WASHINGTON – This week, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) secured major wins for the people of Chester and Berks counties. In a series of appropriations packages. Houlahan not only directed millions of dollars in federal aid to local infrastructure but also locked down federal support for her community’s priorities, including on issues like the spotted lanternfly, veteran care, support for local police and more.
“I am so proud of the wins we’ve secured for our community through this year’s appropriations process,” said Houlahan. “From beating the spotted lanternfly to investing in our infrastructure to supporting our local police and more, this bill represents an important milestone of progress for Chester and Berks Counties. I am already working hard with my Senate colleagues to ensure our priorities remain in the final bill that makes it to President Biden’s desk for signature.”
Rep. Houlahan’s efforts have been met with praise from local leaders and stakeholders.
“The restoration of Passenger Rail for Reading and Berks County is a top transportation priority for our city and county,” said Christian Leinbach, Chairman, Berks County Commissioners. “We appreciate Congresswoman Houlahan’s support for this important project.”
“We are thrilled that Science Research Institute at Albright College will be included in this year’s federal Appropriations bill,” said Albright College President Jacquelyn S. Fetrow, Ph.D. “SRI at Albright is changing STEAM education in Berks County. By engaging and immersing students in innovation, SRI uncovers the inventor and creative genius that resides in every child. This federal funding will help us to expand our programs and will enable us to make this distinctive opportunity available to more students. We are extremely grateful to Representative Houlahan for her significant support to obtain funding for this impactful program.”
“We are extremely grateful to Congresswoman Houlahan for her continued advocacy on behalf of Penn State Health St. Joseph and the good health of Berks County residents,” said Joseph Frank, Interim Regional President, Penn State Health St. Joseph and Penn State Health Lancaster Medical Center. “Securing funding for this project would enhance Penn State Health’s ability to provide vital access to services for underserved populations across the Berks region in both rural and urban communities.”
“The Sinking Spring crossroads links to Reading and the FHWA interstate system are vital to all commercial, industrial and refinery products created in and shipped from western Berks County,” said Merlin Weaver, President of the BOSS Forward Revitalization Committee of the Borough of Sinking Spring. “With Representative Houlahan’s support for the borough’s central business district infrastructure improvement project, improved highways and intersections will carry the ever-increasing truck and tanker traffic and relieve the congestion for all residents, businesses and visitors to the region. Western Berks will at last have the transportation foundation to expand economic development for the community, the county and the region.”
“We commend Congresswoman Houlahan for reviewing and recognizing priority projects and causes in the region, and thank her for securing funding for them,” said Chester County Commissioners’ Chair Marian Moskowitz. “Our plan to install the electric vehicle charging stations at County-owned sites will benefit our residents, our visitors and our staff who are switching in greater numbers to electric vehicles. This project reflects Chester County’s ability for, and appreciation of resiliency, responding to changing technology and environmental forces.”
“Lincoln University is honored to receive further consideration to fund a Center of Excellence in Equity and Inclusion,” said Dr. Brenda Allen, Lincoln University President. “A Center with this focus supports the University's legacy of social responsibility and leadership development and will assist our regional partners and businesses in creating equitable and inclusive policies that reflect the diverse and vibrant population of our region's workforce and industries.”
“The United Way of Chester County is so grateful for Congresswoman Houlahan’s efforts to help bring this much needed financial support to our United Way Financial Stability Center co-located at the PA Careerlink-Chester County facility,” said Christopher P. Saello, President & CEO, United Way of Chester County. “This funding will help us advance our goal of bringing Chester County back stronger than it was before the pandemic by helping people become financially stable and self-sufficient so that no one is left behind. Her work on this appropriation is just another example of her commitment and support of the United Way of Chester County.”
Below is a list of provisions that Rep. Houlahan championed and secured through final passage of the bills:
Creating New Jobs and Building Back Southeastern PA’s Economy
$10 million for Economic Development Administration’s STEM Apprenticeship Program to provide grants to create and expand STEM apprenticeships and other workforce training models to fortify and expand our STEM talent pipeline.
$275 million for Manufacturing Extension Partnership to provide small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) with the technology-based services they need to thrive in today’s economy and create well-paying manufacturing jobs.
$13 million for SCORE to help small businesses get off the ground, grow and achieve their goals. This funding will improve program operations, strengthen financial monitoring, and increase outreach to underserved communities.
