Newhouse Statement on Passage of Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) released the following statement after the U.S. House approved H.R. 3219, the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, which includes all twelve annual appropriations bills necessary to continue operations of the federal government:
“This is the first time since 2009 that all twelve appropriations bills were approved on time by the People’s House, which is a victory for regular order and good governance,” said Rep. Newhouse. “This wide-ranging legislation appropriates funding for priorities on behalf of our nation and Central Washington, to maintain dams on the Snake River, and many more provisions that I was able to include in the appropriations process. I hope that my colleagues in the Senate are able to act quickly so that the President can sign this legislation into law.”
The legislation approved today by the House includes the remaining appropriations bills that include priorities for Central Washington that Rep. Newhouse fought for as a member of the House Committee on Appropriations:
- To included funding for previously authorized phases of the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project, hydropower and nuclear energy, and language prohibiting the removal of Snake River dams;
- To address the farm labor housing shortage, and provides funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) programs;
- To support the North Cascades Smokejumper Base, gray wolf delisting, the Wolf-Livestock Loss Demonstration Program, requiring the EPA to adhere to the law’s intended scope rather than expanding regulations to target farmers, and grazing management;
- To provide for critical programs such as border and immigration enforcement, customs activities, protection against cyberterrorism, aviation security, natural disaster response, border security, and temporary guest-workers, including Rep. Newhouse’s bipartisan amendment applying the H-2A program to all of agriculture;
- To include report language Rep. Newhouse worked on with Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) to recognize the economic stress that can be placed on rural regions following a natural disaster such as a major wildfire and that many rural communities located in states with large population centers are often disadvantaged by the disaster declaration and FEMA’s federal assistance program processes.
In July, the House approved H.R. 3219, the Make America Secure Appropriations Act, in order to fund national security programs, including the military, raising our troops’ pay, supporting defense nuclear waste cleanup at Hanford, and supporting research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
