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U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, AL-07, voted Friday to pass the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, the second and final package of six funding bills that would avert a government shutdown and fund the programs that Americans rely on. Rep. Sewell secured an additional $3.3 million for two community projects in Alabama’s 7th Congressional District. The package passed the House of Representatives today by a bipartisan vote of 286 to 134 and now heads to the U.S. Senate.
“I am grateful that my Democratic and Republican colleagues have come together to deliver for the American people by funding the programs that our communities rely on,” said Rep. Sewell. “While no compromise is perfect, Democrats secured important wins for America’s families including increases for cancer research, child care, and Head Start programs, as well as a 5.4 percent increase in the basic allowance for housing for military families. We also successfully protected Job Corps from Republican cuts and defeated a number of extreme attacks on women’s reproductive health care.”
This package includes the following funding bills: Defense; Financial Services and General Government; Homeland Security; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies; Legislative Branch; and, State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.
The package also includes $3.3 million that Rep. Sewell secured for two community projects. That is in addition to the $9.8 million that Sewell secured for 11 community projects in the first fiscal year 2024 government funding package signed into law on March 9. The two projects include:
- $2,700,000 for a new FEMA storm shelter in Demopolis
- $637,195 for a new 911 emergency communications facility in Pickens County
“I am particularly excited about the funding we secured for a new E-911 communications facility in Pickens County and a new storm shelter in Demopolis,” continued Sewell. “These important investments will make our communities safer and stronger, and I am so proud to have played a role in making them possible!”
Once again, Democrats rejected extreme Republican cuts and secured key wins for the American people. The package:
- Provides a $1 billion increase for child care and Head Start.
- Provides a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research at the National Institutes of Health.
- Protects funding for Job Corps and more than 20 K-12 and higher education programs.
- Rejects Republican cuts, including saving the jobs of 224,000 teachers that House Republicans tried to eliminate.
- Blocks 10 Republican riders to limit women’s reproductive health.
- Provides a $1 billion increase in climate change and resilience activities at the Department of Defense.
The text of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024 is available here. A full summary is available here.
