ms. lowey and to recognize her decades of service to the appropriations committee and recognize our working relationship. i'm here before the committee today to seek an appropriate rule to provide for the prompt consideration of this important measure. the bill includes full year funding for the remaining 11 annual appropriations bill to the end of this fiscal year on september 30th, as well as emergency and supplemental funding. it provides a total of $1.163 trillion in the base and overseas contingency operations global war on terror funding meeting the base discretionary cap provided by the bipartisan budget act of 2015 and providing additional funding for critical national defense, border security, and emergencies. the bill was a product of well over a year's worth of careful, committee efforts by every member in this body and the congress as well as all the members of the appropriations committee. it reflects our common values. it will help move our nation forward. first and foremost, the

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 for, establish and maintain their preparedness programs when support from their federal partner is inconsistent and subject to major deviations. mr. secretary, could you please share with us the impotence for proposing such dras

. >> ms. lowey, i'd like to recognize you. >> thank you very much, and i would like to thank chairman dent and ranking member wasserman schultz for holding this important hearing. and i welcome secretary shulkin today. we as members of congress, and you as the secretary of veterans affairs, have a duty to provide the best care available to our veterans who have sacrificed and faithfully served our nation. the va faces serious challenges in meeting their health need. after working for years to reduce the claims backlog, it is once again increasing, and the choice program will soon run oua of money and is in need of reform.nd and the va and department of defense national closer to the interoperability of electronicni health records than they were years ago. we owe it to all current and former, future veterans to tackle these challenges now. the subcommittee is committed to achieving that goal. i must say after reading your resume, i am so optimistic, as was referenced before, chairman rogers and i had

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' dollars. after all, the power of the purse lies in this building. it is the constitutional duty of congress to make spending decisions on behalf of the people we represent at home. some here on the committee may know that hundreds of families, almost 700 in new jersey and in my congressional district, lost loved ones on september 11th in those terrorist attacks. although it took years for the nation to recover from that attack, the events of that day made us rethink how we protect the nation and allowed us to learn from prior mistakes in order to prepare for and stop the next attack. mr. secretary, i wholeheartedly agree with your recent assessment that the risk of a terror attack on these united states, in your own orders, is as threatening today as it was on that fateful day in september in 2001. unfortunately there week we witnessed anot

line, briefly, or just maybe make a statement that our chairman of the full committee as well as ms. lowey, ms. wassermann schultz, pretty much everybody up here agrees. we've been giving you a lot of money. i've been on this committee with mr. shinseki, mr. macdonnell, a businessman. you're a doctor. we have a lot in common, even though i'm from florida, i grew up in philadelphia, i have a pittsburgh connection, i'm rooting for you. but, you know, and you talked about working with general mattis and trying to get this continuity of care. we all talk about on the stump, when we are, you know, down in our districts, that if you put the uniform on and serve this country, we're going to take care of you. as you mentioned lincoln, we often reference washington. the country can measure itself by how it treats its veterans. one of the things we say is from the time you enlist to the time you get commissioned to the time you die, you will not be left out in the cold, we're going to take care of you. one of the things that people ask me about is, well, where does it fall through the cracks? and we

may i just say for the record maybe it's true of new york, as well, for ms. lowey, a number of people who come to new jersey because of court decisions which require a thorough and efficient education for every child regardless of their circumstance. and many families with disabilities have children with severe disabilities, a whole spectrum of disabilities, come to our state. we have obviously a great public school system. we have a supportive number of other schools, maybe dealing with autism. particular challenges. where do you feel we're going and how supportive does this budget represent? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i share your concern and heart for both these students as well as those who help teach them and they have a tremendous dedication to a wide range of needs and a wide range of students. and your reference to the fact that when i.d.e.a. was originally passed the goal was to fund it at or support 40% of the cost of it. if congress were to actually fully fund it, it would be $30 billion for i.d.e.a.. we are the budget and what you have traditionally fu

lowey, for yielding the time. i rise to thank chairman frelinghuysen and the ranking woman, ms. lowy, for all their hard -- mrs. lowey, for all their hard work on this bill. this bill today is a compromised bill. it's a good bill because this is the way congress is supposed to be working. i say it's a good bill because it provides an increase to the pell grants, authorizes them in the summer time year-long, that will be good to get kids into education. it provides $2 billion to the national institutes of health, it provides a solution to this crisis that's impacting our citrus growers in south texas and other parts. it provides funding for 10 additional immigration judges and their support staff to help cut down the backlog of over half a million cases that we have, on top of the 55 ingration judges we added last year. as the chairman said a few minutes ago, chairman carter, $1.5 billion to improve the nation's border security, without funding the medieval wall that we have. so, again, i want to thank all my colleagues for working in a bipartisan way and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempo

lowey, for yielding the time. i rise to thank chairman frelinghuysen and the ranking woman, ms. lowy, for all their hard -- mrs. lowey, for all their hard work on this bill. this bill today is a compromised bill. it's a good bill because this is the way congress is supposed to be working. i say it's a good bill because it provides an increase to the pell grants, authorizes them in the summer time year-long, that will be good to get kids into education. it provides $2 billion to the national institutes of health, it provides a solution to this crisis that's impacting our citrus growers in south texas and other parts. it provides funding for 10 additional immigration judges and their support staff to help cut down the backlog of over half a million cases that we have, on top of the 55 ingration judges we added last year. as the chairman said a few minutes ago, chairman carter, $1.5 billion to improve the nation's border security, without funding the medieval wall that we have. so, again, i want to thank all my colleagues for working in a bipartisan way and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempo

ms. pelosi: i thank our distinguished ranking member for her recognition, her leadership on this legislation that we have the opportunity to vote on the floor. so i thank you, ranking member lowey and i thank chairman frelinghuysen for his leadership as well. commend his staff, nancy fox and others for their hard work on this. to you ranking member lowey and chris, my own staff, richard, house and senate staff members for getting us to this very important place. the omnibus reflects significant progress defeating some dangerous riders and securing key victories. here's the thing. i spent many years in the appropriations committee and i know left to your own device on the appropriations committee can find your common ground. you appreciate each other. you listen to positions on issues and you understand the art of negotiating in a successful way. there were some items that were suggested from the white house, for example, a border wall, deportation force, things like that. 160 poison pills, which were arranging from undermining a women's right to choose to dismantling dodd-frank, et cetera, but you worked together to balance the equities and come up with a bill that will have bi

thank you, ms. lowey. and mr. secretary, we understand that you are floating ideas to consolidate the various non-v.a. care programs including choice, but while we realize that the proposals are by no means locked down, but it sounds like you are contemplating a plan to allow the veterans to seek urgent care outside of the v.a. system followed with a discussion with a v.a. care provider if the veteran should be seen in the community or by the v.a. that decision would be based on the decision of a local health market analysis and evaluating the cost and capacity and quality of services at the local v.a. is the basic premise to keep the services within the v.a. subject to availability, quality and capacity rather than opening up the doors to nonv.a. care? >> let me try to describe it, mr. chairman, little bit differently than that. and first of all, i think that you are correct what we have identified is coming out of the 2014 wait time crisis of the phoenix was that the v.a. i don't believe they had the appropriate