Jolly Secures Big Wins for Tampa Bay in 2016 Omnibus

Congressman David Jolly's (FL-13) efforts on the powerful House Appropriations Committee paid off for the Tampa Bay region Wednesday with several items he proposed included in the Fiscal Year 2016 omnibus spending package.

Because of Jolly's leadership, MacDill Air Force Base will get $94 million for construction projects. Just over a third of that money will be used to build a 36,600 square foot Special Operations support facility, while $55 million will be allocated for runway improvements needed for 23 incoming Army Reserve Black Hawk helicopters.

"The continued investment of SOCOM resources and infrastructure, combined with the relocation of Army Reserve Black Hawks, will provide necessary resources for our men and women in uniform to carry out their critical mission, and the investment further demonstrates the national security significance, and growing permanency of MacDill," Jolly said.

Jolly's proposal of $10 million for third-party data collection of Gulf Red Snapper and other Gulf reef species for federal stock assessments was also included in the omnibus. The new data collection program could ultimately lead to longer Red Snapper fishing seasons for the recreational sectors.

"This is a significant victory that will ultimately give us a better, more accurate picture of the fish stocks in the Gulf of Mexico. Many in the fishing community, from private anglers, to charter, to commercial, have questioned the government's assessments. Third-party data collection will now expand the information available to the government, particularly for Red Snapper, and improve the data used to set fishing seasons," Jolly said.

"In the end, if the research shows a larger fish population than the government suggests, this will open the door for a longer fishing season for species like Red Snapper. And a longer Snapper season is an economic and quality of life win throughout our community, positively impacting everyone from local scientists committed to the protection of fish populations, to recreational anglers, to charter operators, to businesses that depend on fishing tourism, like hotel and restaurant operators," Jolly concluded.

The data collection program will be managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Southeast Regional Office located in St. Petersburg and Sea Grant Universities, like the University of Florida and Florida State University.

Other items championed by Jolly in the spending package that benefit Florida include:

$5.5 million to fight Citrus Greening

$350 million in additional money for Alzheimer's research

$60 million increase in funding for veterans housing assistance to fund new vouchers

$570 million increase for Head Start programs

Prohibition on regulatory expansion under the Clean Water Act

Increased travel restrictions passed by the House this month under the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015

The omnibus spending deal also includes Jolly's proposal prohibiting the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay from being closed, abandoned or relinquished to the Cuban government.

The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are expected to approve the spending package later this week.

Source