Series of Appropriations Measures Includes $1,714,000 for Bronx Groups

Washington, D.C.--Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) voted today for H.R. 3288, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which passed the House by a vote of 220-202. Once the Senate passes the Consolidated Appropriations Act it will be presented to President Obama for his signature. The $446.8 billion in funding includes: the Transportation-HUD; Commerce, Justice, Science; Financial Services; Labor-HHS-Education; Military Construction, Veterans Affairs; and State, Foreign Operations Appropriation Bills.

Rep. Engel said, “It is imperative that Congress act in order to keep these agencies, and the millions of people who depend on their services, up and running. There is a wide range of services in this package – ranging from care for veterans, health care facilities, law enforcement, and infrastructure improvements and many others – and we must make sure they are constantly able to do their jobs.”

Included in the “omnibus” package are several funding measures which Rep. Engel was able to secure for the Bronx:

• Bronx Cluster of Settlement Homes (Commerce, Justice, Science) – $350,000 for youth development and delinquency prevention.
• Ohel Children (Commerce, Justice, Science) - $350,000 to bring counselors and social workers to schools and homes in the Bronx to provide screenings for children experiencing behavioral or emotional difficulties, or subjected to trauma.
• Bronx RHIO (Regional Health Info Organizations) (Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations) – $310,000 to improve low-income patient care through the creation of a county-wide interoperable medical record.
• Ohel Children (Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations) - $550,000 to support personnel coordinating the Adult Mental Health program. It permits home visits in the Bronx, allows participants and staff to train in job preparedness, managing mental health and patient rehabilitation.
• Friends of Van Cortlandt Park (Transportation-HUD) - $180,000 to restore 6.7 miles of trails in Van Cortlandt Park for safe recreational trail usage for hikers, bikers and horseback riders.

“These organizations in the Bronx are doing a stellar job for their communities. Whether it is health care for those in the most need, crime prevention or revitalization efforts, all of them deserve this and much more. I applaud their efforts and look forward to seeing firsthand the community improvements which will result from this influx of funding.

Some key aspects to the “omnibus” package are:

• Investing $1.4 billion in training and support services for workers impacted by mass layoffs and plant closures. $824 million, $212 million above 2009 to allow the SBA to help small businesses compete and succeed, including support for $28 billion in new lending to small businesses.
• Investing $4.6 billion for mental health care to treat the psychological wounds of returning combat veterans, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Providing Community Health Centers with $2.2 billion to provide primary health care to 17 million patients, of whom 40 percent are uninsured. These centers provide high quality care in both urban and rural underserved areas across the country.
• Providing Head Start with $7.2 billion to sustain high-quality, comprehensive early childhood services, including educational, health, nutritional, and social services, for approximately 978,000 low-income children before they enter school.
• Supporting Pell Grants with $17.495 billion to maintain the discretionary portion of the maximum Pell Grant award at $4,860, which, combined with a mandatory supplement of $690, will support a $5,550 maximum Pell Grant in 2010. Pell Grants are the foundation of the Federal commitment to ensure access to higher educational opportunities for low- and middle-income students by providing need-based financial assistance that helps them pay for college costs. The bill will provide more than eight million students with financial assistance under the Pell Grant program.
• Including $5.1 billion for Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) to ensure that approximately 7.5 million low-income households continue to receive the home energy assistance they need in a volatile energy market.
• Combating Illegal Drugs, And Federal Law Enforcement with $11 billion to federal law enforcement agencies to combat illegal drugs, firearm and explosive trafficking, address national security needs, and safeguard our financial system from crime and terrorism financiers.

Charles Scaglione, Executive Director of Bronx RHIO, said, “Our organization collects health care data from throughout the Bronx into Clinical Data Repositories. That allows any patients being treated almost anywhere in the Bronx to have his or her medical care information available as a means to speed diagnosis while cutting out needless repetitions of tests to cut costs. I want to thank Congressman Engel for his efforts to get us this funding.”

Rep. Engel added, “I look forward to the Senate approving the Consolidated Appropriations Act, and for President Obama’s signature on the measure.”