Wasserman Schultz on Passage of Bipartisan Spending Bill

Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23, the only Florida Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement today after passage of H.R. 244, which included the pending 2017 Omnibus spending bill:

“As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I was proud to work with my colleagues to achieve a bipartisan compromise that funds many key Democratic priorities, as well as preventing major cuts in vital programs which will make our country safer, stronger and healthier.

Most importantly, we have taken a fiscally wasteful government shutdown threat off the table, protected the Affordable Care Act, and ensured President Trump’s immoral and wasteful border wall was not funded.

We also preserved funding for Planned Parenthood, restored year-round Pell Grants, and blocked President Trump’s unconscionable attempt to defund sanctuary cities. The bill also increased funding for the National Institutes of Health by $2 billion – rather than cutting it, as Trump had sought.

Closer to home, I was proud to work with the Florida delegation, especially Congressman Alcee Hasting (FL-20), to secure $116 million for overall Everglades restoration funding. This bill also recoups some of the outrageous security costs that Trump’s Mar-a-Lago trips imposed on Palm Beach County taxpayers. It also offers relief to the people of Puerto Rico by providing nearly $300 million to its underfunded Medicaid program.

This spending bill also reflects several of my own legislative priorities, including funding for the EARLY Act, with nearly $5 million for the Breast Cancer Awareness for Young Women program. Among the other successes:

·         $2.5 million for the Holocaust Survivor Assistance program.

·         $11 million for the Wave Streetcar funding.

·         $2.3 million for pool safety grants and the Pool Safely awareness campaign to prevent senseless child drownings.

·         $1.5 million for the Rape Survivor Child Custody Act to help rape victims terminate the parental rights of their rapists.

·         HERO funding which includes $5 million allocated for the implementation of the International Megan’s Law, the Angel Watch Center, and $1 million for hires into the HERO program, which trains our veterans to combat online child sexual exploitation.

·         $3 million for the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit (CEIU) at the Cyber Crimes Center, of which, $2 million is earmarked for hiring agents and analysts at the Child Victim Identification Center, and $1 million for CEIU operational needs.

The FY 2017 Omnibus Appropriations Act was an example of what we can do when we work together to achieve bipartisan compromise for the American people. I am proud that we were able to stop harmful cuts proposed by the Trump Administration to health care, environmental protection and education, as well as provide increased funding that will help millions of Americans.”