In an effort to provide President George W. Bush with additional funding to improve homeland and national security, the House Appropriations Committee passed the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill for 2002 today.

Congressman Zach Wamp says the $29 billion supplemental spending bill will help meet the additional security needs of the Y-12 weapons plant and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge.

"The bill includes $30 million specifically for Y-12 to help pay for additional security requirements following the reality of September 11th. As a member of the Appropriations Committee I was able to make sure that Oak Ridge got the funding it needed to offset the costs of additional safeguards and security needs," said Wamp.

Wamp also highlighted that the bill includes a total of $29 million to improve security at all national laboratories. The Congressman has been assured that ORNL will get its share of those funds. Although the exact amount has not been determined, ORNL would be able to use this extra funding to provide additional physical and cyber security to protect facilities, materials and infrastructure.

Wamp continued, "Both Y-12 and ORNL have important national security missions that must to be protected."

The Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill includes $15 billion for the Department of Defense, most of which will go to the un-funded personnel and operations costs as a result of "Operation Enduring Freedom." These costs include:

• $790 million for Guard and Reserve call-ups.
• $621 million for operational costs - including funding for training, spare parts, and equipment maintenance.
• $93 million to fund replacements for 3 MH-47 Special Operations helicopters destroyed during operations.

The legislation includes approximately $5.8 billion for homeland security, including:

• $850 million for the physical modification of commercial service airports to install checked baggage explosive detection systems.
• $630 million for the purchase of explosive detection systems, including explosive trace detection systems, for checked baggage screening.
• $100 million for reimbursement of air carriers for installation of intrusion-resistant cockpit doors.

The full House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Emergency Supplemental bill next week.