Johnson publicizes Third District requests
Washington,
Jun 14, 2007 -
Today U.S. Congressman
Sam Johnson (3rd
Dist.-Texas) announced the 13 Third District priorities for which he requested
federal funding in the congressional money allocating process, known as
appropriations. Under the Appropriations Committee, there are 12 Appropriations
Subcommittees charged with distributing federal dollars to each of the 435
congressional districts. This week the Congress started debate on various
appropriations bills and will continue to do so for several weeks, if not
months.
According to the Capitol
Hill publication, The Hill, Rep.
Bill Young (R-Fla.), former Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, estimated
“there’s 32,000 earmark request[s] this year.” This translates to roughly 70
requests per Member of Congress. Some request none, others request
many.
The Appropriations
Subcommittees are: Agriculture; Commerce, Justice, Science; Defense; Energy and
Water; Financial Services; Homeland Security; Interior and Environment; Labor,
Health and Human Services, Education; Legislative Branch; Military Construction,
Veterans Affairs; State, Foreign Operations; Transportation, Housing and Urban
Development.
Asking for federal
funding for a specific project, sometimes called an “earmark,” does not
guarantee that the item will receive one cent from the federal government.
Johnson requested that the Appropriations Committees kindly consider if 13
projects within the Third District warrant federal funds. Each Member of
Congress must decide for him or herself whether to request money for his or her
congressional district and how much.
Of the 13 requests, 11
are defense or national-security related to help strengthen all branches of the
armed forces. Johnson attributes this to the dominant presence of the defense
industry in North Texas; the Third
Congressional District includes small, medium, and large defense-affiliated
companies employing thousands of people who live and/ or work in the Third
District. Johnson also believes that the strict regulations governing the sale
of American defense- company merchandise and technology for national security
reasons puts American defense companies at a unique disadvantage compared with
foreign-owned companies.
Defense
·
Army research, test, and
development for the signal intelligence capability for the Army’s “Warrior”
unmanned vehicle - $2.3 million;
·
UTD’s development of
networked wireless sensor technology for reconnaissance, surveillance, and
tactical applications for border security - $4
million;
·
Secure Grids for Network
Centric Operations at UT Dallas - $4.2 million;
·
Digital Night Vision
Systems program for all service branches - $12
million;
·
Special Project Aircraft
Upgrade by modifying and/ or replacing obsolete intelligence collection
equipment for the Navy. The Special Project Aircraft support Special Forces and
other troops in data collection - $4.4 million;
·
Thermoelectric Power
Generation Materials and Devices for the Army - $5
million;
·
Advanced Protection
Systems (APS) for the Army. APS is an externally mounted vehicle protection
system that identifies, discriminates, and intercepts rocket-propelled grenades,
mortars, anti-tank guided missiles - $50 million;
·
Enhanced Tracking and
Asset Control for the Navy - $5 million;
·
Mega Pixel IR Focal
Plane Array Enhancement for the Army - $3.2
million;
·
Portable mobile oxygen
and ventilation systems for Marine Corps - $4.2 million;
and
·
Falcon Eye Seeker
Development for the Air Force – this is critically enabling technology needed
for low-cost guided munitions to autonomously locate and engage moving maritime
targets in all weather, day or night. It is more cost-effective than regular
radar – $6.3 million.
Education
National Virtual Vietnam
Archive at Texas
Tech University - $4
million
Transportation
New control tower at
Collin
County Regional Airport - $3
million
Johnson
represents portions of Dallas and Collin Counties.
