SPI Insights

Washington, D.C. – Legislators across the country secured millions of dollars from the $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill in earmarks for projects in their states and districts.

The basic bill provides federal agencies with $730 billion in nondefense funding, a $46 billion increase over fiscal 2021.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leadership secured $350 million for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. The Corps also will receive $45.1 million for construction projects on the Upper Mississippi River, $38.37 million for Columbia River fish mitigation projects in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, and another $18.39 million for remediation work at Indiana Harbor in Chicago.

Higher education institutions will benefit from earmarks secured by their respective legislators, such as $39.7 million from the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a plant germplasm research facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The U.S. Department of Commerce will contribute $60 million for renovation and expansion of the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, $20 million for the Ozarks Health and Life Science Center at Missouri State University, and $17 million for the renovation of Forsyth Library at Fort Hays State University in Kansas. Missouri State University will receive another $30 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the life science center.

Water infrastructure and flood mitigation projects will receive a bevy of federal funds to improve public health and safety.

More than $67.34 million will go to the Bureau of Reclamation to help fund the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project to convey water from the San Juan River to the eastern section of the Navajo Nation, southwestern portion of the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and the city of Gallup, New Mexico.

Harris County Flood Control District in Texas will receive a combined $38.1 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for pre-disaster mitigation projects including construction of stormwater detention basins and culvert improvements.

The city of Weirton, West Virginia, will get $22.47 million from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a water treatment capacity project. The EPA also will provide $8 million to the city of Rock Hill, South Carolina, for a water treatment plant alum sludge dewatering facility.

In Alaska, HHS will distribute $27.67 million to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium for facilities and equipment. The agency also will provide $18 million to Beaufort Memorial Hospital in South Carolina to expand its emergency department.

One of the organizations that will receive funding via the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is the Mobile Downtown Airport in Alabama which will get a $100 million grant for planning and design to build a new terminal and implement airfield improvements, among other projects.

Arkansas will get a $59 million boost from USDOT for its plans to build a future Interstate 49 highway and construct an Interstate 57 corridor as well as improve Interstate 69 and Highway 67 corridors.

USDOT will direct $23 million to the county of Maui, Hawaii, for its estimated $90 million project to realign the Honoapiilani Highway. Should the project be fully funded, construction is anticipated to begin in late 2024.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will contribute $23 million to Mat-Su Youth Housing to build the Carson Cottle Center for job training of homeless youth in Wasilla, Alaska, $12 million for the Nevada Cares Campus, and $9 million for the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies.