Funding for these Staten Island groups selected by Rep. Malliotakis will go before the House for a vote
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- All but one of the city and borough-based projects put forth by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis has made it to the next step of the House Appropriations Committee’s funding process, with an end goal of bringing millions in Federal funding for various local institutions.
In total, Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn) requested more than $6 million for various projects on Staten Island and more than $5 million for the South Brooklyn portion of her district.
The following Staten Island projects passed out of committee and will be brought before the House for vote:
Within the FY22 Commerce Justice & Science (CJS) legislation:
- NYPD Critical Response Command K9-Training and Equipment: $350,000
- NYPD Forensic Equipment: $2,000,000
- NYPD Personal Protective Equipment: $550,000
Within the FY22 Transportation Housing and Urban Development (THUD) legislation:
- Goodhue Center, improvements and repairs: $494,000
- St. George Theater, capital improvements: $1,492,560
Within the FY22 Labor & Health and Human Services (Labor HHS) legislation:
- Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH), facilities and equipment: $2,000,000
- Richmond University Medical Center, facilities and equipment: $1,815,000
“I promised to go to Washington and fight to refund our police, and I’m pleased that the bills that have emerged from the House Appropriations Committee include my requests to fund forensic and protective equipment and the NYPD’s K9 unit. In total, nine out of ten of my funding requests have made it past this hurdle and will provide millions for our Island’s two hospitals and local non-profits like St. George Theatre and the Goodhue Center that have been severely impacted by the pandemic,” Malliotakis said.
“While we’ve made significant progress in the House, I am hopeful that Senators Schumer and Gillibrand will include the same funding in the Senate’s version of the bills,” she continued.
It’s unclear when and if the bills will be brought before the House and Senate for a vote. Once a final bill has been negotiated and passes both chambers, the bill moves to be signed by the president and funding can be distributed.
If Congress cannot agree on new funding levels before Oct. 1, a Continuing Resolution is required, however, it is less likely that member designated projects from any congressional representative will receive funding at this point.
Formerly known as congressional earmarks, and now called directed congressional spending or member designated projects, they were brought back earlier this year when House Republicans voted via secret ballot to reverse the ban that put a halt to earmarks for the last decade.
The ban took place in 2011 after earmarks were tied to corruption and “bloated” spending.
The ban was lifted, and measures were put in place, such as requiring congressional members to publicly disclose the earmark with a written justification for the funding and stating they have no vested financial interest in the project.
The new process for request funding has been called arduous and because of strict requirements, many projects do not meet the criteria for funding.
Each member is allowed up to 10 requests and the U.S. House of Representatives will allow up to $13 billion in earmarks for House appropriations bills, a total of 4,350 earmarks for fiscal year 2022.