$330 million for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund to provide grants, loans, equity investments and technical assistance, on a competitive basis, to new and existing CDFIs, such as community development banks, community development credit unions and housing and microenterprise loan funds. Recipients use the funds to support mortgages, small business, and economic development lending in underserved and distressed neighborhoods.
$101.3 million to recreate a Civilian Climate Corps to employ thousands of young people to address the threat of climate change, strengthen the country's natural defenses and maintain its ailing public lands.
Investing in Education
$1.5 million for Albright College to support the Science Research Institute initiative to connect Albright students with children of Reading who can be exposed to STEAM learning so that they might fill these highly desired jobs of the future.
$175,000 for Lincoln University to develop a certificate awarding program on equity and inclusion at the United States' first degree-granting Historically Black University.
$450,000 for United Community Services for Working Families to provide teenagers and young adults in an economically disadvantaged area academic, vocational, and life skills training.
$9.5 million for Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program
$60 million for National Space Grant Challenge and Fellowship Program to enable undergraduate and graduate students to participate in hands-on space- and aeronautics-related research. In Pennsylvania, this effort is spearheaded by the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium.
$33.96 million for HBCU Excellence in Research program to provide strategic programs and opportunities for HBCUs that stimulate sustainable improvement in their research and development capacity and competitiveness.
$20 million for AugutusF. Hawkins Centers of Excellence to provide five-year competitive grants to eligible institutions (HBCUs, HSIs, TCUs, and other Minority Serving Institutions) to establish centers of excellence. These centers will help strengthen and improve teacher preparation programs, increase the availability of educators from diverse backgrounds, and aid in the retention of teachers and principals of color.
$12.1 billion ($1.434 B increase from FY21) for Head Start to support a cost-of-living adjustment, add quality improvement funds (QIF) to combat rising mental health and childhood trauma challenges, and expanded program hours of service consistent with the 2016 Head Start Program Performance Standards. This funding will positively impact 4,156 PA children enrolled in Head Start.
$36 billion for Title I grants to LEAs to support federal K– 12 education programs and critical to the nation’s collective efforts to ensure that every child has the opportunity to obtain a high-quality education.
Supporting Our Troops and Veterans
Robust funding for women’s health services, including the VA’s Women's Health Transition Training Program. Since coming to Congress, Rep. Houlahan has championed this highly successful and innovative program is seeing enrollment from servicewomen transitioning out of active duty service across every branch of our armed forces.
$13.2 billion for the Veterans Crisis Line to support the nearly 2 million Veterans who receive mental health services in a VA specialty mental health setting, as well as support suicide prevention services like the Veterans Crisis Line, which saw an increase in demand by over 59% in the last year.
$213 million for Child Development Centers to support planning and design for future facilities. These funds will support increased capacity and better facilities for the 1.2 million children of active duty servicemembers worldwide.
$860 million for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Medical and Prosthetic Research program to fund approximately 2,563 total projects, supporting more than 1,700 researchers, and partnering with more than 200 medical schools and other academic institutions. The VA Research and Development (R&D) program plays a key role in advancing the health and care of veterans and is uniquely positioned to continue to lead a national transformation of American health care. As part of the largest integrated health care system in the United States, the VA is in prime position to study the causes and most effective treatments of the conditions that most commonly afflict our servicemembers and Veterans.
$47 million for HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) to enhance VA’s ability to reach homeless veterans, which is particularly crucial as the most recent homelessness survey showed that on a given night in January 2020, an estimated 37,252 Veterans were experiencing homelessness.
Child Care for Servicemembers: Congresswoman Houlahan’s amendment offered with Rep. Speier (D-CA) related to child care was adopted by voice vote under a bipartisan package of amendments. The amendment expresses great displeasure with the Defense Department’s failure to prioritize fixing poor and failing military child development center facilities projects and its failure to request sufficient funds to be on track to modernize all substandard barracks within 10 years. The underlying bill rejects the Pentagon’s insufficient budget request and provides $213 million for Child Development Centers, an increase of $193 million above the Pentagon’s FY 2022 Budget Request.
Improving PA Health Care
$500,000 for PennState Health St. Joseph Medical Center to provide direct medical and dental services to underserved people who live in the rural areas of Berks County who have limited access to primary and specialty medical care through the purchase of a mobile community health center.
