mr. frelinghuysen: mr. speaker, pursuant to the rule just passed, i take from the speaker's table, h.r. 244, with the senate amendments thereto and i have a motion at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. designated the senate amendment, and designate the motion. the clerk: h.r. 244, an act to encourage effective voluntary investments to recruit, employ, and retain men and women who have served in the united states military with annual federal awards to employers recognizing such efforts and for other purposes. senate amendments. mr. frelinghuysen of new jersey moves that the house concur in the senate amendments number 2 and 3 and concur in the senate amendment number 1 with an amendment. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 305, the motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations. the gentleman from new jersey, mr. frelinghuysen, and the gentlewoman f

mr. frelinghuysen: no. 15 seconds. mr. simpson: and providing critical infrastructure for wildfire programs, the department of interior and forest service. i want to thank chairman calvert and ranking member mccollum and interior staff. no werner can hold their head up if they vote against this bill. i thank the chairman and urge my colleagues to support this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair now recognizes the gentlelady from new york. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield four minutes to the distinguished minority whip from maryland, mr. hoyer. mr. hoyer: i'm pleased to rise in support of this legislation. i want to thank all the subcommittee chairs and ranking members for the work they have done to get us to this place. this vote we are about to take represents an example of how members of this house can work together to reach a reasonable compromise and deliver a product that reflects both rationality and reasonableness. it is clear that democratic members' particip

mr. frelinghuysen. i urge a yes vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back.

mr. frelinghuysen: i rise today to present the house amendment to h.r. 244, a bill that will provide funding for the federal government for the rest of the year, 2017. this bill reflects shared values which will help make our nation stronger, safer, and more prosperous. it fulfills our constitutional duty to fund important services the american people rely on every day, and it

mr. frelinghuysen of new jersey. >> thank you, chairman, and ms. wassermann schultz. thank you for the bill last year, thank you for that effort. you were the pace setters. i wish we could have followed your pace, in reality we didn't. i can't think of a more important department than the department of veterans affairs. those who serve our country and serve our country right now in dangerous places deserve when they get home to get the best care possible. and i know you from your time in new jersey and wonderful things you did there. for good reason, you were unanimously confirmed by the senate. there's not a lot of unanimity over there. i'm glad if they focused their attention and support for you. two areas of particular interest to me, i don't want to take time away from your remarks or questions. continuing the appeals and benefit backlog, it's a nightmare. i've even shared with you some of the three or four-year waiting periods for people. obviously evidence has to be collected and verified but in reality it's a pretty nightmarish prospect. certainly the confirmat

mr. frelinghuysen. before i go forward i've just been informed we're going to have multiple votes to be enough to take up an hour at 4:15 so we're going to have to limit to one question as we go forward. ms. lowey. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, i was disappointed by the significant proposed cuts for fema preparedness grant programs. the uwasi program which helps the most at-risk urban areas such as new york prevent and prepare for terrorist attacks will be cut by 26% and the state homeland security grand program would be slashed by more than 25%. over all, the fy '18 budget proposes a cut of 918 million to fema grand programs that really help law enforcement prevent and respond to terrorism and other disasters. to put that into perspective you would cut vital funds to protect the top terror targets in the u.s. by 31%, which is equal to, roughly, half of what you're proposing to build a wall on the mexican border that is not needed. state and local jurisdictions just cannot effectively plan

mr. frelinghuysen of new jersey, and our ranking member, mrs. lowey of new york. in the house, the work must continue today, but hopefully will be concluded today. the package in front of us not only keeps the government open and operating through the end of the fiscal year, but also represents a successful completion of key member priorities on both sides of the aisle. this bill provides for a $25.7 billion increase in defense spending. notably including an additional $7.3 billion for department of defense readiness and training. as well as the largest pay raise our troops have received in six years. these funds will help us enhance our military readins and marks an end to the erosion of our national military strength. importantly, we accomplish this without a dollar for dollar increase i nondefense discretionary spending. a practice which was imposed upon us by the previous administration. that practice threatened to drive our national deficit ever higher. i'm pleased that we broke that connection for we should never operate under such a formula in the future. t

mr. chairman. >> thank you, ms. roybal allard. i now recognize the chairman of the full committee, rod freck frelinghuys frelinghuysen. >> thank you, mr. carter. mr. secretary, we look forward to hearing your testimony. we appreciate your service over 45 years and now as secretary of the department of homeland security. we appreciate all you have done for our nation. today's hearing is an important part of the oversight duties of this committee. now that we have received the administration's budget request, the committee will undertake a thorough analysis of it. we'll go through each and every budget line, question every witness, and demand credible spending justifications. and only then will we make our own determinations on the best use of tax dollars. we intend to put forward a complete set of appropriations bills that adequately fund important programs while working to reduce and eliminate waste and duplication. i'll work with the ranking member, ms. lowey, chairman carter, and ms. roybal allard, to complete the appropriations bills. again, today's hearing is part of a process we follow to determine the best use of taxpayers'

mr. mcgovern, and all the other members of the committee. i'm very pleased to be here today with chairman frelinghuysen to discuss the fiscal year 2017 omnibus appropriations bill. bipartisan negotiations resulted in a bill that i wouldn't have written, but this product of compromise makes important investments, such as increased biomedical research at nih by $2 billion, making college more affordable by increasing pell grants, and making them available year-round, and investing in transportation, education, and providing our military with the tools to deter and defeat threats abroad. while i'm pleased we reached this agreement, we shouldn't really celebrate coming to a full year agreement in may for a fiscal year that began seven months ago. last year, our committee was negotiating in good faith until the trump transition team interfered, insisting on a cr until late april. this unnecessary and costly delay, combined with the president's proposed cuts for the fy '17 and '18 spending bills, which are in direct contravention to priorities for members on both sides of the aisle, do not bode well for our work in the coming months. so i support