Today, Representative Lois Frankel (FL-21), member of the House Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement after voting to pass the final funding bill package of fiscal year 2021.

“This spending package invests For the People, providing strong funding for programs that expand opportunities for every person in every corner of the nation and responding to the COVID-19 crisis,” said Rep. Frankel. “It rejects the proposed slashing and cuts of critical programs in President Trump’s budget, and instead prioritizes public health and safety; includes the biggest investment in clean energy projects ever in the history of our country; invests in education and job training; addresses police reform; and supports service members and military families. The legislation provides strong emergency funding to confront the COVID-19 pandemic and promotes economic recovery, with investments in our public health system and aging infrastructure.”

The bill package consists of six FY 2021 appropriations bills: Defense, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy and Water Development, Financial Service and General Government, Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS)-Education, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development.

As a member of the Energy and Water subcommittee, Rep. Frankel championed measures that were included in the final bill package to fund Everglades restoration and fight climate change.

For the Labor-HHS subcommittee bill, Rep. Frankel offered a healthy aging provision that provides $10 million to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to expand its healthy aging work to promote the health of older adults - a population that is particularly vulnerable in the current public health crisis. This provision was included in the final package.

The final bill package also includes a provision Rep. Frankel sponsored to protect birth control coverage. Since 2011, the Affordable Care Act has mandated that health insurance plans cover the full cost of patients’ birth control, and more than 60 million women have had their birth control covered by insurance. The Trump Administration issued a final rule that would allow employers to deny birth control based on their personal moral or religious beliefs. The measure stops federal funds from being used to implement this harmful rule. 

“This harmful rule is just another thinly veiled attack on women,” said Rep. Frankel. “Access to birth control is essential to the health, well-being, and economic security of women and their families.”

For a full summary of the legislation, click here. It passed the House by a vote of 217 to 197. If the Senate passes its own bill, members will reconcile the differences to then send the result to the President’s desk for a signature.

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