Majority News Releases
Vice Chairman Leahy Statement On The President's FY 18 Funding Request For The Department Of Defense
Thank you, Chairman Cochran and Ranking Member Durbin, for the opportunity to make these brief remarks. Welcome to Secretary Mattis and General Dunford. This Committee benefits from your expertise and your candor. It has been almost 3 months since you last testified before this Committee, and there has been no shortage of world events in that short time. American missiles have targeted and struck Syrian forces. A massive ransomware cyberattack spread around the globe. North Korea has tested n… Continue Reading
06.13.17
Vice Chairman Leahy Statement On The FY 18 Request For The U.S. Department Of Agriculture
Chairman Hoeven, congratulations on your new role leading this Subcommittee. We have worked together on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and our states understand the importance of agriculture to our economies and rural communities. Of course, as a top barley producer, North Dakota plays an important part in Vermont's award-winning craft beer industry, and as the country's top wheat producer, North Dakota grows much of the wheat that goes into the specialty flours at Vermont's King Arthur Flour… Continue Reading
06.13.17
Vice Chairman Leahy Statement On Hearing On FY 18 Funding Request For The U.S. Department Of Justice
Thank you, Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member Shaheen, for the opportunity to make these remarks. Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, I won't mince words: You are not the witness we were supposed to hear from today, and you are not the witness who should be sitting behind that table. That responsibility lies with the Attorney General of the United States. Attorneys General of the past did not shy away from this Committee's questions, regardless of the topic. Attorneys General of the past … Continue Reading
06.12.17
Leahy, Shaheen Request AG Sessions Appear Before The Appropriations Committee
WASHINGTON (Monday, June 12, 2017) -- Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) Monday released a letter to Senator Cochran, Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and Senator Shelby, Chairman of the Subcommittee of Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, asking that the hearing on the FY2018 budget request for the Department of Justice be postponed unti… Continue Reading
06.08.17
Leahy Statement On Subcommittee Hearing To Review The President's FY 18 Funding Request For The U.S. Department Of Commerce
Secretary Ross, thank you for being here today. We have many issues to discuss, not the least of which is the topic of today's hearing - the President's budget proposal for the Department of Commerce. The request for the Department cuts nearly $1.5 billion, or 16 percent, from the FY 2017 enacted appropriations level, eviscerating popular grant, research, and state-based programs; cutting next-generation weather satellites; and failing to sufficiently invest in the 2020 Census. The administra… Continue Reading
06.07.17
Leahy Statement On Hearing To Review The President's FY 18 Budget Request For The U.S. Department Of Housing & Urban Development
Thank you, Chairman Collins and Ranking Member Reed for holding this important hearing. I am very concerned about President Trump's budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This budget would leave low-income, elderly and disabled Americans out in the cold. It would deny shelter to victims of domestic and sexual violence. It would bring to a screeching halt programs that spur economic development and help ensure that safe, sustainable and affordable housing is available in … Continue Reading
06.07.17
Leahy, Reed: Trump’s Air Traffic Privatization Plan Would Sell Out America’s Airspace Safety
[WASHINGTON (Wednesday, June 7, 2017) - Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing And Urban Development And Related Agencies Jack Reed (D-R.I.) issued a joint statement on President Trump's announcement that the administration wants to privatize Air Traffic Control (ATC). The statement coincides with Wednesday's Senate Commerce Committee hearing of the Administration's perspectives on ATC privatiz… Continue Reading
06.07.17
Leahy Statement On The Subcommittee Hearing: “A Review of the FY18 Funding Request for the Army”
Thank you, Chairman Cochran and Ranking Member Durbin, for holding this hearing. Welcome General Milley, and Acting Secretary Speer. The mission of our Army today is unique. Ongoing conflicts around the world require our military to be ready, at any moment, to defend against threats to our national security, including the extremism and violence that undermine our core values. While today we will surely discuss the shortfalls the Army is facing, I think it is important to note the Army's succ… Continue Reading
06.06.17
Leahy Statement On Subcommittee Hearing On The FY 2018 Budget Request For The Department Of Education
Thank you, Chairman Blunt and Ranking Member Murray, for holding this hearing today to examine the President's fiscal year 2018 budget proposal for the Department of Education. I appreciate the opportunity to make a few brief opening remarks. Unfortunately, the President's proposed budget displays a fundamental lack of understanding of the role of government of, by, and for the people, in supporting the middle class, lifting up the most vulnerable among us, and serving our values and interests… Continue Reading
05.24.17
Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy On President Trump’s Plan To End Funding For International Family Planning
Mr. President, there are far too many illogical, arbitrary, and harmful cuts in spending, and wholly unbalanced priorities, in the President's proposed fiscal year 2018 budget to list at one time. I will have plenty more to say about that in the weeks and months ahead. But I do want to take a moment to highlight one, as it illustrates the foolhardy way this Administration has sought to appease right-wing ideologues rather than do what is truly in the national interest. For fiscal year 2017, t… Continue Reading
