OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

Date: May 25, 2016
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Science Government Budget and Spending

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Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina.

Scientific research is an important province of the Federal Government, and normally I support it; but I support it if it has been authorized.

The programs the gentleman from North Carolina has identified have not been authorized. Therefore, it is appropriate that the gentleman from North Carolina be supported in his amendment to just reduce them to the amount that gets us to flat funding. Flat funding is a reasonable request for programs that are not authorized.

Let's get those programs reauthorized, if that is what the American people want, and the Congress wants, and let's do it in a way that makes sure these programs are authorized in a way that recognizes 21st century priority.

That should happen at the authorizing committee level. If it doesn't happen at the authorizing committee level, a couple of things are wrong: either the authorizing committee doesn't have its hands on the steering wheel, or the authorizing committee thinks there needs to be changes that cannot be accomplished if the appropriators keep increasing the funding.

The incentive for the authorizing committee comes when these programs are flat-funded. We should not be funding programs with increases that are no longer authorized.

This is a problem throughout government. It is a way to save money in a government that is $19 trillion in debt, and I applaud the gentleman from North Carolina for his conscientious, careful, thoughtful, reasoned amendment.

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Mrs. LUMMIS. Will the gentleman yield?

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Mrs. LUMMIS. This year, the Land and Water Conservation Fund expired in its authorization on September 30. In October, we began reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund and reforming it to get it back to its original intent. And before we could complete the process, the appropriators increased funding and reauthorized it for 3 years.

We can't get the reforms we need when appropriators continue to appropriate. The burden should be on the authorizers.

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