Funding for Alaska Projects Included in Omnibus Appropriations Package
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A joint Senate and House Appropriations Conference Committee has approved a $446.8 billion catch-all funding bill that contains money for a number of important Alaska projects, including Pacific salmon recovery, Denali Commission health facilities and a number of military construction projects, according to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a committee member. The committee’s action late Tuesday sends the bill back to both chambers for a vote on final passage.
In recent years, when Congress has been unable to pass all of its appropriations bills by year’s end, it combines some or all of the outstanding measures into a catch-all funding package called an omnibus. The omnibus package approved Tuesday combines the following six appropriations bills: Commerce, Justice and Science; Financial Services and General Government; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; State and Foreign Operations; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. Congress is expected to pass its final funding measure of the year, the Defense Appropriations bill, following passage of the six-bill omnibus.
The omnibus conference report includes funding for the following Alaska items:
From the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Bill:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
• Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund - $80 million
• U.S./Canada Yukon River Salmon Agreement Studies - $500,000
• Indigenous Peoples Council for Marine Mammals for research - $500,000
• Bering Sea Crab Management and Research - $300,000
• Seal and Steller Sea Lions Biological Research - $300,000
• University of Alaska, Fairbanks – Extended Continental Shelf Mapping - $300,000
• Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Assoc - $100,000
Justice:
• Drug and Alcohol Interdiction, Rural Law Enforcement - $900,000
• Sexual Assault Response Team, Forensic Nursing - $400,000
From the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill:
• University of Alaska Ketchikan, Small Business Development center - $350,000
• Alaska manufacturing extension partnership - $200,000
From the Labor and Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill:
• Alaska Native Education Equity - $33.3 million
• Line item for Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions - $15 million
• Denali Commission Health Facilities - $10 million
• Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Anchorage -- $2 million for training dental health care workers
• Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Anchorage -- $1 million for facilities and equipment
• City of Ketchikan -- $1 million for facilities and equipment at Ketchikan General Hospital
• Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Consortium, Bethel -- $1 million for facilities and equipment
• Avant-Garde Learning Foundation, Anchorage -- $500,000 for education activities
• Maniilaq Association, Kotzebue -- $500,000 for facilities and equipment
• Providence Health System for physician recruitment and retention initiative - $350,000
• Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Juneau -- $308,000 to expand vocational training including distance learning
• Chickaloon Native Village for facilities and equipment -- $250,000
• Alaska Native Heritage Center - $150,000
• Anchorage Project Access -- $125,000 for a program in which doctors donate their services to those most in financial need
• City of Anchorage -- $125,000 for facilities and equipment relating to public health
• United Way of Anchorage -- $100,000 to continue the Alaska 211 phone number that connects individuals with health and human resources 24 hours a day
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska, Anchorage -- $100,000 for a mentoring demonstration project.
From the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill:
Fort Richardson
• Warrior in Transition Complex - $43.0 Million
• Airborne Sustainment Training Complex - $ 6.1 Million
• Combat Pistol Range - $ 4.9 Million
• Health Clinic - $ 3.5 Million
• Training Aids Center - $ 2.0 Million
Elmendorf Air Force Base
• Aeromedical Services/Mental Health Clinic - $25.0 Million
• F-22 Weapons Load Training Facility - $12.6 Million
• Red Flag Alaska Operations Center - $ 3.1 Million
Clear Air Force Station
• Power Plant Facility - $24.3 Million
Fort Wainwright
• Aviation Task Force Complex, Phase I - $95 Million
• Warrior in Transition Complex - $ 28 Million
• Railhead Complex - $ 26 Million
• Aviation Unit Operations Complex - $ 19 Million
Eielson Air Force Base
• Arctic Utilidors (Phase 11) - $ 9.9 Million
• Taxiway Golf Lighting - $ 3.4 Million
From the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill:
• Denali Commission Transportation Programs -- $2.3 million
• Fairbanks North Star Borough Road and Bridge Improvements -- $1 million
• Juneau International Airport Medium Intensity Approach Lighting System with Runway Alignment Lights -- $1 million
• Matanuska-Susitna Borough Road and Bridge Improvements -- $1 million
• Multi-Disciplinary Combined Facility (governmental and health services in one building) for the Copper River Native Association -- $1 million
• Port of Bristol Bay infrastructure expansion - $1 million
• Anchorage People Mover - $750,000
• Covenant House Alaska Crisis Center -- $500,000 for the relocation of a crisis center facility in Anchorage
• City of Ketchikan replacement and rehabilitation of municipal bridges and trestles -- $500,000
• Port of Anchorage Intermodal expansion - $487,000
• Sitka Waterfront Development -- $487,000
• Tunda Women’s Coalition, Bethel - $487,000
• Anchorage Community Land Trust -- $389,600 for rehabilitation and renewal of key blighted property along Mountain View Drive
• Abused Women’s Aid in Crisis Domestic Violence Shelter in Anchorage -- $200,000 for infrastructure improvements.
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