Gluesenkamp Perez Statement on House Passage of Recissions Package

Today, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) released the following statement regarding her vote against a partisan recissions package, which blocks funding previously approved by Congress, that passed the House last week:

“Late in the night, I again voted against a partisan recissions package that embodies Washington, D.C.’s continually misplaced priorities.

This legislation failed to offer a real, long-term strategy to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs or to cut red tape so civil servants can do their jobs more effectively. This lack of lasting action comes at a time when the House Appropriations Committee advanced a bill I voted against that will defund our federal auditing watchdog by 50 percent.

I would have instead liked to see a strategic rebalancing of the clipboards to work boots ratio in our federal spending, with appropriately tailored savings on nonessential programs, instead of cuts that will negatively affect my community.

This legislation guts lifesaving emergency alert systems rural communities like mine rely on, slashes public programming for kids that can be a better alternative to the AI slop they find online, and it leaves Ukrainians out to dry in their fight against despotism – at the cost of our own national security.

And despite the bipartisan support for releasing the Epstein files, this package fails to require the Administration to do just that and finally give the American people the transparency they’re demanding. It’s disrespectful to folks in my community who want to know that the rich and powerful are held to the same standards that they are.

This package is an attempt to draw attention away from the budget reconciliation law I voted against that will explode our national debt by $4 trillion. And it’s only lip service to the urgent need to have a federal government that stewards our hard-earned tax dollars and delivers for Southwest Washington in a cost-effective way.”

Last month, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez voted against a previous version of this package that passed the House.