First Federal Buildings East of the River among Norton Priorities Funded in President - 2/5/2007

First Federal Buildings East of the River and D. C. TAG
among Norton Priorities Funded in President's Budget
February 5, 2007


Washington, DC-- Almost $347 million for the construction of the Coast Guard headquarters and other Department of Homeland Security offices on the west campus of St. Elizabeth's Hospital tops the list of victories for the District and for Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's (D-DC) local and national priorities included in the President's FY 2008 budget plan released today. Norton said that this funding will hasten construction on the west campus of St. Elizabeth's, her major economic development project for the District, especially for Ward 8, particularly because the proposal includes additional funding for west campus infrastructure that will mean groundbreaking could occur soon. She said the project, which moves federal government facilities east of the Anacostia River for the first time, is back on track after being derailed by the FY 2007 appropriation's continuing resolution that the House passed last week. Norton also said that the $35 million for the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program (TAG), $2 million more than the current funding, is a vote of confidence in the educational future of D.C. students who have increased college attendance by 60 percent over five years. Several other Norton high priorities were funded, including: $26 million for D.C. traditional and charter public schools; $10 million for a new D.C. crime and forensic lab; $12 million for the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority, a $5 million increase over 2007; and $190 million for the D.C. Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA), an $8 million increase that will enable CSOSA to provide better substance abuse and other services for high-risk offenders to keep them from returning to crime and jail. CSOSA and the D.C. courts fall under federal jurisdiction.

Norton has insisted from the start of the D.C. school voucher program that an equal amount of money go to public and charter schools, as well. This year, however, the President proposes a $2 million increase for vouchers alone, and Norton will request equal funding for the city's public and charter schools, as envisioned in the legislation. Norton, a D.C. Public Schools graduate, also welcomed $49 million in Title I funding for elementary education and to boost college readiness, which must begin much earlier in a child's life, and that Norton says will help prepare students for her TAG bill. The $10 million for renovation of neighborhood libraries in the District is money that can be put to immediate use to make the city's dilapidated public libraries fit to welcome residents, she said.

The Congresswoman said that the increase in TAG funding is critical this year when she will seek reauthorization of the program, created in 1999. TAG gives D.C. students up to $10,000 annually to attend any U.S. public college or university at low in-state tuition rates or to receive $2,500 annually to attend private institutions in the city and region. There also is $12 million in the President's budget to help the city provide health coverage to low-income, uninsured children who do not qualify for Medicaid, which is still a major need in the District.

Norton pressed for federal funding to go along with what the District has promised to use to build a new forensic lab by 2009. At a September hearing that Norton had requested there was testimony about the detrimental affect and delays caused by the absence of a D.C. crime lab and D.C. relying on the FBI lab. Norton said, "Unless we can quickly investigate and resolve cases using the necessary tools, criminals will continue to kill and assault, too often with impunity. The next breakthrough in our crime statistics will come only when we get our own crime lab." The Congresswoman said that the bulk of the funds for a D.C. facility must come from the city, and as she presses for even more federal funds, she will hold the District to follow through with the necessary local funds to meet its 2009 target.