Dear Representative:
On behalf of the AFL-CIO, I am writing to express our support for the Fiscal Year 2021 Appropriations Minibus (H.R. 7617), which combines the texts of six fiscal 2021 spending measures approved by the Appropriations committee, including the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill.
The Labor-HHS portion of the Minibus recognizes the importance of investing in workers, worker protections, health, and education, and it wisely rejects the deep spending cuts and elimination of essential programs that the administration and previous House Republican budgets have proposed in years past. Specifically, the Labor-HHS-Education portion of the Minibus increases funding for all three major departments and for most programs and activities. Overall discretionary spending for the bill would increase by $2.4 billion above the FY2020 enacted level and $20.8 billion above the President’s 2021 budget request.
We strongly support the Appropriations Committee’s effort to provide adequate funding in the FY 2021 appropriations process, and there is no better example of this than their work on H.R. 7617. We urge you to support H.R. 7617 and ask that you vote against any poison pill amendments that would undermine the spending priorities established in the bill.
Sincerely,
William Samuel Director, Government Affairs