From July 20, 2022 post.
Today, Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) voted to pass H.R. 8294, a package of six government funding bills, which focuses on helping families and communities across America. The transformative investments in the bill will lower the cost of living, create good-paying jobs for Iowans, lift up working families, and support small businesses.
“Iowans tell me every day about how inflation and the rising cost of living is affecting them. Today, I am pleased to have voted for a package of bills that make critical investments my constituents need and creates jobs for Iowans,” said Rep. Axne. “This legislation makes investments that will help Iowa’s working families, small businesses, farmers, public health workers, and our most vulnerable populations.”
Background:
This appropriations package creates jobs by continuing the critical infrastructure work of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, grows opportunity through supporting homeownership and rental assistance, and promotes safe transportation and housing by:
- Increasing port infrastructure investment by 30% to eliminate bottlenecks.
- Funds modernizing our highways, railroads, and airports.
- Invests $500 million in infrastructure needs at resident- or nonprofit-owned manufactured housing communities.
- Provides up to $30 billion of loans through USDA’s rural housing programs.
- Continued investment in rural broadband with $560 million to expand service
- Increased funding for child nutrition programs to ensure students have access to healthy school lunches and snacks, provides grant opportunities for schools to expand their kitchens, and fully funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
- $1.16 billion for Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services to protect American agriculture from deadly diseases, including African Swine Fever and High Path Avian Influenza
- $1.5 billion for rural water and waste programs to ensure rural communities have access to safe drinking water
- $1.15 billion to help farmers, ranchers, and other private landowners conserve and protect their land, including $100 million for infrastructure for watershed and flood prevention and watershed rehabilitation projects
- Provides increased funding for the Army Corps of Engineers to help address the backlog and deferred maintenance projects
- Expands investments in clean energy with $4 billion for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs, including the Weatherization Assistance Program, Weatherization Readiness Fund, State Energy Program, Local Government Energy Program, and Energy Future Grants.
- $350 million to advance technologies to increase the resiliency and efficiency of the nation’s electricity delivery system with capabilities to incorporate growing amounts of clean energy technologies.
- Providing a 12% increase in funding for Entrepreneurial Development Programs at the Small Business Administration.
- Increasing funding for the Federal Trade Commission to protect consumers from fraud and small businesses from monopolies.
- Provides $3.6 billion in funding for the National Park Service, an increased investment to address years of deferred maintenance in our nation’s parks
- Significant increase for State and Tribal Assistance Grants to help communities address aging water infrastructure needs
- Fully funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund to support state recreation and public land acquisition programs.
The appropriations package also increases transparency into political spending and how the executive branch is apportioning this funding.
Original source can be found here
