WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Sam Brownback today commented on Senate Appropriations Committee passage of two funding bills, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Bill and the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Bill. "I am pleased my funding requests for Kansas were included in these bills," said Brownback. "These projects will go far toward addressing critical health, water, and education needs in communities throughout the state of Kansas."

The two bills include the following Kansas projects:

• Brown Foundation, Topeka: $250,000

• 10th Street sewer line repairs, Great Bend: $500,000

• Wastewater treatment project for the City of Ellsworth: $300,000

• Wastewater treatment plant construction project for the City of Larned: $300,000

• Wastewater treatment project for the City of Iola: $200,000

• Storm-water improvement project for the City of Lenexa: $300,000

• Atchison Hospital Association, digital imaging equipment, Atchison: $400,000

• Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, equipment, Pittsburg: $500,000

• Kansas State University, for equipment for the Midwest Institute for Comparative Stem Cell Biology, Manhattan: $500,000

• Providence Medical Center, telehealth upgrades, Kansas City: $500,000

• Kansas City Kansas Community College, a workforce development training program to improve economic conditions and reduce prisoner recidivism, Kansas City: $500,000

• MidAmerica Nazarene University, a distance education initiative for Western Kansas, Olathe: $300,000

• Washburn University, equipment to train students in health-related fields, Topeka: $300,000

Brownback continued, "However, due to language expanding embryonic stem cell research, I voted against passage of the Labor-H Bill; I cannot support a measure that allows for the destruction of young human life for speculative research. I am disappointed that the subcommittee chairman chose to politicize such an important bill. The chairman is causing a delay in funding for critical programs because this bill, as written, will never become law."

Senator Brownback is a member of the Appropriations Committee.