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Cohen Votes for Bipartisan 2014 Government Funding Bill

January 15, 2014

Agreement includes provisions similar to Congressman’s legislation to limit waste, fraud and abuse in Afghanistan

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today voted for the Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2014, which passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 359-67. The bipartisan agreement to fund the federal government through 2014 includes a number of provisions that will help Memphis and the citizens of the Ninth District, like increased funding for Head Start programs, Section 8 rental assistance renewals, and the TIGER grant program which is currently helping fund the Main2Main project.

“It is the nature of compromise that no one gets everything they want,” said Congressman Cohen. “But this bipartisan agreement to fund the government through 2014 is a responsible compromise that reduces the threat of government by crisis, provides stability for our economy, alleviates some of the crippling effects of sequestration, and restores funding for our disabled veterans. Though some could undoubtedly find provisions to disapprove of—myself included—as a whole this is an agreement that large portions of both parties can support. That’s why I support it.”

The legislation also helps alleviate sequestration’s devastating effects on services that Memphians rely on like the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, job training and workforce development programs, and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The Legal Services Corporation (LSC), which supports Memphis Area Legal Services with significant funding, will also receive an additional $20 million in funding for field grants. Congressman Cohen led efforts in the House to increase funding for LSC.

“This agreement makes good progress towards helping Memphians and all of the American people, but we still have much more to do,” continued the Congressman. “We must immediately extend unemployment insurance for the more than 1.5 million hardworking citizens who have lost this lifeline in recent weeks. Workers, families and children across this country cannot afford another day of delay. The unemployment insurance program must be extended now.”

Expressing relief that this agreement restored some funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Congressman Cohen also reiterated his desire to see all of sequestration’s crippling cuts to the agency repealed. The NIH is our country’s foremost medical research center and it has helped millions of people across the country suffering from heart disease, cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other diseases. Today’s agreement restores $1 billion in sequestration cuts to the NIH, but its funding levels in this compromise are still, in inflation-adjusted dollars, nearly $3 billion less than they were in 2007.

“While restoring $1 billion in sequester cuts to the National Institutes of Health will help continue important research into cures for some of the worst diseases and illnesses known to man, I regret that the NIH was not funded at the level it should be,” said the Congressman. “We must do more to protect our nation’s true Department of Defense from the devastating impacts of sequestration—not just some of them. I will continue doing all that I can to adequately fund the NIH so that it can fund cures for diseases like cancer, stroke, heart disease, diabetes and AIDS.”

Today’s appropriations agreement included a provision—similar to legislation proposed by Congressman Cohen last year—to limit the risk of taxpayer dollars being wasted or stolen in Afghanistan by cutting $80 million from the Afghan Infrastructure Fund. In July, his legislation was one of only two amendments introduced by a Democrat to be included in the House-passed Fiscal Year 2014 Defense Department Appropriations bill.

The Congressman said: “This agreement recognizes that it is time for us to bring our troops home, for the United States to focus on our own infrastructure here at home, and for Congress to do a better job ensuring that taxpayer money is spent wisely. I’m glad we have this opportunity to reduce the U.S. role in Afghanistan, cut our deficit, and limit the risk of waste, fraud, and theft overseas.”

Several other programs that will see either increased funding or reduced cuts under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 are listed below, and a more thorough summary of the legislation is available here.

  • $600 million for National Infrastructure Investments (TIGER), which is $100 million more than the 2013 enacted level.
  • $8.6 billion for Head Start, which is $612 million more than the 2013 enacted level, sufficient to both fully restore the cuts to Head Start and to invest in the Administration’s Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships.
  • $17.4 billion for Section 8 Tenant Based Rental Assistance renewals, which is $123 million more than the 2013 enacted level.
  • $9.6 billion for Section 8 Project Based Rental Assistance renewals, which is $596 million more than the 2013 enacted level.
  • $214 million for the COPS program, which is $4 million less than the 2013 enacted level and $4 million more than the post-sequester level.
  • $2.6 billion for job training through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Training and Employment Formula Grant program, which is $10 million less than the 2013 enacted level but $121 million more than the post-sequester level.
  • $3.4 billion for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which is $40 million less than the 2013 enacted level but $169 million more than the post-sequester level.