IL U.S. House District 13 - Rodney Davis issued the following announcement on Mar. 10.
Moments ago, the U.S. House passed two spending bills – one to fund our military, border security, and public safety and another to fund social welfare programs and other government spending. U.S. Representative Rodney Davis (R-IL) voted for the defense spending bill and against the social spending bill and issued the following statement in response:
“If the ‘Squad’ and other far-left members of the House had their way, Congress would defund our military, defund our police, and defund ICE and border patrol. That’s more than dumb. It’s dangerous. Fortunately, Republicans in the House stepped up and ensured a strong defense spending bill passed. I’ve always said we must never let politics get in the way of funding our military, particularly as America’s enemies are mobilizing against our interests and our allies. I proudly voted for the defense spending bill because it funds our military, border security programs, including Trump-era border programs, a pay raise for our troops, lethal military aid to Ukraine, and much more.
“At the same time, I’m disappointed Democrats opted for social spending legislation that lacked adequate spending controls and limits on the Biden Administration’s executive powers. Particularly as inflation rages, we need to do more to rein in spending. That’s why I voted no on the social spending bill.”
Far-left members of the House, including members of the Squad and Progressive Caucus, threatened to undermine defense, border, and public safety spending because many of them have said they want to defund our police, ICE, and military. House leaders split spending legislation into security and non-security provisions, and Republicans stepped up to ensure passage of strong defense spending.
You can find a roll call of the security spending legislation vote here and the non-security spending legislation vote here. The security provisions passed the House by a vote of 361-69. Once again, Republicans were crucial to bringing this important defense bill across the finish line as Democrats alone didn’t have the votes to pass the legislation.
Contents of the Security Provisions of the Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations:
FY22 Defense Appropriations Bill
- Increases DOD funding by $32.5 billion over FY21 levels.
- Fully funds a 2.7% military pay raise.
- Allows DOD to start new phases of procurement programs.
- Contains an additional $1 billion for Iron Dome to allow Israel to replace the interceptors that were used in the most recent conflict.
- Reverses the Biden Administration’s attempt to cancel $1.9 billion of existing border wall construction funding.
- Increases Department of Homeland Security funding by roughly 11% over FY21 levels.
- Increases Customs and Border Protection funding by $800 million over FY21 levels.
- Increases ICE funding by $400 million over FY21 levels.
- Provides $78 million to maintain the FY21 ICE detention bed level and funds President Trump’s successful “Remain-in-Mexico” program.
- Increases funds for law enforcement partners to address the nationwide increase in crime.
- Increases funding for space programs critical to U.S. efforts to establish a strategic presence on the Moon ahead of Russia and China.
- Enhances cybersecurity prevention and recovery efforts.
- Increases critical funding for anti-opioid programs to combat the ever-growing opioid epidemic and support recovery.
- Includes authority and funding for critical military assistance to Ukraine.
- Funds U.S. troop deployments to the region.
- Funds sanctions enforcement.
- Supports the FBI in countering cyber-threats from Russia.
Original source can be found here.