Schakowsky Votes to Advance Six Bill Appropriations Package
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), a Chief Deputy Whip and Ranking Member of the House Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee, released the following statement after House passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, a package of six domestic funding bills focused on helping families and communities across the United States. The legislation will provide American families relief from the higher cost of living, combat climate change, and honor America’s commitments to its veterans and servicemembers.
“After months of far-right extremists hijacking our appropriations process and threatening to shut down the government, we finally passed a bipartisan funding package that will benefit everyday families, veterans, WIC recipients, and more. Democrats successfully fought off the hundreds of poison pill riders that extremist Republicans sought to bury in the bill that would have attacked Americans’ fundamental freedoms, like women’s health care and gender-affirming care. The icing on the cake is this bill will directly invest more than $17 million into the 9th Congressional District of Illinois through Community Project Funding that will help grow our local public institutions and community centers.
“Democrats have fought hard to protect crucial investments that matter to everyday Americans and help keep our economy strong, rejecting devastating cuts to housing, nutrition assistance, and more. The agreement includes a $2.3 billion boost for veterans’ medical care, a $1 billion increase for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and $3.6 billion for the Community Health Center Fund, which provides the bulk of federal funding for community health centers.
“This bill will help combat the climate crisis with more than $15 billion in transformative investments in clean energy and science, which will help develop clean, affordable, and secure American energy and increase climate change and resiliency funding.
“I am also thrilled that my legislation with Rep. Buddy Carter, which would require states to monitor the prescribing of antipsychotic medications to children, including children in foster care, and adults residing in long term care settings or receiving home and community-based services, was included in this package. Once signed into law, we will be able to identify potentially abusive prescribing practices of antipsychotics to our children and seniors, and then work to stop them.
“I applaud the hard work done by my friend and colleague, Appropriations Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, to negotiate and bring this critical funding bill to the floor for a vote and thwart a partial government shutdown. As we continue with the appropriations process, I will continue to fight for another spending package that puts people over politics.”
Rep. Schakowsky championed funding for 13 projects that will directly benefit Illinois’s 9th District residents. These include:
$500,000 for Algonquin Eastgate Branch Library Renovation Project
$750,000 for Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago – Pederson McCormick Accessibility Improvement project
$1,000,000 for Chicago Public Schools - Turf Field Updates at Joseph Brennemann Elementary School
$959,752 for City of Chicago for Lead Service Line Replacement
$4,000,000 for Cook County, Section 219, IL
$4,116,279 for County of McHenry - Randall Road Improvement Project
$1,000,000 for Indian Boundary Playground Rehabilitation
$750,000 for JCC of Chicago’s Lake Zurich Campus Expansion and Improvements
$1,050,000 for McGaw Men's Residence Renovation Project
$500,000 for Skokie Park District – Neighborhood Parks Rehabilitation Project
$850,000 for Village of Cary - Downtown Streetscape Improvements
$850,000 for Village of Hawthorn Woods - Uptown Corridor Utility Project
$959,752 for Village of Long Grove for Lake Michigan Water Connection
A detailed summary of the legislation is available here.
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