Maryland State Wire

On July 13, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) released the following statement regarding the bipartisan passage of the Committee’s Fiscal Year 2024 funding legislation by the full Senate Appropriations Committee:

“Our federal funding bills should provide investments in key priorities for our constituents and our country. While today’s bill does not go as far in funding some of these investments as I would hope, it is a solid, bipartisan product that ensures the many agencies the FSGG Subcommittee oversees are able to continue their vital work.

“Within this bill, I was pleased to deliver investments on a range of priorities from strengthening our economy, to supporting our nation’s small businesses and community-based lenders, to building out our broadband infrastructure, to hardening our election security. And despite Republican theatrics in the House, this bill also includes $375 million in funding to build a new, consolidated FBI Headquarters. While pursuant to the debt limit deal this bill rescinds a portion of the multi-year funding for the IRS provided by the Inflation Reduction Act, I am confident that we have provided them with the resources needed to strengthen customer service, build modern infrastructure, and ensure wealthy tax cheats and billion-dollar corporations pay what they owe.

“I had hoped to include a provision to require the Supreme Court to develop a code of ethics. The highest court in our land should not have the lowest standards for ethics. However, after proposing such an amendment, it became clear that including such a requirement would have prevented the entire bill from passing on the Senate floor. Consequently, in keeping with the bipartisan agreement, we were unable to include it. But to be clear: having a Supreme Court that is held to a code of ethics is necessary to ensure justice and to begin to restore some degree of public confidence in that body. It is a matter that should transcend party lines – only in some parts of Capitol Hill can requiring the Supreme Court to adopt a code of ethics be considered a ‘poison pill.’ I’m glad that my colleague Senator Durbin plans to take up this critical matter in the Judiciary Committee next week.

“This legislation is not perfect – and I remain disappointed that we were unable to receive the bipartisan consensus necessary to include more robust investments in many of these areas and to remove harmful legacy riders. That being said, on balance this is a strong bipartisan proposal, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass it on the Senate floor.”

Key Bill Points & Highlights:

Department of Treasury: The bill provides $1.884 billion for the Department of Treasury (excluding the IRS) to carry out its wide-ranging responsibilities of strengthening and protecting our economy, supporting American families, regulating our banks, enforcing our sanctions against Russia, Iran, drug cartels, and other bad actors, and more.

Small Business Administration: The bill includes $1.219 billion for the Small Business Administration to support small businesses across America and connect them with the resources they need to thrive, including $320 million for entrepreneurial development grants.

Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP): The bill provides $479 million—an increase of $8 million above the fiscal year 2023 enacted level—for the Office of National Drug Control Policy to coordinate the whole-of-government response to the opioid and substance use disorder crises, stop drug trafficking, and address addiction. ONDCP also delivers resources directly to communities to address the substance use disorder crisis.

Federal Judiciary: The bill provides $8.568 billion for the federal judiciary—an increase of $106 million above the fiscal year 2023 enacted level—for operations of our nation’s courtrooms, with additional funding to enhance cybersecurity within the judiciary and for IT modernization.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC): The bill provides $411 million—a $20 million increase above the fiscal year 2023 enacted level—for the FCC, in part to support its critical work connecting Americans across the country to high-speed internet.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC): The bill provides $450 million—a $20 million increase above the fiscal year 2023 enacted level—for the FTC, which plays a vital role in protecting Americans from consumer fraud, like vulnerable seniors who are often the target of criminals.

Pandemic Preparedness: The bill funds the new Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response housed within the White House, which was established last year by Senator Murray to serve as a mission control and ensure there is a team in place, ready to go 24/7 in order to guide an all-of-government response to new and emerging public health threats.

Americans’ Retirement Savings: The bill provides $14 million in funding to implement SECURE 2.0—which was signed into law in December—to help people locate retirement accounts from past employers that they are missing or have lost track of.

Fraud Detection: The bill provides funding to track where federal dollars go and ensure there’s detection of criminals taking advantage of federal programs and support. In particular, the bill provides funding for the Pandemic Recovery Accountability Committee to continue its critical work overseeing and detecting fraud reported across a host of pandemic relief programs and to help make the affordable, flexible, and scalable analytics platform it developed to identify potential improper payments in COVID relief available for all Inspectors General to use across government. The bill also increases funding to support the work of the Small Business Administration’s Inspector General.

Election Security: The bill includes $75 million for election security grants—extending funding to protect the integrity of our elections.

Original source can be found here