Costa Secures $11 Million for Valley Projects in Appropriations Spending Bill

WASHINGTON - Congressman Jim Costa (CA-16) released the following statement after all Community Project Funding requests he submitted for this year's Appropriations Spending Bill were included for consideration. If passed by the House and Senate, the bill would provide $11 million dollars to the counties of Fresno, Madera, and Merced to complete water projects and fund jobs, health, and educational programs:

"Bringing federal funding back to the district is one of my top priorities," said Rep. Costa. "Investments such as these are an investment in every person who lives here and I'm thankful the appropriation committees recognize the impact that each of these projects will have in our communities."

The projects chosen for inclusion in the bill, which Rep. Costa submitted in April for consideration, include the following:

• $3.5 million for the City of Madera to rehabilitate a 50-year-old corroded pipeline responsible for carrying the City's wastewater to its treatment plant;
• $2 million for the Merced County Courthouse Museum to rehabilitate Merced County's most historic building, community gathering place, and educational resource;
• $1.9 million for the Fresno Economic Development Corporation to construct a 60,000-square-foot training center in West Fresno to assist women, minorities, veterans, ex-offenders, at-risk and disconnected young adults, and other underrepresented individuals with job training and counseling;
• $950,000 for the City of Gustine to finish the water loop line from North Avenue to East Avenue, which will create a more stable and safe water distribution system;
• $625,000 for Madera Unified School District to ensure the district's approximately 5,500 English Language Learners address unfinished learning in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic;
• $500,000 to study the viability of a project to expand the single purpose Los Banos Creek into a multi-purpose reservoir, which would provide long-term solutions to flooding, drought, overdraft, and subsidence in Fresno, Madera, Merced, and Stanislaus Counties;
• $475,000 for Fresno City College to develop the Nurse Pipeline Extension Project, a collaborative program with Fresno State, to increase the number of Nurse Practitioners in the San Joaquin Valley;
• $475,000 for UCSF Fresno to construct an Alzheimer's Center and Center on Aging, which will provide clinical services for age-related care and serve as a center for geriatric and neurological education for students and residents;
• $300,000 for Advance Peace Fresno to intervene and help prevent gun violence by investing in communities and individuals disproportionately impacted by violent crime;
• $279,000 for the City of Dos Palos to replace a water clarifier at the city's aging water plant to ensure uninterrupted service for residents.

In June, Rep. Costa also secured nearly $20 million in funding for local projects when four of his Member Designated Projects were chosen for inclusion in the 2021 INVEST in America Act, a $547 billion dollar surface transportation reauthorization bill, which is expected to go before Congress for a vote in the next few weeks.