WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) issued the below statement on his vote to fully fund the government for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24).

“Congress’ most basic job is to keep the federal government – a service to the American people – open, and vital programs, up and running. Appropriators passed all 12 funding bills out of committee, yet Congress kicked the can down the road and wasted time it could have used to process bills through regular order and open debate,” Grassley said. “Americans deserve better. Congress must work diligently on Fiscal Year 2025 funding to avert a similar situation this fall.” 

Congress enacted the first six of twelve FY24 appropriations bills on March 8, which funded approximately 30 percent of the government. This second package includes the other six bills and accounts for the remaining 70 percent, including defense. It adheres to caps Republicans negotiated in the June 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act. 

A snapshot of Grassley-backed priorities authorized in this funding package follows:

  • Claws back $10.2 billion from Internal Revenue Services (IRS) Enforcement provided through the Inflation Reduction Act and freezes IRS discretionary spending.

  • Directs the Department of Homeland Security and its agencies to tighten southern border operations by funding security and surveillance measures, which includes greater transparency through regular information-sharing and reporting requirements to Congress.

  • Sets aside resources for implementing Grassley’s bipartisan Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Act, the landmark law to help reform the organ transplant system and improve patients’ access to organ donations. 

  • Directs the Administration for Children and Families to identify prevention programs with evidence-based practices that support adoption arrangements at risk of entering the child welfare system.

  • Supports the Child Care and Development Block Grant Program, which provides hardworking families, including rural households, flexible childcare options. 

  • Bolsters Foreign Military Financing for Israel; imposes stringent new conditions on assistance for Gaza and prohibits funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. 

  • Improves U.S. military manufacturing capabilities, including those at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant near Burlington. 

  • Cracks down on domestic and foreign drug production by directing the Office of National Drug Control Policy, in partnership with the intelligence community, to conduct an analysis of efforts to destruct illicit crops, including marijuana, poppy and coca cultivated domestically and abroad.

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