Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)
Congressman Tom Reed touted local projects in the $1.5 trillion omnibus bill passed in the House Wednesday.
The House voted in a bipartisan manner to approve the massive spending package to keep the federal government open along with $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine.
The Senate approved the package Thursday. The Senate also unanimously approved a four-day stop-gap bill last night that the House has already passed, just in case the omnibus does not receive Biden’s signature in time to avoid a shutdown late today.
Speaking during his weekly media call, Reed said the bill provides nine direct funding lines for water and sewer projects in the district, “For areas like the City of Corning, the town of Cherry Creek, town of Prattsburg, town of Seneca Falls, the village of Portville, the village of Dundee, the village of Mayville, and Elmira College. As well as the ‘Dream It, Do It,’ Western New York job training and placement program that’s in Jamestown.”
Reed said additional funding was negotiated for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers for operation maintenance of the Barcelona and Dunkirk harbors. He added that the defense provisions added to the omnibus will go a long way to dealing with threats from Russia as well as emerging military threats from China, and elsewhere.
The overall spending package includes a 5.6%, increase in defense spending over current levels, along with 6.7% increase for non-defense spending.
In the aid for Ukraine bill, the humanitarian section includes $4 billion for people displaced within Ukraine and the estimated 2 million people who have fled the country since the war began just two weeks ago. More than $2.5 billion will go to the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide food and health care support. Another $1.4 billion is intended for migration and refugee assistance.
The defense, or lethal aid, section provides $3 billion to support the U.S. military’s European Command and is to be used for “operations mission support, the deployment of personnel to the region, and intelligence support.”
Another $650 million will go to grants or direct loans administered by the Department of Defense Foreign Military Financing. The legislation also gives President Biden the authority to transfer an additional $3 billion in defense equipment to Ukraine and other allies supporting Ukraine.
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