Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) helped the House pass the conference report to H.R. 6157 – the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing Appropriations Act.
“I am pleased to help pass this important package that provides necessary funding for our government, including for the Department of Defense,” said Congresswoman Stefanik. “Critical to my support, this package fully funds the troop pay raise I advocated for on the House Armed Services Committee. This package helps rebuild our military after the previous Administration gutted readiness levels and it finally stops poor and unpredictable budgeting from hamstringing the Department of Defense (DoD) and distracting our servicemembers from focusing on their core missions. I am pleased this bill includes report language asking DoD to prioritize military construction projects for rapidly deployable units, like the 10th Mountain Division based at Fort Drum.
“This legislation includes other priorities of mine as well, including increased funding for the important research done by the NIH to find cures and treatments that will help families in our district. It also includes nearly $7 billion to continue fighting the opioid epidemic and to fund the 21st Century Cures Act that I helped pass. This package also includes a short term extension of the Violence Against Women Act while we continue to negotiate a longer-term reauthorization. This is a critical priority of mine that I have worked on with victims’ advocates across our district.
“I thank my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee for their work in this legislation.”
Department of Defense
- $674.4 billion for the Department of Defense – consistent with the FY19 NDAA
- $67.9 billion in OCO to support ongoing operations
- Fully funds the largest pay raise for our troops in 9 years – and increases total troop end strength
- $243.2 billion in Operations and Maintenance to support readiness programs and to train our forces to counter the threats to our national security
- $148 billion to procure additional ships, aircraft, tanks, weapons and other platforms to ensure our troops have the resources they need
- Increases funding for research, missile defense, and defense health programs
- Enactment of the Conference report would be the first time in 10 years DOD will not operate under harmful Continuing Resolutions (CR) that prevent the Department from accurately planning to combat national security threats
- Report language asking DoD to prioritize military construction projects for rapidly deployable units that currently cannot meet their operations plans
Labor-HHS-Ed
- $178 billion - $1 billion above FY18 – for medical research, education, and job training
- $90 billion for HHS, of which $39 billion for NIH - $2 billion increase above FY18
- Nearly $7 billion to fight the opioid epidemic and funds activities authorized under 21st Century Cures Act
- $228 million above FY18 and includes $1.5 billion in state opioid response grants
- Nearly $7 billion to fight the opioid epidemic and funds activities authorized under 21st Century Cures Act
- Increases funding for special education, Pell Grants, Impact Aid, charter school
Continuing Resolution
- Provides a short-term CR until December 7, 2018
- Extends the Violence Against Women Act until December 7, 2018
- Makes available an additional $8.8 billion for the victims of Hurricane Florence
###
