Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), a member of the House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, today issued the following statement on the Fiscal Year 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill:
"As the House begins consideration and passage of the Fiscal Year 2016 funding bills, I am deeply disappointed the Republican majority is stripping critical money from key appropriations bills yet to pass. For example, the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill alone is set to have its funding cut by $3.7 billion.
"Today, the House approved the Energy and Water Appropriations bill. While there are some positive aspects to the Energy and Water bill, the bill's funding priorities betray a serious lack of vision. The bill drastically underfunds the President's requests for sustainable transportation, renewable energy, and energy efficiency, while hiking funding for fossil fuels. These outdated funding strategies focus on the solutions of the past, not the future. They jeopardize America's global competitiveness and stall our development of clean and renewable energy technologies. That is why I voted against the Energy and Water bill today.
"Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not a viable appropriations strategy. It is my hope that as we move forward, we will be able to adjust the funding allocations for Labor-HHS and the other appropriations bills so that they meet the needs of the American people."