Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - The House passed legislation Thursday night that funds the Departments of Commerce and Justice, as well as several of the nation's science programs (CJS). The legislation included two amendments proposed by U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (PA-4) which were included without opposition.

The overall bill continues efforts in the U.S. House to spend taxpayer dollars wisely, eliminate wasteful spending and prioritize programs critical to our safety and economic competitiveness.  As a result, the bill saves nearly $400 million from last year's appropriation, while still funding critical programs to combat gangs and human trafficking, strengthen cybersecurity and prevent violence against women. 

One of Rep. Perry's amendments prohibited funding for NASA's Advanced Food Technology Project. This project has been cited as a source of waste for several years, starting with NASA's use of taxpayer money to develop “space pizza” and hundreds of other recipes for a mission to Mars. The second amendment would prohibit funding to be used to design, implement, administer, or carry out the U.S. Global Climate Research Program National Climate Assessment and the United Nation's Agenda 21.

“Since NASA has no plans to undertake a mission to Mars, we are simply driving up our debt unnecessarily by funding programs such as this,” said Rep. Perry. “Though the overall legislation was not perfect, I believe this bill made significant strides to rein in unnecessary and inefficient government spending and prioritized important programs to prevent human trafficking and violence against women." 

Residents are welcomed to contact Congressman Perry and his staff at any of his offices, or via Perry.House.Gov, where they can sign up for e-mail updates and for his Facebook, Twitter and You Tube pages.