Congressman Salazar's Funding Priorities for Defense

As a new member of the Appropriations Committee, I have new oversight responsibilities for the spending of federal dollars, as well as an increased role in the prioritization of federal spending.

For too long, the process of Congressional funding requests lacked transparency and accountability, leading some members of Congress to abuse it and the public trust. Since assuming the majority in 2007, Congressional Democrats have significantly reformed the process, including ensuring that every American can easily determine which member of Congress has submitted a requests.

Below you will find a list of my funding requests for the Defense Appropriations bill.

Vet-Biz Initiative for National Sustainment (VINS) at the Army
$5.3 million
Pueblo Economic Development Corporation
301 North Main St
Pueblo, CO 81002
The Vet-Biz Initiative for National Sustainment (VINS) at the Army provides funding for Service-Disabled Veteran Owner Small Businesses (SDVOSBs) in Colorado to service to the Army. The Army has a documented challenge in securing work, thus endangering troops and limiting the use of existing weapons systems. Funding for the initiative will not only protect troops and enhance national security through cost-effective and improved technology; it will also enable the Department of Defense to meet one of its goal while protecting jobs within the state of Colorado.

Center for Geosciences/Atmospheric Research
$3 million
Colorado State University’s Center for Geosciences/Atmospheric Research Center
Colorado State University Administration Building
Fort Collins, CO 80523
The Department of Defense (DoD) routinely encounters environmental conditions that disrupt its counter-terrorism, war-fighting, peace-keeping, humanitarian, and training operations.  The DoD Center for Geosciences/Atmospheric Research (CG/AR) at Colorado State University (CSU) provides multi-disciplinary research using the internationally recognized CSU capabilities to focus on priority environmental problems and questions of concern to the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force.  The centers research contributes greatly in the support of our warfighters in areas of ongoing conflict through military engineering technology and warfighter technology activities.

PTSD Clinical Training at CSU-Pueblo
$850,000
Colorado State University-Pueblo
2200 Bonforte Blvd
Pueblo, CO 81001
The PTSD Clinical Training Program at CSU - Pueblo will provide creation and testing of new nursing protocols in psychiatric mental health and the training of masters level nurses to meet the needs of soldiers returning home with PTSD. The program will develop new curriculum and clinical experiences to train nursing students, update and create mental health training and tracking software to aid in effectiveness evaluations and be implemented in partnership with Evans Army Hospital.

Watkins, CO Parachute Facility
$3.569 million
Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
6848 S. Revere Parkway
Centennial, CO 80112
Construction of a 1350 sq. ft. Parachute Drying Tower, a 9,800 sq. ft. Parachute Rigging Facility, and 9,650 sq. yds. of Military Vehicle Parking at the Watkins Colorado Army National Guard Readiness Center associated with the 5/19th Special Forces Battalion of the Colorado Army National Guard.  Currently parachutes are dried by hanging them from the roof structure and the equipment parachutes are dried by laying them out in the military vehicle parking area which subjects them to damage by UV rays and environmental hazards (rocks, gravel, oil from parked vehicles).   Parachutes are improperly stored with other equipment and are currently shipped out of state for cleaning & processing.  These situations introduce an unacceptable level of risk and additional expense into this parachute operation.

Back to Appropriations