (FL-21)

Tonight, Representative Lois Frankel (FL-22), Ranking Member of the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State and Related Programs released the following statement after voting against the Republicans’ rescissions package, a bill that claws back $9 billion in life-saving humanitarian and development funding and trusted public broadcasting. 

“I voted no because this bill marks a dangerous turn toward indifference, isolation, and the betrayal of our global responsibilities,” said Ranking Member Frankel. “It guts programs that have saved lives, opened markets, and prevented conflict for decades. Through defunding of public broadcasting, it will leave millions of Americans less informed and less prepared for disasters.”

“Worse yet, this bill signs away Congress’s power of the purse and hands it squarely to Donald Trump.

This won’t lower costs for American families or shrink the deficit. But it will make the world more dangerous—and make our country less safe, less secure, less prosperous and less respected in the world.”

Congresswoman Frankel’s remarks delivered on the House Floor are here.

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

Congressman Allen Votes to Fund U.S. Military Superiority

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Paul Tonko (Capital Region New York)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Paul D. Tonko released a statement following the House vote on President Trump’s Rescissions package, which claws back $9 billion in funding for public broadcasting and foreign aid that was already approved by Congress.

“Instead of addressing the rising cost of living or making life better for working Americans, Trump is using his power to go after Elmo and Big Bird.

“Public, independent broadcasting is essential to any democracy, providing critical access to information, educational programming, and updates and emergency alerts. This bill doesn’t just target national NPR or PBS. By law, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting sends over 70% of its funding to local stations. These cuts directly threaten those stations, their communities, and the trusted local journalism and programming they deliver. And international aid delivered by the U.S. has saved tens of millions of lives, addressing hunger, defending human rights, and addressing global health crisis.

“I’ve heard from thousands of constituents — hardworking American taxpayers — calling to demand these essential programs keep this funding, which was already agreed upon and approved by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

“But President Trump would rather pursue his personal, petty vendettas than do anything to make life better or more affordable for working families. While Republicans once again kowtowed to the President’s demands, I won’t stop working to defend and uphold these programs that serve my constituents, our nation, and our planet.”

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

Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke on the House Floor in opposition to the reckless Republican rescissions package that cuts funding for public broadcasting and international assistance. 

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the distinguished gentleman, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, Mr. McGovern, for his leadership and for yielding. I thank all of the distinguished members of the Rules Committee for their steadfast and courageous, insightful participation in opposition to this rule and the substantive legislation that underlies this particular rule. I also want to thank Rosa DeLauro for her principled and strong opposition to this reckless Republican rescissions package, this effort by the Trump administration to once again hurt everyday Americans.

Mr. Speaker, it was just said on the House Floor that the American people are fed up with out-of-control, wasteful government spending. As Democrats, we’re committed to making sure that taxpayer dollars are spent in an effective, efficient and equitable manner. This bill that’s on the Floor right now has nothing to do with waste, fraud and abuse. It represents an attack on the public health of the American people, the national security of the American people, the public safety of the American people and the ability of the American people to actually get information, particularly in rural America, that they may need through public radio or public television in the face of an emergency.

Mr. Speaker, no one is buying the notion that Republicans are actually trying to improve wasteful spending, in the aftermath of this One Big Ugly Bill that just passed this chamber and has been signed into law that explodes the debt by more than $3 trillion, and then asks everyday Americans to pay for part of the expenses in the bill by ripping away healthcare for more than 17 million Americans. Hospitals will close, nursing homes will shut down, community-based health clinics will be unable to provide services to everyday Americans and as a result of the One Big Ugly Bill, people will die. It’s an all-out assault on healthcare, the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. It also rips food out of the mouths of hungry children, seniors and veterans. All of this being done to provide massive tax breaks to billionaires.

And then, Mr. Speaker, in this One Big Ugly Bill that now has been signed into law, the debt and the deficit will explode by trillions of dollars. How dare anyone from the other side of the aisle claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility? That’s fake, and that’s phony.

