Carper, Blunt Rochester Announce Nearly $100 Million for Delaware in Appropriations Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tom Carper and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (both D-Del.), today announced that they obtained $97 million in funding for Delaware projects in the omnibus appropriations bill expected to pass the House of Representatives later today and the U.S. Senate later this week. 

Last year, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) announced their intent to restore Congress’s constitutional power to approve congressionally directed spending items with enhanced transparency and accountability measures. 

“I am glad that we were able to secure funding for projects that will help communities up and down the First State,” said Senator Carper.  “These investments will help foster innovation at our universities, grow our economy, provide affordable housing and infrastructure investments, deliver health care to the far reaches of our state, improve public safety, and invest in our children.” 

“Investing in Delaware has always been a top priority of mine since arriving in Washington,” said Rep. Blunt Rochester. “Today represents the product of a year-long effort to listen to Delawareans’needs and fight to secure the funding they deserve.”

The government funding package will help support middle-class families, create Delaware jobs, and work to strengthen small businesses and restaurants. A complete list of projects funded in Delaware can be found here. A few of the projects secured in the bill include: 

• $17,500,000 to provide a critical fuel cell and corrosion control hangar for the Delaware National Guard in New Castle.

• $10,000,000 to Reach Riverside in Wilmington to support the construction of a new community center as part of the redevelopment of the Riverside Neighborhood in Wilmington.

• $750,000 to the Friends of Hockessin Colored School #107 in Hockessin to transform the landmark, which played a pivotal role in our nation’s history as one of the five foundational cases in the Brown v. Board of Education decision, into a Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Equity.

• $750,000 for the Nanticoke Association Cultural Community Center and Food Bank Capital Improvements to support the upgrade and expansion of the Nanticoke Indian Association’s community center in Millsboro. 

• $100,000 to the Richard Allen Coalition to provide much-needed repairs to the historic Richard Allen Historic School, a landmark designated by the Delaware Public Archives that serves as a bipartisan, multiracial source of community and pride.

• $937,500 for the New Castle Agricultural Programming Building at the Delaware State Fair in Harrington. 

• $1,900,000 to the Delaware Criminal Justice Council for the Statewide Violence Reduction Project to fund evidence-based violence intervention programs.

• $1,600,000 to the Delaware Criminal Justice Council for a Statewide Body-Worn Camera Project that will help provide the necessary resources for Delaware to be the first state in the nation to have every law enforcement officer equipped with a body-worn camera.

• $1,000,000 to Delaware State University for the Center for Urban Revitalization and Entrepreneurship to promote small business incubators in Kent County.

• $275,000 to the Delaware Division of Libraries to provide telehealth access for rural and underserved communities across Delaware.

• $350,000 to TidalHealth Nanticoke to outfit a mobile health van and create a mobile clinic to help address health disparities and poor health outcomes in disadvantaged communities within Western Sussex County.

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