Amodei resort cities amendment passed by full House Appropriations Committee in FY 2015 Commerce, Justice, Science bill
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Brian Baluta, 202-225-6155
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Appropriations Committee today approved the fiscal year (FY) 2015 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) appropriations bill on a bipartisan voice vote. The bill funds the Department of Commerce, the Department of Justice, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other related agencies. The legislation will now head to the House floor for consideration.
Included in the bill was an amendment introduced by Amodei to stop the practice by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of cancelling or avoiding meetings, trainings and conferences at resorts and casinos, despite the taxpayer-value that such facilities can offer.
“These prohibitions, emphasize optics over real fiscal restraint, because they have been implemented without concern for whether the banned resorts and casinos present a better value for taxpayers,” said Amodei. “Nevada’s hospitality industry offers the most competitive rates in the country and the expertise to affordability host large and small meetings. Such policies also ignore the numerous federal government installations that operate within Nevada, as well its central location among western states.”
The CJS bill contains $51.2 billion in total discretionary funding. This is a reduction of $398 million below the FY 2014 enacted level. Within the bill, funding for law enforcement, national security, public safety initiatives, and programs with economic benefit to the nation are prioritized, while lower-priority programs are reduced.
“We have focused limited resources on the most critical areas: fighting crime and terrorism, including cyber-attacks; improving weather forecasts and warnings; and boosting U.S. competitiveness and job creation by investing in science, space, exports and manufacturing,” said CJS Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf.
Highlights include:
$2.1 billion for state and local law enforcement assistance, including $426 million for Violence Against Women prevention and prosecution programs, which exceeds what the President requested.
$8.36 billion for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), including funding and report language to support the FBI’s efforts to track and combat human trafficking, cases of which nearly tripled between 2009 and the end of FY 2012.
For the text of the bill, please visit: http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-113hr-sc-ap-fy2015-cjs-subcommitteedraft.pdf
For the bill report, please visit: http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-113-hr-fy2015-cjs.pdf
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