Protecting Farmers and Agricultural Workers
$18.139 million for APHIS to research and control spotted lanternflies.
$450 million for Agriculture and Food Research Initiative to provide grants to local universities and other eligible institutions to study food and agriculture topics.
Supporting Local Communities
$100,000 for the United Way of Chester County to support the operational costs including navigation services, counseling services, administration costs and costs to advertise The United Way’s Financial Stability Center services.
$750,000 for the County of Berks to conduct necessary environmental and capacity studies to restore commuter rail service to Reading, Pennsylvania. When completed, the rail line will create economic opportunity for our region and remove vehicles from our congested interstates.
Improving Passport Processing: Congresswoman Houlahan’s amendment offered with Rep. Manning (D-NC) related to passport processing was adopted by voice vote as part of a bipartisan package. urge the State Department to use funds appropriated by Congress to address the passport backlog that is having a dramatic effect on American families across the country. Previously, Rep. Houlahan led a bipartisan letter alongside Rep. Hill (R-AR) urging the Secretary of State to swiftly address the unacceptable backlog.
$645,609 to Chester County Department of Facilities for installation of 26 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at County government-owned sites throughout Chester County
Fortifying PA Infrastructure
$1,865,624 for the Borough of Sinking Spring to realign the roadways and crossroads intersections in the business improvement district that will benefit a regional population of over 60,000 people in the eleven municipalities of western Berks County.
$4,000,000 for direct reimbursement to airport owners, ground support crews, and airport tenants experiencing revenue loss due to Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) imposed when President Biden visits his residence in Wilmington, DE.
$4.1 billion for FRA Programs, including $625 million for the new Passenger Rail Improvement, Modernization, and Expansion (PRIME) grant program to support projects that improve, expand, or establish passenger rail service, $500 million for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program ($125 M increase from FY21) to support the development of new intercity passenger rail service routes and $2.7 billion for Amtrak ($700 M increase from FY21), including $1.2 billion for the Northeast Corridor + $1.5 billion for the National Network.
Broadband Internet Access: Rep. Houlahan successfully offered a bipartisan amendment with Rep. Rodney David (R-IL) to expand broadband access to all Americans. Specifically, the amendment expands ReConnect eligibility to provide funding to areas without access to internet speeds that meet or exceed the 25/3 Mbps standard speed consistent with the 2018 Farm Bill and current FCC minimum standards.
Protecting the Planet
$3.77 billion for the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program to provide for clean, affordable, and secure energy and ensures American leadership in the transition to a global clean energy economy.
$177 million for Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response to provide for efforts to secure the nation’s energy infrastructure against all hazards, reduce the risks of and impacts from cybersecurity events, and assist with restoration activities.
$193 million for the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund to provide grants to states, localities, and NGOs to operate, maintain, and rehabilitate these passive treatment systems. Thousands of miles of streams and rivers have been contaminated by toxic runoff from abandoned mines. Rep. Houlahan’s community is downstream from a number of abandoned mines in other parts of Pennsylvania. Passive treatment systems — such as manmade wetlands or limestone neutralizers — catch and collect this runoff and prevent billions of pounds of metal sediments from polluting our waterways.
$82.4 million for State and Tribal Wildlife Grants to prevent wildlife from becoming endangered in every state and is critical to preserving and enhancing PA’s bird and mammal Species of Greatest Conservation Need for current and future generations.
$151.8 million for the Historic Preservation Fund to support the work of the PA State Historic Preservation Office to assist agencies, local governments, communities, organizations and individuals to identify, promote and protect places that matter to Pennsylvanians. Since the 1970s, Chester and Berks Counties have been one of the most consistent and active users of the federal and state historic preservation programs like the National Register of Historic Places and historic tax credits, as well as the Certified Local Government program.
$248 million for Environmental Justice activities to address unacceptable pollution in communities of color, including $148 million to support the incorporation of environmental justice into EPA’s and other federal agencies efforts, and $100 million for six new environmental justice grant programs designed to begin implementing environmental justice solutions in frontline and fenceline communities.
$11.34 billion for the EPA to clean up pollution while rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure with $3.56 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure through the Environmental Protection Agency grants programs.
The Appropriations Committee also prepared the below one-pager to highlight measures Chrissy was instrumental in passing.
