Congresswoman Veronica Escobar voted in favor of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024 which authorizes funding for six government agencies including the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Health and Human Services.
“Today I voted for a second bipartisan government funding package that avoids a government shut down and that invests in the critical government programs and services that support El Pasoans, addresses some of our nation’s biggest challenges, and avoids catastrophic poison pills initially included by my Republican colleagues” Congresswoman Escobar said. “We are in divided government, and while there were aspects of the bills that I did not like, this package ultimately helps El Pasoans, protects women’s rights, reinforces America’s global leadership, and provides much needed resources for border communities like ours.”
The last of the Congresswoman’s 15 Community Projects was passed today, bringing the final total to $19,223,573 for El Paso this year. The final project was $1,383,069 for the Replacing Aging Emergency Generator and Adding Solar Capacity project. All Fiscal Year 2024 projects can be found here.
Additionally, House Democrats rejected extreme Republican cuts and policies. Instead this funding package includes investments in:
- $1 billion increase for child care and Head Start.
- $120 million increase in funding for cancer research at the National Institutes of Health.
- $100 million increase for Alzheimer's and Alzheimer's disease-related dementias research.
- Rejecting Republican cuts, including saving 224,000 teachers' jobs House Republicans tried to eliminate and protecting Job Corps and more than 20 K-12 and higher education programs.
- Blocking 10 Republican riders to limit women's reproductive health.
- 12,000 more Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans that assisted the United States.
- $1 billion increase in climate change and resilience activities at the Department of Defense.
- Congresswoman Escobar led a letter requesting an increase in funding for the International Boundary Water Commission (IBWC), which received an increase of over $103 million.
The bill provides $19.6 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), $3.2 billion above fiscal year 2023, including:
- $650 million for the shelter and services grant program (which reimburses communities like El Paso)
- $1.7 billion for border management requirements, including Border Patrol processing facilities, transportation requirements, migrant medical needs, and other related support costs;
- $495 million for additional Border Patrol Agents intended to achieve an end-strength of 22,000 agents; this funding will help Border Patrol address remaining border management funding gaps due to hiring challenges at CBP;
- $20 million for an additional 150 CBP Officers to support counter fentanyl efforts;
- $21 million for Border Processing Coordinators; $217 million for USCIS; $15 million for the Case Management Pilot Program
- $20 million to continue efforts to combat forced labor practices;
- $40 million for CBP’s Innovation Team (INVNT);
- $11.5 million for suicide prevention and workforce wellness efforts, including employee on-site clinicians and child back-up care, for a total of $43.9 million;
- $75.5 million to acquire additional non-intrusive inspection detection (NII) systems;
- $103.5 million to operate and sustain current border technology program, to include $7.1 million for Counter-UAS, $10 million for cross border tunnel threats, $7.7 million for team awareness kits, and $38.2 for Autonomous Surveillance Towers (AST) operations;
- $37 million for operations of NII and other port of entry technology and opioid technology;
- $21.1 million for CBP’s Light Enforcement Platform, for a total of $29.1 million.
A detailed summary of the legislation can be found here and a number of additional victories can be found here.
This package includes the following funding bills: Defense Appropriations Act, 2024; Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2024; Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2024; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 202; Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2024; State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 202
