WASHINGTON –
U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, today announced his FY 2010 budget appropriations requests for Maryland, including priorities for the Baltimore region
.
The Senate will take up the appropriations bills this summer.
A complete list of Senator Cardin’s appropriations requests can be found at
cardin.senate.gov
.
“The appropriations process must be open and transparent. The American people have a right to know how their tax dollars may be used.
I have carefully vetted every request for Fiscal Year 2010 to ensure that they reflect our regional and national priorities and will help Maryland meet the challenges of the future,”
said Senator Cardin. “My appropriations requests focus on creating new jobs through innovation and technology, improving our transportation infrastructure, supporting health research, strengthening homeland security, restoring the environment and lessening our dependence on foreign energy.”
More than 45 percent of all funds requested by Senator Cardin fund or supplement funding for federal programs that benefit Maryland. Approximately 30 percent of the funds requested would provide essential resources to our state and local governments.
Examples of statewide requests include:
·
$2 million for the
State of Maryland for its First Responder Interoperability Project to help the state implement an interoperability radio system
·
$ 1 million for the
Maryland State Police to upgrade the state’s computer aided dispatch/management system to coordinate resources and provide quicker deployments in case of an emergency
·
$2.5 million for the
Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s statewide oral health literacy campaign to educate low-income, high-risk families about the importance of oral health and preventive behaviors including working with dental and medical providers
·
$2 million for essential infrastructure of the
Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Water Trails
Examples of requests from Senator Cardin for entities or projects based in the Baltimore region include:
·
$40 million to fully fund the
EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office, which is essential to accelerate the restoration efforts underway in the watershed
·
$22.5 million for the
Baltimore Harbor for maintenance dredging of Baltimore District Channels
·
$16 million to renovate and increase space for the
Maryland National Guard’s
CSM Jerome M. Grollman Readiness Center in Dundalk
·
$15 million for the
Maryland Transit Administration to replace aging busses and bus facilities in the Baltimore Metropolitan Area
·
$10 million for the
Baltimore Red Line, a proposed 14-mile light rail or bus rapid transit line extending from the Woodlawn area through downtown Baltimore City to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Campus in East Baltimore
·
$10 million for planning, design, and construction of Biological Nutrient Removal and Enhanced Nutrient Removal facilities at the existing
Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant. An additional $200,000 for the
Patapsco Urban River Restoration Initiative.
·
$7.15 million for the
Intracoastal Waterway from the Delaware River to the Chesapeake Bay. Funds would be used for maintenance dredging for the C&D Canal and approach channels and replacing the Main Span Deck Joint over North Pier Chesapeake City Bridge
·
$5 million for
advanced restoration therapies for spinal cord injury at the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at the Kennedy Krieger Center
·
$5 million for intersection improvements around
Ft. George G. Meade to improve safety, operations and access. 50,000 new residents will arrive in Maryland in the next few years because of the BRAC process.
·
$4.75 million for an advanced
Integrated Chemical and Biological Detection System to warn military personnel and first responders before weapons of mass destruction and chemical or biological agents reach dangerous exposure levels.
·
$4 million
restoration of oyster habitat and oyster reefs and planting disease-free oysters in scientifically-selected sites throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed through a grants program and partnership with the
Oyster Recovery Project
·
$3 million for
physical infrastructure and workforce training at the
University of Maryland at Baltimore’s BioPark, which will help
establish the Baltimore region as a center for scientific research while revitalizing an economically distressed neighborhood
·
$3 million to create the
National Center for Craniofacial Reconstruction at the University of Maryland Baltimore as a national resource for military and civilian patients
·
$3 million for
Baltimore County to replace outdated equipment at
its 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Center in Towson. The Center handles over 839,000 emergency and non-emergency calls per year and centralizes dispatch to police, fire, and other emergency services.
·
$2.6 million for
Howard County to replace aging gas-powered busses for local transit with environmentally friendly hybrid-electric busses
·
$2.5 million for the Maryland Department
of Juvenile Services Violence Prevention Initiative to increase supervision and services for at-risk youth; $1 million for the
Baltimore City Public School System to address the increasing problem of drop-outs; and $1 million for the
Baltimore City Mayor’s Office on Criminal Justice for a pilot Juvenile Screening and Diversion program to provide intervention and services for nonviolent youth
·
$2.47 million for
James Madison and Towson Universities to integrate existing GIS mapping, analysis, and modeling capabilities, into an integrated solution that enables simulation, training, and real-time decision support for
Port Security
In addition, Senator Cardin has requested funding for the following projects:
·
$1 million for the
Anne Arundel Medical Center to create a dedicated Pediatric Emergency Department that will increase patient safety and access to immediate care
·
$1 million to
Stevenson University to enhance curriculum development and laboratory technology to implement STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)
education programs; $500,000 to the
Maryland Zoo in Baltimore for expanded teacher training in STEM education; and $1 million for the
National Aquarium in Baltimore to improve facilities and expand education and conservation programs
·
$1 million for the
Baltimore City Health Department’s Healthy Babies program, to pexpand services and education to help reduce the factors contributing to infant mortality. Baltimore's infant mortality rate is disproportionately higher than the national average