So when you look at this particular piece of legislation that’s in front of us right now, this reckless Republican rescissions package, it undermines American national security and American leadership in the world. This is not an America First bill, it’s a China First bill because of the void that’s being created all across the world. It’s in America’s interests, our national security interests, our leadership interests, to make sure that we’re investing in development and diplomacy and democracy all across the world.

Great leaders have recognized that throughout the American journey. It was Abraham Lincoln who came to the House chamber in the middle of the Civil War in the early 1860s, spoke to the Congress and talked about America being the last best hope on Earth. President Lincoln said that in the 1860s, visionary declaration of the role that America might one day play as the leader of the free world. And this legislation, this reckless Republican rescissions package, undermines our ability to keep our people safe here and to project America’s soft power all over the globe. Why would we undermine our ability to use diplomacy, democracy and development to protect our own national security?

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President—he promised that on day one, he was going to end the war in Ukraine. That’s now going on, and in this particular piece of legislation, we’re undermining the ability of Ukraine to continue to valiantly fight against Russian aggression. Russia’s not our friend. They’re our enemy. Vladimir Putin is a sworn enemy of the United States of America. Why is it, Mr. Speaker, that Republicans in this bill are undermining, once again, Ukraine? Ukraine stands on the side of democracy. Ukraine stands on the side of freedom. Ukraine stands on the side of truth. Russia stands on the side of autocracy and tyranny and propaganda. Why would we stand on the side of Russia? That’s inconsistent with American leadership. But this reckless Republican rescissions package, it does the exact opposite.

Mr. Speaker, we just saw tragedy unfold in the Texas Hill Country. More than two dozen children have died. Parents should never have to bury their children. More than 100 Texans died in the deadly floods. And there are a lot of questions that need to be asked about government failure, state government failure in Texas. The Governor of Texas, he’s got a lot of questions that need be answered. Instead, he’s trying to rig the Texas congressional map, in the middle of a search and rescue operation. He’s got to answer some questions. The Trump administration needs to answer some questions about the National Weather Service and the devastating cuts that have been inflicted on them. The Trump administration, Mr. Speaker, needs to answer some questions about the stated goal to defund FEMA.

So in the midst of this tragedy that we all need to collectively respond to in Texas, just like we need to respond to the tragedy that unfolded in California in the wildfires earlier this year, this reckless Republican rescissions package is going to undermine the ability of people in rural America and in small-town America to receive advance warning or necessary information when disaster strikes, when extreme weather strikes, when flooding strikes, when hurricanes strike. That’s what happens when you shut down public radio, when you shut down public television, which is what this reckless rescissions package will do.

It’s all extraordinary. Mr. Speaker, I don’t understand why Republicans continue to advance legislation on the Floor of the House of Representatives that hurt everyday Americans. Is it simply because the goal is always to reward billionaires, as was done with the One Big Ugly Bill, providing them with massive and unnecessary tax breaks?

Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of this Congress, we as House Democrats made clear that we will work with anyone in this town in order to make life better for the American people, to lower the high cost of living of the American people, to address the affordability crisis afflicting the American people. And we thought perhaps that we would have some partners in this necessary endeavor. Why? Because, Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump and House Republicans promised that you were going to lower costs. In fact, that costs were going go down on day one. Not my words, President Trump’s words. Costs haven’t gone down in the United States of America. Costs are going up. Inflation is on the way up. Life is getting more expensive for the American people. And nothing in this reckless rescissions package is going to make life more affordable for everyday Americans. It’s going to complicate their life even further, just like what happened with the One Big Ugly Bill. So, Mr. Speaker, we are strongly opposed to this legislation. Legislation that, apparently, Republicans don’t even want to actually debate on the House Floor. And once again, want to address an issue to be debated in this chamber under the cover of darkness.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, the challenge that we have with this legislation is that the appropriations process has historically and traditionally been bipartisan—Democrats and Republicans working to try to come together to reach a spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people in terms of their health, their safety and their economic well-being. And do it—House Democrats, Senate Democrats, House Republicans, Senate Republicans—a bipartisan appropriations process to try to reach an enlightened agreement. But what this rescissions package signals to us and the people that we represent, more importantly, what it signals to America, as the OMB director just said, Republicans, Mr. Speaker, aren’t interested in bipartisanship, aren’t interested in common-sense solutions to finding common ground anchored in Democrats and Republicans coming together. We know that’s the case because we’ve made clear our willingness to solve the challenges that the American people face and work with anyone in this town, particularly when it comes to lowering the high cost of living in the United States of America. Republicans continue to do nothing about that, not a damn thing, to make life more affordable for the American people.

