{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/legislative-session", "LEGISLATIVE SESSION", "2023-09-13", "2023", "2023-09", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Cindy Hyde-Smith", "H001079", "www.hydesmith.senate.gov", "hydesmith", "https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/newsroom", "scraper", "LEGISLATIVE SESSION\n\nCongressional Record Vol. 169, No. 148\n\n(Senate - September 13, 2023) PDF\n\nMrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, I am pleased the Senate is beginning\n\nconsideration of the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs,\n\nAgriculture, and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development\n\nappropriations bills.\n\nLet me begin my remarks by thanking Chairman Murray and Vice Chairman\n\nCollins for their strong leadership in advancing these bills through\n\ncommittee and now to the Senate floor. This returns to regular order,\n\nwhich is long overdue and is a testament to what we can accomplish\n\nthrough a committed bipartisanship.\n\nI also want to thank Senator Schatz, the chairman of the T-HUD\n\nSubcommittee. He has been a delight to work with and has been very,\n\nvery pleasant to go through this and help me.\n\nThe fiscal year 2024 Transportation, Housing, Urban Development, and\n\nRelated Agencies appropriations bill is a bipartisan and fiscally\n\nresponsible bill that has passed unanimously--a 29-to-0 vote in July--\n\nby the full Appropriations Committee.\n\nThere are a few important aspects of the bill that I would like to\n\nhighlight. First, I want to stress that this bipartisan bill\n\nincorporates input and requests from more than 80 Senators from both\n\nsides of the aisle. The bill provides adequate resources for the\n\nDepartment of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban\n\nDevelopment to administer the many important programs and activities\n\nunder their jurisdictions. These programs protect public health and\n\nsafety, promote economic growth, and improve the overall quality of\n\nlife for all Americans.\n\nThe bill includes $28.5 billion for DOT and $73 billion for HUD, as\n\nwell as funding for small independent Agencies like the Federal\n\nMaritime Commission and the National Transportation Safety Board.\n\nWith this bill, we are continuing to foster and grow the safest and\n\nmost reliable transportation system in the world. The bill makes key\n\ninvestments in our transportation infrastructure, including $800\n\nmillion for the popular RAISE Grant Program, and nearly $1.2 billion\n\nfor the important bridge repair and rehabilitation program.\n\nWe also fully fund critical aviation needs, such as funding for 1,800\n\nnew air traffic controllers and for modernizing our legacy airspace\n\nsystems.\n\nThe popular Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements\n\nGrant Program is funded at $500 million, and Amtrak is funded at $2.5\n\nbillion, which will continue to provide upgrades and service to rural\n\ncommunities, as well as the Northeast corridor.\n\nIn addition to transportation programs, this bill maintains existing\n\nrental assistance for more than 4.6 million households. This includes\n\nworking families, seniors, people with disabilities, and those who are\n\nhomeless or at risk of homelessness. Additional investments are made to\n\nsupport ending veteran and youth homelessness, as well as to develop\n\nmore permanent supportive housing.\n\nEnding cycles of dependency requires promoting self-sufficiency and\n\nfinancial literacy tools, and I am pleased that the bill includes $198\n\nbillion for HUD's self-sufficiency programs.\n\nFinally, the bill continues to fund the CDBG Program at $3.3 billion,\n\nwhich continues to be one of the most requested programs in this bill\n\nby Members from both parties to help State and local governments across\n\nthe country promote economic development and job creation.\n\nIn closing, given the wide array of projects and activities funded by\n\nthis bill, the subcommittee received a substantial amount of Member\n\nrequests and has worked to try to address as many Member priorities as\n\npossible. The fiscal year 2024 Transportation, Housing and Urban\n\nDevelopment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill is worthy of\n\nconsideration and passage by the full Senate.\n\nI urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the investments in this\n\nbill to support families and communities across this country, as well\n\nas the Military Construction, VA, and Agriculture bills that make up\n\nthis minibus.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/legislative-session"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4869719743728638, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}