05.24.17
Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy Floor Statement On The Trump Budget
Yesterday, we received President Trump's first budget submission. He calls it "A New Foundation for American Greatness." This could not be further from the truth. Instead of building a foundation for the American people, it pulls the rug out from under them. The President's budget displays a fundamental lack of understanding of the role of government of, by and for the people in supporting the middle class, lifting up the most vulnerable among us and serving our values and interests as a na… Continue Reading
05.23.17
Statement Of Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) On The Trump Budget
[President Donald Trump Tuesday released his budget proposal for fiscal year 2018. The proposal is the latest iteration of the administration's budget since the release of the so-called "Skinny Budget" in March. Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Tuesday issued the following statement.] The President's budget displays a fundamental lack of understanding of the role of government of, by and for the people in supporting the middle class, lifting up the most vulner… Continue Reading
05.17.17
Appropriations Vice Chairman Leahy Outlines Consequences Of Sequestration And Trump Budget
WASHINGTON (WEDNESDAY, May 17, 2017) - In a letter to the Senate Budget Committee, Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Wednesday outlined the consequences of returning to post-sequestration budget caps and the dangerous cuts proposed by the Trump Administration for fiscal year 2018. The administration is expected to release its full budget next week. In the five years since the passage of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), discretionary programs have been slashed… Continue Reading
05.11.17
Appropriations Leaders Leahy And Shaheen Formally Seek Information On Director Comey's Reported Request For Russia Probe Funding
WASHINGTON (THURSDAY, May 11, 2017) - After press reports on Wednesday that former FBI Director James Comey requested additional resources for the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election just before he was fired by President Trump, Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein formally requesti… Continue Reading
05.04.17
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patrick Leahy Statement On The Consolidated Appropriations Bill
Mr. President, this bill is the product of many long weeks, days, nights and weekends of bipartisan negotiations, and I thank Chairman Cochran for his leadership in reaching this agreement to keep the government open for business. This is how Congress can and should work. Enough of the rhetoric; enough of the political brinksmanship. This agreement shows that when we come together and work through our differences, we can do the work of the American people. And while I think the package befo… Continue Reading
05.03.17
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.): Statement On House Passage Of The Consolidated Spending Bill
[Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Wednesday issued the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Consolidated Spending Bill in a vote of 309 to 118. The bill, which received bipartisan support in the House, now moves to the Senate. This full-year government appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2017, if enacted, will succeed the stop-gap funding bill that expires on Friday night.] It is encouraging and significant that the cons… Continue Reading
05.02.17
REAX Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chairman Of The Senate Appropriations Committee, To President Trump’s Threat To “Shutdown” The Federal Government In September
Threatening to shut down the government, on the heels of a successful, bipartisan agreement, is a sour and shameful note to kick off negotiations for FY 2018. Governing by tweet and manufacturing a crisis before our work even begins is no way to lead. The 2013 shutdown dealt a devastating blow to economic growth, amounting to an estimated $1.5 billion lost for each of the 16 days of the shutdown. That is economic growth we can never get back. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were … Continue Reading
05.01.17
SUMMARY: FISCAL YEAR 2017 CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS BILL
WASHINGTON (MONDAY, May 1, 2017) - Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Monday released a summary of the fiscal year 2017 appropriations bill that totals $1.070 trillion in discretionary spending in compliance with the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. The bill funds the government through September 2017. In addition, it includes $8.2 billion of disaster relief and emergency funding related to natural disasters; $77.0 billion for Defense Overseas … Continue Reading
04.28.17
Statement Of Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) On One-Week Continuing Resolution
Mr. President, the Senate is considering a stopgap Continuing Resolution to keep the government of the American people open for business. I will support this one-week CR, because I believe we are close to a bipartisan agreement that would avoid the devastating consequences of a government shutdown, and save the Congress from once again facing the disruption and humiliation of failing to meet Congress's obligation to fund the basic functions of our government. But we should not be in this situ… Continue Reading
04.27.17
Statement Of Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) On One-Week Continuing Resolution
[Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Thursday issued the following statement regarding the majority's intention to advance a one-week stopgap Continuing Resolution.] I am glad that bipartisan negotiations to reach a sensible agreement are moving forward, but it is disheartening that Republicans have once again proposed to punt Congress's basic responsibility to fund the functions of our government. Our work could have been completed in November, but at the reque… Continue Reading