And that’s one of many reasons why we continue to be opposed to this reckless legislation that you bring to the House Floor that hurts everyday Americans, will hurt children, will hurt families, will hurt older Americans and will hurt people that Republicans represent in rural America, all while undermining American leadership in the world. And so, Mr. Speaker, once again, this is unfortunate. Once again, we see a Congress not functioning as a separate and co-equal branch of government, a Congress, given this Republican majority, not willing to serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch, but always willing to do the bidding of the executive branch, as if we work for the Article II branch of government. We don’t work for Donald Trump. We don’t work for JD Vance. We don’t work for the OMB director. We work for the American people, and that’s why we are a hard no against this reckless rescissions package. I yield back.

Full speech can be watched here.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman John Rutherford (4th District of Florida)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Friday, member of the House Appropriations Committee, U.S. Congressman John H. Rutherford (FL-05) released the following statement on the House passage of the Fiscal Year 2026 Defense Appropriations Act: 

“This year’s Defense Appropriations bill invests in America’s national security, advances President Trump’s America First agenda, and takes care of our troops and their families. The bill refocuses the Department of Defense on its core responsibilities of equipping a combat-ready military force, countering China and other adversaries around the world, investing in innovation within our military, and ensuring American military superiority.

“Specifically, this year’s bill includes a basic pay increase of 3.8% for all military personnel, continues historic pay increases for junior enlisted servicemembers, and improves quality of life, readiness, and continuity for servicemembers by decreasing permanent change of station moves, which will save over $662 million.

“The bill also combats international actors who facilitate drug trafficking by providing $1.15 billion for counter drug programs and focuses our military forces on better coordination and prioritization of stopping the flow of dangerous drugs across our southern border.

“This year’s bill invests in our military’s readiness and warfighting capabilities by ensuring the continued use of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), which support our military on missions around the world from thwarting drug trafficking to neutralizing sea mines in the Red Sea world, and procuring vital aircraft such as E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes and F-35 fighters. It’s critical we ensure our military has the tools they need to keep our homeland safe.

“Finally, this bill codifies executive actions taken by President Trump and his administration to end discriminatory Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, restore free speech, prohibit Department of Defense funded sex-change surgeries, end funding for organizations that act contrary to U.S. interests like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and prohibit federal funding for abortion-related travel.

“This bill contains huge wins for our military, our country, and Northeast Florida. That’s why I am proud to pass this year’s Defense Appropriations Act in the House.”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman John Rutherford (4th District of Florida)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Friday, U.S. Congressman John H. Rutherford (FL-05) released the following statement on the House passage of President Trump’s rescissions package:

“The House just passed legislation to slash over $9 BILLION in waste, fraud, and abuse AND end taxpayer funding for NPR, PBS, and USAID. Americans’ hard-earned money shouldn’t be used to bankroll leftist propaganda and organizations that act contrary to U.S. interests at home and abroad. That’s why I was proud to vote YES on President Trump’s rescissions package today to cut overseas and domestic spending to help get our country back on track.”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34)

Rep. Gomez Votes No on Republican Bill to Defund Local Public Radio and TV, And Humanitarian Foreign Aid