During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) gave opening remarks about pending legislation before the committee.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00With that, I will turn it over to Vice Chair Collins
00:02for any comments you would like to make.
00:04Thank you very much, Chair Murray,
00:06for convening today's markup,
00:08our third of the fiscal year 2025 appropriations cycle.
00:14Over the last several weeks, we've made much progress
00:18approving by significant bipartisan votes
00:22seven of the 12 annual appropriations bills.
00:25Today, we take the critical next step
00:28by considering what I hope will be four bills
00:32that are critical to our national security
00:35and to the health and wellbeing
00:37of American families and our economy.
00:40First will be the Energy and Water Development Funding Bill.
00:43This bill will help strengthen America's energy independence
00:48and embraces an all of the above approach
00:52to energy research, development, and deployment.
00:56Critical water infrastructure projects
00:59that provide for safe navigation
01:02and flood control are funded.
01:04It also invests in nuclear deterrence
01:07during a period of growing geopolitical tensions.
01:11I commend Chair Murray and Ranking Member Kennedy
01:15for their hard work on this bill.
01:18Second, we will consider the Defense Appropriations Bill
01:22that Chair Tester and I have drafted.
01:25I'll have more to say about that later,
01:27but let me briefly note that this bill provides resources
01:32that are very much needed to strengthen
01:34our military services and defense industrial base
01:38while investing in our men and women in uniform.
01:41Next, we will turn to the Labor, HHS, and Education Bill.
01:47I wanna thank Chair Baldwin and Ranking Member Capito
01:51for their tremendous work.
01:53This bill supports life-saving biomedical research,
01:57including through targeted funding increases for Alzheimer's,
02:00cancer, Lyme disease, mental health, and diabetes.
02:04It also provides significant resources
02:08for substance abuse prevention and treatment programs
02:12to help combat the scourge of fentanyl
02:16and other illicit drugs plaguing our communities.
02:20This bill also supports families by investing in education
02:25and increasing resources for affordable childcare,
02:29promoting financial stability for working parents
02:33and benefiting our economy.
02:35Finally, it is my hope that we will be able to turn
02:39to the Financial Services and General Government Bill,
02:43which is under the leadership of Chair Van Hollen
02:46and Ranking Member Hagerty,
02:48who have devoted tremendous time to this bill.
02:52It covers a wide swath of federal government funding issues
02:56from anti-terrorism efforts at Treasury
02:59to the operation and protection of the Judicial Branch.
03:04Given increased threats to the Supreme Court justices
03:07in recent years, this bill provides increased funding
03:10for residential security for the justices.
03:15I'm pleased that the bill provides vital safeguards
03:19to protect taxpayer information.
03:21I do believe that ultimately we should have a rescission
03:27of the Inflation Reduction Act IRS funding,
03:32but I strongly support moving forward with the bill today,
03:36and that's an issue we'll continue to work on
03:38to reach agreement in conference.
03:41And again, I want to thank Chair Van Hollen
03:43and Ranking Member Hagerty for their work.
03:46Before moving to votes on these bills,
03:49I would note that work also continues in earnest
03:52on the Homeland Security Bill.
03:55That bill provides critical resources
03:57to secure our borders, support our Coast Guard,
04:00and fund important state and local grant programs,
04:04including assistance to firefighters.
04:06It also, as the Chair mentioned, funds the Secret Service,
04:10which, given the recent assassination attempt
04:14on President Trump and changes atop
04:16the Democratic presidential ticket,
04:19requires additional time, consideration, and scrutiny.
04:24I thank the Chair and all of our members
04:27for their continued work.