Appropriations Legislation Includes Funding for Infrastructure, Fight Against Opioid Epidemic
‘The measures before us encompass Agriculture, Interior and the Environment, Transportation and Housing, and Financial Services and General Government. They would deliver real resources to help American communities face real challenges. Challenges like clearing the backlog of infrastructure needs that are holding back rural America, and fighting the opioid epidemic that threatens families and communities.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the Senate’s continued bipartisan work on appropriations:
“Yesterday, the Senate began considering our next set of appropriations measures for Fiscal Year 2019. Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member Leahy have led an exemplary bipartisan process through subcommittee and full committee work. Yesterday, that same bipartisan spirit was here on the floor, when we were able to proceed to these measures by consent. Let’s keep up that productive and cooperative spirit, so we can achieve the goal we all share: Completing a regular appropriations process and avoiding another omnibus.
“The measures before us encompass Agriculture, Interior and the Environment, Transportation and Housing, and Financial Services and General Government. They would deliver real resources to help American communities face real challenges. Challenges like clearing the backlog of infrastructure needs that are holding back rural America, and fighting the opioid epidemic that threatens families and communities.
“Among the many, many things this legislation would accomplish, it meets these two challenges head-on. It delivers nearly half a billion dollars in loans and grant funding for rural broadband. It supplies $400 million to accelerate the delivery of water and waste infrastructure projects across rural America. And it would deliver more assistance to all the areas of our country that are living under the long shadow of the opioid crisis.
“Tens of millions to help the FDA crack down on the spread of illicit drugs, and to improve care in rural communities through distance learning and telemedicine. These are just a very few of the important provisions in these bills. I look forward to considering them this week. I hope we’ll have a robust amendment process. And then, with bipartisan cooperation, we can take these next steps together.”
Related Issues: Infrastructure, Appropriations
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