A $397-billion federal spending bill, which the House and Senate approved Thursday night, provides Rhode Island with millions of dollars for everything from heating bill assistance to research on tick-borne disease.
The long-overdue 3,000-page bill finances virtually every part of the federal government for the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.
The bill boosts funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program from a proposed $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion, meaning Rhode Island's share will increase from $11.5 million to $12.2 million.
Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed and Sen. Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, introduced an amendment to increase that funding, which helps the elderly, disabled and families with low incomes.
"This is especially important given the cold winter that we've had, the increase in oil prices due to international uncertainty and tough economic times," Reed spokesman Greg McCarthy said yesterday. "You don't want to be faced with the choice of buying groceries and heating your house."
The spending bill also provides $50 million for communities, such as Providence, that have high rates of lead poisoning in children.
Reed said high demand diluted existing funds to combat lead poisoning, so he and other senators proposed concentrating money in places that need it the most. Providence will be eligible to apply and could get at least $2 million of those funds, McCarthy said.
Reed, a Democrat, was a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee until the Republicans took control of the Senate in the November elections. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, a Democrat, is a member of the House Appropriations Committee. They pursued funding for the state along with Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee, a Republican, and Rep. James R. Langevin, a Democrat.
The spending bill provides the first funding -- $1 million -- for Kennedy's "Foundations for Learning Act," which aims to help young children learn by focusing on their emotional well-being. The funds will go to states for such things as family counseling, home visiting programs and consultations to child-care providers by behavioral health specialists. It's unclear how much could come to Rhode Island.
"That has been something [Kennedy] has worked on since he got in Congress," spokesman Ernesto Anguilla said. "It was a big step to get it passed, particularly in a Republican Congress, and now to see it funded is definitely gratifying for the congressman. This will help children all over the country."
Chafee lobbied for $300,000 that was included in the bill to upgrade the Rhode Island Supreme Court Domestic Violence Training and Monitoring Unit. The money will pay for hiring a full-time data-entry clerk and two full-time staff members to track data and coordinate training.
"Crimes of domestic violence often go unnoticed and overlooked, especially when such crimes don't result in arrests or convictions," Chafee said. "This modest funding will allow Rhode Island to employ the latest technology to guarantee every instance is recorded."
Langevin worked with Reed to secure $1.9 million to try to preserve parts of the former Rocky Point amusement park in Warwick as open space with public access, spokesman Michael K. Guilfoyle said.
McCarthy said the spending bill also includes $17 million for dredging the Providence River. In December, officials said the project needed another $30 million. But McCarthy said, "My understanding is this is what they were looking for to keep the project on schedule. We can get this project started and continue it next year."
The appropriations bill also includes:
$4.5 million to continue repairs to the Washington Bridge, which connects Providence to East Providence.
$3 million for new environmentally cleaner buses and vans for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority.
$3 million for the relocation of Route 195.
$2.25 million for the Narragansett Bay Commission's massive sewage tunnel project.
$2 million for the next phase of the Blackstone River Bikeway.
$1 million for relocating Route 403, which will stretch from Route 4 just north of Frenchtown Road to the state's Quonset-Davisville Port and Commerce Park.
$600,000 to pay for start-up equipment and three years of salary for four new molecular biologists at the University of Rhode Island. McCarthy noted Governor Carcieri called for investing in biotech research in his State of the State speech.
$250,000 to preserve Tiverton's 1,400-acre Weetamoo Woods, the state's largest block of forest east of Narragansett Bay.
$100,000 for a URI research project launching a tick-control program in Narragansett. Rhode Island has consistently reported the second-highest incidence of Lyme disease in the nation, with almost 70 percent of those cases in Washington County.
