Barbara Lee Supports Omnibus Appropriations Bill
Secures Over $41 Million for District Projects
Washington, DC – Yesterday, Congresswoman Barbara Lee voted in favor of H.R. 1105, the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009. The legislation passed the house by a 245 – 178 vote. She released this statement:
"When we originally began this process over a year ago, we were dealing with a President who told us in no uncertain terms that he would veto any federal budget we passed that tried to invest in education, job training, healthcare, alternative energy, and local law enforcement and ensure the continued prosperity of our nation. And he did so while demanding that we provide hundreds of billions of dollars to fund the ongoing war and occupation in Iraq, and to bail out the banking industry for their greed and mismanagement.
"Rather than accepting the President’s position that the American people were not worth investing in, we decided to wait him out.
"Today we have a President, who rejects the failed economic policies and ideologies of the last eight years. A President who believes that, yes, the American people deserve a government that works for them, and that is willing to invest in them to ensure that they can get a good education, live healthy and productive lives, and obtain meaningful employment, and raise their children in a just and peaceful world. And now we can pass a budget that reflects those values.
"Change has indeed come to our nation’s capital. And now we’ve got to roll up our sleeves and get to work. The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 makes critical investments in a range of programs and builds on the economic recovery package to help put America to work. Additionally, I am pleased to announce that I was able to secure over $41 million to help fund projects for California 9th District."
Some of the projects in the 9th Congressional District of California that will receive funding through the Omnibus Appropriations Act include:
The Port of Oakland is the fourth busiest container port in the country and plays a crucial role as a major international gateway to our nation’s complex trade and transportation infrastructure systems. Thus, dredging at the Port is vitally needed to enhance the nation's overall shipping capacity.
The -50 foot project will also generate 8,800 additional jobs, $1.9 billion of increased annual business revenue, and $62 million of increased annual local taxes. The Port of Oakland must, therefore, finish deepening its harbor to -50 feet in a timely manner or risk container traffic diversion to Canada and Mexico, thus raising costs to shippers and losing jobs and revenues to the State of California and the U.S. economy.
The Office of AIDS is continuing its High Risk Behavior Change Campaign to increase HIV testing among African-American women in Alameda County. Funding will allow for expansion of the affordable, culturally sensitive, and youth friendly HIV testing program to include access to and support for care programs, and also allow for the inclusion of culturally competent outreach and prevention services to Latino women.
The purpose of the Wellness Center is to provide healthcare, mental health counseling and healthy after-school activities to the students of EUSD and their families as well as the predominantly low and very low-income children and families from surrounding communities served by Emery Unified. This project is the manifestation of a seven-year partnership of the school district and City of Emeryville as well as additional diverse local public and private sector partners including the Oakland Public Library, CSU East Bay Department of Social Work, and Emeryville Chamber of Commerce. Expansion of the Wellness Center will support ongoing programs including disease prevention and early intervention, mental health counseling, nursing training, and general awareness building.
The Augmented Police Recruitment Program was established by the City of Oakland to achieve a fully staffed police department as expeditiously as possible, as well as deliver augmented community policing services to city residents. The APRP achieves this objective by implementing a three-part strategy: (1) intensive marketing and communications activities; (2) intensive training for new law enforcement recruits; and, (3) the development of specialized "Grow Our Own" recruitment effort aimed and identifying and preparing Oakland residents to serve on the Oakland Police Department.
The East Bay Green Jobs Project will implement and manage education programs to teach skills applicable to jobs in the energy efficiency, alternative energy, clean technology, and emerging green industry sectors which are dominated by small startup businesses. This project will partner with local programs that target high school and community college students and hard-to-employ adults coming into the job market. This project will service the communities of Berkeley, CA; Oakland, CA; Richmond, CA; and Emeryville, CA.
The Ed Roberts Campus is the vision of seven disability organizations in California, which have joined forces to create a multi-tenant facility that will serve as an intermodal transit center as well as a transportation information and travel-training center for seniors and people with disabilities. It will provide services in a fully accessible, technologically-advanced environment located at the Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART) Ashby stop. The Campus will serve approximately 2000 people per week, most of who will arrive by public transportation.
The Alameda County Public Works Agency is constructing new sidewalks in several unincorporated areas of Alameda County around the vicinity of several local schools. Funding will support the construction of curb, gutter, sidewalks, pedestrian ramps, drainage structures, sidewalk gap closure, and the installation of landscaping to create safe routes to schools and a pedestrian friendly environment that will encourage residents to walk in the community.
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Alameda County – Alameda County Public Works – sidewalk construction in Ashland/Cherryland; $475,000
Ed Roberts Campus Transportation Center – Construction of the Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley, CA" (FTA/Bus & Bus Facilities); $475,000
City of Berkeley - East Bay Green Jobs Project; $147,386
City of Oakland - Augmented Police Recruitment Program (to recruit and hire additional police officers from within the Oakland Community); $300,000
City of Emeryville - Emeryville Youth Wellness and Parenting Center (for counseling and after-school activities, which may include equipment); $190,000
Alameda County HIV/AIDS Task Force - High Risk Behavior Change Campaign Phase 2 (for an HIV/AIDS prevention and testing initiative); $190,000