Bishop: Appropriations package includes $25 million for district

Dec. 27—WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Sanford D. Bishop Jr., D-Ga., chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, supported the Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations package that funds the full range of defense and domestic programs that keep Georgians safe and improve their quality of life.

The bill includes nearly $25 million for 15 projects in the Second Congressional District that will improve public safety, health care, job training, education, water and wastewater systems, and high-speed Internet services. The bill was approved by a bipartisan vote of 225-201 and now heads to President Biden for his signature.

"It is our responsibility to keep the government open so that it can serve and protect the American people," Bishop said in a news release. "Democrats and Republicans have come together to pass this vital bill which funds our national defense and makes sure that federal programs are there to support families, businesses, and local communities.

"As part of today's bill, I secured funding for 15 projects in middle and southwest Georgia. They help our law enforcement and first responders, make sure families and businesses have access to clean water and high-speed internet, as well as improve health care, education, and housing for our communities."

Bishop is also the vice chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs ,as well as a senior member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. Working across the aisle, he supported dozens of projects across Georgia in districts represented by both Democrats and Republicans as well as federal programs vital to the state.

The Fiscal Year 2023 bill funds federal programs that affect all aspects of Americans' lives, from the country's national security and military to its housing, health care, education, work force, and businesses programs. It invests in the roads, railways, bridges, airports, ports, and telecommunications infrastructure vital to the U.S. economy. Some highlights from the bill include:

— $4.4 billion for grants to state and local law enforcement;

— $1.7 billion for Job Corps, which supports work force development programs across the country, including at the Turner Job Corps Center in Albany;

— $9.2 billion for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based in Atlanta;

— $118.7 billion for veterans medical care, which will serve the 7.3 million patients expected to be treated by the VA in Fiscal year 2023;

— $3.8 billion for agricultural research, education, and extension — including improvements for the Fruit and Tree Nut Research facility in Byron (and other ARS facilities), as well as increases for whitefly, peanut, pecan, and floriculture research crucial to Georgia's economy;

— $3.5 billion for rural development — including the Rural Housing Service and rental assistance, Rural Business programs, Rural Utilities Service and broadband infrastructure, and the Rural Community Facilities program

— $188.5 billion for domestic nutrition programs — includes full funding for SNAP, WIC, and Child Nutrition programs and $40 million for the Summer Electronic Benefit program as well as $30 million for school kitchen equipment grants;

— $3.1 billion for farm and conservation programs;

— $2.7 billion for Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds.

The bill also contains language authored by Congressman Bishop that urges CMS to delay its policy preventing Medicare patients from using ambulance transportation to kidney dialysis and diabetes-related wound care.

Bishop also secured funding for 15 projects in Georgia's Second Congressional District. These include:

— $1 million to Albany Technical College for recruitment efforts in its service area in Georgia to identify and transition interested students into allied health professions, with the overall goal of addressing the nursing shortage throughout southwest Georgia;

— $2 million to Augusta University's Southwestern Regional Campus of the Medical College of Georgia in Albany to provide for longitudinal work force training and work force expansion for graduate students, to ultimately increase the number of medical professionals in southwest Georgia;

— $1.5 million to the city of Bainbridge for Phase 2 of the Downrange Industrial Park Water and Wastewater Project;

— $1.85 million to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany Inc., for facility renovations and upgrades necessary to provide safe, positive, and innovative programs for 25,000 youths when they are out of school in Albany (Dougherty County), Montezuma (Macon County), and Plains (Sumter County);

— $1,187,200 to the city of Colquitt for a wastewater pollution control plant project;

— $562,490 to the city of Donalsonville for broadband internet infrastructure improvement and expanding service to more than 1,200 households;

— $949,146 to the city of Leesburg for a sewage and clean water infrastructure project;

— $4 million to the Columbus State University for engineering, design work, and start-up construction costs to build a STEAM Collaboration Center with the Muscogee County School District for students to learn more about robotics, engineering, coding, and 3D design/fabrication technologies by creating a space specifically tailored to the needs of educating the community in the field of STEAM;

— $161,167 to Miller County for improvements to its Emergency Operations Center communications system;

— $1 million to the Golden Triangle Resource Conservation and Development Council, in Dawson, for equipment and work force training of heavy equipment operators;

— $400,000 to Keryx Ministries Inc. to support a community-based, Mercer University medical student-run clinic in the poverty-stricken Unionville Community in Macon, which will improve the health care of children, senior citizens, and homeless individuals who desperately need medical and mental health attention;

— $5 million to the Mt. Olive Community Outreach Center Inc., in Albany, to help replenish housing lost due to Hurricane Michael and tornadoes;

— $367,362 to the Southwest Georgia Children's Alliance Inc., in Americus for child abuse treatment and prevention programs;

— $3,941,986 to the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission in Camilla to meet public safety needs for multiple counties (Baker, Calhoun, Colquitt, Decatur, Early, Grady, Miller, Mitchell, Seminole, Terrell, Thomas and Worth) by replacing obsolete and outdated radio equipment critical to ensuring that police, fire and EMS can communicate within and across counties to respond to crime and natural disasters.

$1,020,047 to the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, in Americus, to increase awareness of Alzheimer's Disease programs & resources for caregivers