WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) issued the following statement after the Senate passed a bipartisan package that includes the final set of appropriations bills needed to fund our government through the 2024 fiscal year and avert a prolonged shutdown, which is now expected to be signed into law by President Biden:
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“This bipartisan funding package makes critical investments that support small businesses, servicemembers and military families as well as students at every stage of their education—all while protecting workers’ rights, lowering the cost of child care for working families and strengthening our border. And as our nation continues to face complex and escalating threats around the world, this agreement also strengthens our national security and upholds our commitments to our allies and partners—including authorizing an additional 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for our Afghan allies—while expanding humanitarian assistance for innocent civilians in Gaza and others in dire need of our help around the world.
“I’m glad we were able to pass this strong bipartisan package that fully funds the government for the remainder of the 2024 fiscal year without deep draconian cuts and extreme poison pills, invests in working families, and helps move our country forward—not backward. Democrats will keep working to expand on our progress and build an economy that works for everyone.”
Among other things, the bipartisan funding package:
- Lowers child care costs for families and strengthens Head Start with a new $1 billion investment to help make child care more affordable for families and help ensure Head Start can continue serving hundreds of thousands of kids each year.
- Protects workers’ rights and helps ensure they get the paychecks they have earned by protecting funding for essential worker protection agencies and the National Labor Relations Board.
- Invests in our nation’s students and public schools by delivering resources for public K-12 schools, Pell Grants and more while rejecting deep cuts that would have forced teachers out of our nation’s K-12 classrooms.
- Keeps our country safe and supports our servicemembers and military families with essential investments in our national defense and important additional support for those who serve our country in uniform.
- Builds on our historic economic recovery and supports small businesses.
- Supports people’s health, strengthens the health care workforce and guards against public health threats, rejecting dangerous cuts and sustaining all manner of investments in patients’ health.
- Propels cutting-edge biomedical research to discover and create new treatments and cures that save lives.
- Invests in mental health care and research and strengthens the 988 lifeline—sustaining and building upon key investments made in recent years.
- Protects consumers and holds fraudsters and rich tax cheats accountable to help level the playing field and keep growing our economy from the middle out.
- Addresses the flow of fentanyl, strengthens our detection and enforcement capabilities as well as invests in substance use disorder treatment and prevention to tackle the opioid crisis that continues to devastate communities.
- Delivers critical resources to help meet operational needs at our southern border.
- Maintains America’s global leadership and upholds our commitments to our allies and partners to promote our own national security and strengthen our competitiveness.
- Supports our Afghan allies by authorizing an additional 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for Afghans who assisted the U.S. government during the war in Afghanistan.
- Increases base funding for humanitarian assistance to support the United States’ efforts to provide emergency food, shelter, water, and basic services to populations caught in conflict and crises across the globe.
You can find the full text of the funding package available at this link.
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