Washington, DC - Congressman Juan Vargas (CA-51) voted in favor of the $1.15 trillion government spending bill voted on and approved by the House of Representatives today. Over 100 programs supported by Rep. Vargas were included in the bill. Rep. Vargas issued the following statement after voting on the Fiscal Year 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act:
“This bill is the result of long hours of hard work and compromise through a bipartisan effort. Although not everything I wanted to see funded was included in this spending bill, I was pleased to see that it tackles issues that go beyond party lines,” said Rep. Vargas. “The omnibus spending bill includes significant funding for programs that benefit our District.”
The following is a list of some of the programs Rep. Vargas worked on with his colleagues in Congress to secure funding for the FY16 budget:
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Department of Defense’s Operations and Maintenance- Navy: Funded at $39.6 million
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U.S. Mexico Border Water Infrastructure Program: Funded at $10 million
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Veterans Treatment Courts: Funded at $6 million
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Bureau of Reclamation’s Salton Sea Research Project: Funded at $300,000
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Alfalfa and Forage Research: Funded at $2 million ($1 million less than the original request)
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Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF): Funded at $450 million
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Head Start: Funded at $9,168 billion
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National Institutes of Health: Funded at $32 billion
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Refugee and Entrant Assistant Program: Funded at $1,674 billion
The omnibus spending bill also includes language to repeal the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements that are currently enforced in the U.S.
“COOL regulations have a negative impact on our District. They not only create a cattle shortage in the state, but also threaten the work of countless farmers and generate financial uncertainty for many families in the Imperial Valley,” said Rep Vargas. “Revoking these regulations will stop U.S. exports from suffering a negative economic impact totaling more than $1 billion in retaliatory tariffs from neighboring countries.”
