Bill provides funding for BIW, fisheries disaster relief, Head Start and child nutrition
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, voted today for a bipartisan bill that will keep the government operating through the rest of the current fiscal year.
"This wasn't a perfect bill by any stretch of the imagination, but it did replace some of the sequester and allowed for a better level of support for programs like Head Start and LIHEAP and included critical funding to bring more work to BIW," Pingree said. "It was a product of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate and it took Democrats and Republicans to pass it today."
The "omnibus" bill includes:
· $100 million that will allow the Navy to exercise a contract for a DDG-51 destroyer at Bath Iron Works, which Pingree had pushed for with Congressional leaders and top Navy officials.
· $75 million to fund fisheries disaster declarations. Pingree has repeatedly called for funding this disaster declaration, first made in 2012, after severe cuts in groundfish quotas threatened the livelihood of many New England fishing families.
· Increased funding for Head Start, WIC (nutrition program for mothers and children) and LIHEAP, all priorities that Pingree had pushed for as a member of the Appropriations Committee.
The bill was written by the top Democrats and Republicans on both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. Now that it has passed the House, it will go on to the Senate, where it is expected to come up for a vote later this week. The legislation provides funding for the federal government through the remainder of fiscalyear 2014, which ends on September 30.
