Rep. John Lewis: Delivering Resources for Georgia's 5th Congressional District

On December 19, 2007 Congress completed consideration of H.R. 2764, the fiscal year 2008 omnibus appropriations bill.

The bill included funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Energy, Interior, Commerce, Justice, Science, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, Agriculture, State, Homeland Security, Veterans’ Affairs, the city of Washington, D.C., other independent and regulatory agencies, and the executive, judiciary and legislative branches of government.

The Congressman worked to ensure that omnibus appropriations also included funding directives for the following local initiatives --

• Atlanta, GA City Safe Project: $399,500
• Georgia State University HIV/ Prisoner Reentry Program, Atlanta, GA: $94,000
• City of East Point GA Law Enforcement Technology Upgrade: $446,000
• Morehouse College Project Mars Program: $188,000
• Women in Science and Engineering Scholars Program at Spelman College: $188,000
• Atlanta (Environmental Infrastructure), GA: $1,500,000
• Morehouse College Energy Science Research and Education Initiative: $2,000,000
• The City of Atlanta for wastewater and stormwater rehabilitation project: $300,000
• The Metro North Georgia Water Planning District for water and wastewater improvements project: $300,000
• Consortium for Plant Biotechnology and Research: $525,000
• Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, Atlanta, GA for a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community: $82,000
• Southeastern Center for Emerging Biologic Threats, Emory University, Atlanta, GA for programs related to bioterrorism and emerging biological threats: $390,000
• Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta, GA for a project regarding the transition of older patients from hospital to home: $195, 000
• Fulton County, Atlanta, GA for Project Excell, an intensive outpatient treatment program serving homeless males with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders: $97,000
• St. Joseph’s Hospital Mercy Care Services, Atlanta, GA for health information technology: $390,000
• Beltline Environment Impact, Atlanta, GA: $300,000
• I-285 Bus Rapid Transit Project in Atlanta, GA: $500,000
• Acquisition of MARTA Clean Fuel Buses, GA: $3,000,000
• Southern Fuel Cell Coalition Demonstration Project, GA: $200,000
• Atlanta Botanical Gardens in Atlanta, GA for construction of the Canopy Walk, an educational nature walk: $150,000
• Intergenerational Resource Center, Inc. in Atlanta, GA for construction of the Martin Luther King, Sr. Community Resource Center, Inc.: $200,000

• Cotton Insect Management and Fiber Quality, University of Georgia and the Georgia Cotton Commission, GA: $371,000

Other Metro Atlanta initiatives supported by the Congressman and included in the final conference report are:

• Morehouse University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA for land acquisition and construction of the medical school campus: $300,000
• MARTA Clifton Corridor (Lindbergh-Emory), GA: $750,000
• Grady Health Systems, Atlanta, GA for electronic medical records upgrades: $326,000

The Department of Defense was funded in previous legislation signed by the President in November. It included funding directives for:

• Advanced Bio-engineering for Enhancement of Soldier Survivability, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA: $1,600,000
• The Center for Vaccine Scale-Up/Process Research Phase I, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA: $800,000
• The John H. Hopps, Jr. Defense Research Scholars Program, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA: $2,000,000

Many of these federal agencies and local programs of national significance are critical domestic, anti-poverty, and economic growth efforts that are being bankrupted by the war in Iraq.

Instead, this administration consistently opposes providing adequate funding for health, education, job training, local police efforts, transportation, research, criminal rehabilitation and family support that is needed here at home.