WASHINGTON, DC—As Senate Republicans pull back from a bipartisan appropriations process, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) highlighted funding that Pennsylvania will lose if an agreement is not reached. After supporting the appropriations process throughout the past year and including their own earmarks, Senate Republicans abruptly pulled their support for the bill last night.
“In the same week as there is welcome bipartisanship to enact a tax cut and unemployment insurance package, we end the week with a return to partisan politics that hurts Pennsylvania and the nation,” said Senator Casey. “Republican politicians have decided at the last minute to abandon their responsibility to fund the government. Punting on funding decisions is not good for the country or the economy.”
Senator Casey continued, “Pennsylvania stands to lose tens of millions of dollars in funding that would create Pennsylvania jobs and contribute to local communities. These projects run the spectrum from security cameras, public safety communications systems, flood control projects, infrastructure projects, tissue engineering to help our wounded warriors and funding for the Pennsylvania National Guard.”
After months of work on appropriations bills in committee and in Senate negotiations, Senate Republicans retreated after coming under fire from their own Party for requesting billions of dollars in earmarks. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has proposed postponing a final vote on funding bills for two months.
Some of the projects supported by Senator Casey that would not be funded if the FY11 appropriations bills are not passed include:
• $1,000,000 for the City of Pittsburgh for purchase, installation and maintenance of security cameras, as part of a neighborhood crime watch initiative.
• $1,000,000 for the City of Philadelphia Youth Violence Reduction Partnership program.
• $2,000,000 for Lackawanna River Flood Control in Lackawanna County.
• $5,000,000 for Delaware River Main Channel Deepening Project to deepen the channel from forty to forty-five feet to enhance the efficient movement of vessels.
• $11,500,000 for the Emsworth Locks and Dams Rehabilitation in Pittsburgh to update the structural components of the dam to ensure continued navigational capability on the Ohio River.
• $978,000 for Presque Isle Shoreline Erosion Control Project for sand replenishment and beach nourishment.
• $3.7 million for the Flight 93 Memorial for the design and construction of a water and sewer system.
• $13,560,000 for the Mechanicsburg Naval Support Center’s North Gate Security Improvements and the construction of the Quite Propulsion Load House.
• $2,800,000 for the Pennsylvania National Guard’s Northeast Counterdrug Training Center’s education and training programs.
• $1,513,000 for the construction of Tobyhanna’s Armed Forces Reserve Center
• $2,400,000 for Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative’s Advanced. Regenerative Medicine Therapies for Combat Injuries program that helps to enhance the benefits and clinical applicability of regenerative medicine.
• $250,000 for Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape’s Hero Project Media Campaign which engages adults in reporting and intervening in child sexual abuse in Pennsylvania.
• $450,000 for Armstrong County’s Public Safety Radio Digital Trunked Project. Funding will be used to meet FCC requirements and provide for interoperable voice and data communications throughout Armstrong and surrounding counties.
• $2,800,000 for Clear Align’s Miniature Universal Electro-optic Soldier Sensor Platform for IED Detection (M-SSP).
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