Dear John,

Welcome to your Weekly Wrap, a recap of the week in Congress and highlights of my work.

On Wednesday, I returned to Washington for a busy legislative week. The House considered two of the remaining five funding bills for fiscal year 2024, including the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act and the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act. Additionally, the House considered H.R. 6126, the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024, which is sure to be a clash with the Senate and White House. We also voted on H.Res.773, Providing for the expulsion of Representative George Santos from the House of Representatives. The House was originally set to consider H.Res.610, Censuring Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14), and H.Res.829,Censuring Representative Rashida Tlaib (MI-12). Both censure resolutions were eventually not considered.

More from the week: I joined Representative Adam Schiff (CA-30) in introducing the See the Board Act, legislation to expand mobile vision services for students in public schools.

For the full recap, please read below.

See the Board Act

On Thursday, I co-led the introduction of the See the Board Act with Representative Adam Schiff (CA- 30). 

The See the Board Act authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to make grants available for nonprofit organizations that provide cost-free, mobile vision services for students in public elementary and secondary schools.

Visually impaired students who lack access to optometry services are at risk of struggling to learn and falling behind in school. According to the American Optometric Association, school-aged children should receive their first eye exam before first grade and annually thereafter. Many families are in serious need of affordable vision and eye care.

Due to a lack of access to critical vision care, it is estimated that over 2 million students nationwide go to school each day without the glasses they need to fully participate in class, negatively impacting their learning experience. Children with uncorrected vision are more likely to perform poorly in school and face lower self-confidence. These consequences can lead students to be misdiagnosed with behavioral disorders or special education needs and cause them to struggle throughout their lives.

To address these dire circumstances, the See the Board Act will ensure that nonprofit organizations and eyecare professionals are able to expand their work, despite the substantial equipment and infrastructure costs, to reach and help countless students who otherwise would not have access to this critical vision care.

To learn more about the See the Board Act, please click here.

House Appropriations

Last week, the House considered two of five remaining appropriations bills for fiscal year 2024, including:

• The Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. This legislation:
  • Reduces funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to levels not seen since 1991. These cuts will hinder the core science and environmental program work of the EPA and reduce the budget of Geographic Programs, which funds the restoration of nationally significant bodies of water like the Long Island Sound.
  • Cuts funds for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds Program, which provides low-cost financing to communities for a wide range of water quality infrastructure projects.        
• The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act. This legislation:
  
  • Removes provisions that allow the Legislative Branch to eliminate or reduce plastic waste, further contributing to the impact of climate change.
  • Eliminates funding for the House Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and prohibits funding across the Legislative Branch for diversity, equity, and inclusion training or implementation.

Additionally, amendments were made in order to prohibit the use of federal funds to confront the climate crisis. This halts all progress made by Congress in recent years. 

For these reasons, I voted in opposition to both funding bills.

The Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act

On Thursday, the House passed H.R.6126, the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, by a vote of 226 to 196. This legislation, brought forth by Speaker Mike Johnson, provides $14.3 billion for foreign military financing and to replenish Israel’s air and missile defense systems, including the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and the Iron Beam. However, the legislation falls short and does not include any funds to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The need for additional aid to Israel is clear- however, the dire need for humanitarian aid for thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza who have been cut off from food, water, medicine, and fuel, and continued support for Ukraine as it combats ongoing Russian aggression cannot be understated or ignored.

It is with a heavy heart that I voted no to H.R.6126, the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024, the aid package brought before the House of Representatives. This bill is exploiting a moment when we are seeing an unprecedented rise in antisemitism and, for the first time, conditioning emergency aid.

To read my full statement on this vote, please click here.

Additional Floor Activity

Last week, the House was set to consider two resolutions to censure and one motion to expel. The censure resolution did not come to the floor for a vote. H.Res.773, provides for the expulsion of Representative George Santos from the House of Representatives. The vote failed in the House by a vote of 213 to 179. A two-thirds majority is needed in the House of Representatives for an expulsion.

While there is ongoing debate on what constitutes removal of a member of Congress, the Constitution provides that “each House of Congress may determine the Rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two- thirds, expel a member.” (Article I, section 5)

It is through this lens that I voted to expel George Santos.

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. As always, please continue to share your thoughts and priorities with me.

Jahana Hayes

Member of Congress