Ruppersberger Announces $10.5 Mil to
Keep our Country Safe and Protect Our Troops

(Washington, D.C.)- Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) is pleased to announce $10.5 million in federal funding to keep our country safe and protect our troops: $3 million for Shock Trauma, $1 million for Kennedy Krieger, $1.5 million for Aberdeen Proving Ground, $3 million for Navy Radar, and $2 million for Better Tank Batteries. 

$3 Million for Shock Trauma
At the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, $3 million will fund cutting edge research for traumatic brain injuries.  The research will help physicians improve diagnosis, treatment, and recovery methods for patients.  The research will benefit Marylanders as well as servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Doctors estimate that 60% of troops injured in Iraq suffer from traumatic brain injuries.  Military medical personnel will learn first hand about this critical research when they complete their monthly rotations at Shock Trauma to help prepare them for overseas assignments. 

$1 Million for Kennedy Krieger
At Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, $1 million will go to the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury for rehabilitation for American military personnel injured in Iraq, Afghanistan, or other locations around the world.  Since the beginning of the Iraq War, more than 16,000 troops have received severe spinal cord injuries.  The money will fund groundbreaking therapies that will help reverse spinal cord injuries, generate new nerve cells, and develop brain activity.      

$1.5 Million for Aberdeen Proving Ground, $3 Million for Navy Radar,
$2 Million for Better Tank Batteries
At Aberdeen Proving Ground, $1.5 million will fund state-of-the-art research to improve protective helicopter armor used by U.S. servicemen and women.  At a facility near Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport, $3 million will fund groundbreaking improvements to Navy radar to make it smaller, lighter, more adaptable, and more accurate than current radar capabilities.  Using technology developed at a Maryland company, $2 million will fund a strong, longer lasting battery for the Abrams tank used in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The new battery will reduce battlefield fuel demand by as much as 50%.  This will save an estimated $15 to $30 million a day and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

“Members of America’s armed forces are answering the call to serve their country in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations around the world.  I believe they deserve to have access to the best equipment available and the best care if they are injured in the line of duty.  This $10.5 million dollars in funding will help us do that,” said Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD).     

These projects were included in the 2008 Defense Appropriations bill.  It must be approved by the full House and Senate and signed by the President before it becomes law.

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