10.31.19

Senate Passes Important Domestic Funding, Crucial Defense Package on Deck

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) today commended the Senate’s passage of the Senate substitute to H.R.3055, a package of Fiscal Year 2020 (FY2020) domestic spending bills which includes measures for the Appropriations Subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.  Chairman Shelby praised the bipartisan effort to advance the package through the full Senate.  He also urged his Senate colleagues to replicate that collaboration when the Senate turns this afternoon to a procedural vote on another House-passed package that contains the defense appropriations bill.

 

“I commend my colleagues for their bipartisan cooperation in passing this domestic spending package.  Now we turn to funding for our military.  Certainly our men and women in uniform deserve the same level of bipartisan support.  They don’t get to hit the pause button when carrying out their duty; neither should Congress.  We must fund America’s military without further delay,” said Chairman Shelby.

 

The domestic package, which passed by a vote of 84-9, provides support for various national priorities within the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, and Transportation, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  All four of the appropriations bills included in the package were passed by the full Senate Appropriations Committee with unanimous support.  Detailed information on each of the bills is located here.

 

The FY2020 Department of Defense funding bill, advanced by the full Senate Appropriations Committee last month, provides critical resources for our men and women in uniform protecting us around the globe.  The legislation supports a military pay increase of 3.1 percent, the largest in a decade, and includes significant investments in both basic research and future technologies such as hypersonics, 5G, artificial intelligence, missile defense, and cybersecurity.  Detailed information on this bill is located here.