Ranking Member Espaillat Highlights Adverse Impacts of Proposed Cuts by House Republicans
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Ranking member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) issued the following statement in response to House Republican Leadership’s proposal to cut fiscal year 2024 discretionary spending back to the fiscal year 2022 enacted level—resulting in a cut of at least 22 percent for essential programs—and its impact on the American people:
“House Republicans’ budget proposal would be disastrous for the American people and would endanger public safety, raise costs for working families, ship our nation’s manufacturing jobs overseas, weaken national security, and hurt seniors in communities around the nation,” said Rep. Espaillat. “These proposed draconian cuts continue to push extreme agenda of MAGA Republicans and would have historical and detrimental effects on the American people. In stark contrast, President Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget reaffirms our shared American values to prioritize the needs of working- and middle-class families while ensuring the strength, integrity, and functionality of our legislative branch and other agencies, which is vital for the 21st Century.”
Major impacts of Republicans cuts to programs make clear that:
1. After recent near-misses, our air travel would come to a halt with 125 Air Traffic Control Towers shutting down, impacting one-third of all Airports.
2. Following the catastrophic derailments in eastern Ohio and West Virginia, rail safety jobs would be dramatically reduced, with 11,000 fewer safety inspection days, and 30,000 fewer miles of track inspected annually.
3. Amid a mental health and overdose crisis, nearly 1 million people facing a suicidal or mental health crisis would be unable to access support services through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and tens of thousands of individuals could be denied admission to opioid use disorder treatment, denying them a potentially life-saving path to recovery.
4. Despite a stubbornly persistent gap in housing assistance, 640,000 families would lose access to rental assistance and more than 430,000 low-income families would be evicted from Section 8 housing, causing an unprecedented loss of affordable housing for older adults, persons with disabilities, families with children, and veterans.
5. An estimated 2 million vulnerable individuals and families, including rural and underserved populations, would lose access to health care services through Community Health Centers.
6. With the looming rise of food insecurity, nutrition services, such as Meals on Wheels, would be cut for more than 1 million seniors.
7. There would be a $600 billion reduction in funding for national defense over just the next five years compared to the President’s Budget—undermining military readiness, weakening our deterrence against China, and impeding our ability to meet pressing global challenges.
8. The Social Security Administration would be forced to close field offices and reduced access to in-person services, and people applying for disability benefits would wait an additional 2 months for the processing of claims.
9. Our communities would be less safe with the cut of federal support to 60 local law enforcement agencies, 300 to 400 fewer local law enforcement positions, approximately 11,000 less FBI personnel, and a hiring freeze at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that will mean 190 agents, 130 Industry Operations Investigators, and 180 technical and support staff would be lost to attrition and ATF’s entire workforce of over 5,000 personnel would have to take 36 furlough days.
10. In a century marked by extreme weather events and rising natural disasters, efforts to address the climate crisis would be endangered, including by slowing the development of more fuel-efficient vehicles needed to lower greenhouse gas emissions and shifting costs onto American families at the gas pump.
11. At a time of historical drought caused by climate change, efforts to conserve and deliver water to the communities most affected would be delayed, and families would experience increases in cost.
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Representative Espaillat is the first Dominican American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and his congressional district includes Harlem, East Harlem, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill and the north-west Bronx. First elected to Congress in 2016, Representative Espaillat is serving his fourth term in Congress. Representative Espaillat currently serves as a member of the influential U.S. House Committee on Appropriations responsible for funding the federal government’s vital activities and serves as Ranking Member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the committee during the 118th Congress. He is also a member of the House Budget Committee and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), where he serves in a leadership role as the Deputy Chair as well as Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI). Rep. Espaillat is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) and serves as a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus. To find out more about Rep. Espaillat, visit online at https://espaillat.house.gov/.
Media inquiries: Candace Person at [email protected] |
