Senator Hassan Applauds Bipartisan Passage of Funding Bill for Critical Economic Priorities

WASHINGTON – Senator Maggie Hassan today voted to approve an appropriations bill to fund the Departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Interior, and additional federal agencies for FY 2020. The bill also includes an amendment from Senator Hassan that instructs the Department of Housing and Urban Development to move forward its analysis of eviction prevention insurance, a part of the Senator’s bill introduced earlier this year to prevent evictions.

“This bipartisan government funding bill reflects members of both parties coming together to advance key priorities for our communities, businesses, and economy,” Senator Hassan said. “Critically, the bill includes significant funding that I supported to assist drug interdiction efforts and help address the opioid crisis. This bill also advances other key priorities for New Hampshire, including provisions that I advocated for that will make a real impact on the lives of Granite Staters, such as funding for roads and bridges, affordable housing, police officers’ mental health and wellness, and clean water projects. I am also pleased that this bill includes an amendment I offered to advance efforts to prevent evictions.”

See below for some of the key New Hampshire priorities in this government funding bill:

• Provides $505 million in dedicated Department of Justice grant program funding to fight substance abuse and drug trafficking, an increase of $37 million above FY 2019 funding levels
• Provides $5 million to address mental health of police officers and police suicide
• Invests in local and regional infrastructure, providing $1 billion for the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grants program, a competitive grant program for infrastructure projects, $100 million more than the previous year
• Supports affordable housing – including Senator Hassan’s amendment to instruct the Department of Housing and Urban Development to make recommendations and a cost estimate for a study of eviction prevention insurance and providing an additional $2.1 billion compared to FY 2019 funding levels for affordable housing programs. Funding includes critical initiatives such as $23.8 billion for tenant-based Section 8 vouchers, $7.5 billion for public housing, and $12.6 billion for project-based Section 8 rental assistance
• Invests in clean water and addresses PFAS contamination, including by providing $1.13 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, $1.64 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, $26 million for water projects in communities working to improve Safe Drinking Water Act compliance, and $2 million to support drinking water infrastructure resiliency
• Supports economic development, by providing $319.5 million – a $16 million increase above FY 2019 funding levels – for the Economic Development Administration to support public-private partnerships and brick-and-mortar development to boost job creation and capital investment, as well as encourage entrepreneurship
• Provides $1.3 billion in resources to fight gun violence, an increase of $49.5 million compared to FY 2019 levels
• Provides $500 million for Violence Against Women Act programs, marking the highest funding level ever for the grants

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