Chet Edwards For Congress

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Waco Trib: Appropriations bill includes $3.3 million for local projects

Waco Tribune
By David Doerr

The $555 billion spending bill President Bush signed as he flew to spend time at the Western White House has provisions that could affect some of his Central Texas neighbors. The appropriations include $3.3 million secured by Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, for projects in McLennan County.

Local earmarks include:

• $1.4 million to remove debris and repair damage to Lake Waco Parks from flooding earlier this year. Edwards said in a press release the repairs should allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to open Airport Park and Airport Beach in 2008.




• $294,000 for a study to help Beverly Hills determine how to repair Memorial Drive from the Waco Veterans Affairs hospital to Valley Mills Drive.




• $294,000 to build a new swimming pool at the Bellmead community center.




• $246,000 for the Brazos River Authority to study the effects of population growth on water supply in the Middle Brazos water basin.




• $658,000 to help Baylor University finish a physical sciences laboratory used by at least 20 research groups.




• $146,000 for Texas State Technical College to buy equipment and increase capacity for manufacturing workforce training.




• $121,000 for Waco's AVANCE Early Childhood Intervention and Family Support Program to assist 300 families from at-risk, low-income households with parenting education, early childhood development, and ESL and GED classes.




• $97,000 for Baylor University Language and Literacy Center speech pathologists to assess the relationship between language and reading.



The appropriations bill also includes language requiring the Government Accountability Office to conduct a cumulative emissions impact study on Central Texas Coal plants.

It also set aside $357,000 for a Fort Hood - Texas A&M University program to revegetate 30,000 acres disturbed by artillery.