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Joyce Opposes Package To Increase Wasteful Spending

October 6, 2020

Wants Any Future Appropriations Measure To Include Emergency Border Funding

Congressman John Joyce (PA-13) today opposed H.R. 2740, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Legislative Branch, Defense, State, Foreign Operations, and Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act. After the vote, the 13th District lawmaker highlighted how the measure increases government spending without allocating any funding to address crisis at the southern border.

"The United States government has a spending problem, and appropriations bills such as this one will only further inflame it," said Congressman Joyce. "Congress should be focused on reducing bureaucracy and empowering individuals to succeed, rather than ramming through legislation that shackles taxpayers with the burden of more government debt. What is more concerning is that this costly package does not allocate one dollar of the emergency funding being requested by the Department of Homeland Security to address the security and humanitarian crisis at the southern border. After traveling to the Yuma, Arizona and seeing first-hand how overwhelmed our Border Patrol agents are, I know those resources are long overdue and urge them to be prioritized in any future appropriations measure."

House Republicans have tried 15 times this year to secure $4.5 billion dollars specifically to feed and shelter migrant families and unaccompanied children, fund urgent medical care and transportation, and pay for growing overtime cost for DHS men and women on the frontlines. Democrats have blocked all 15 of those measures, despite many of them publicly recognizing that there is indeed a crisis on the border.

Joyce also blasted H.R. 2740 for its provision reversing the Mexico City Policy, which has been in place for decades and prohibits taxpayer dollars from be used to fund abortion procedures abroad.

"The people of Pennsylvania's 13th District do not support taxpayer funding for abortions in the United States, let alone foreign countries," Joyce added. "Throughout this Congress I have stood up for the pro-life movement and I will continue to do so."

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