Senator Roberts: Senate Passes Interior Bill Contains Important Projects for Johnson County, Ft. Larned & Nation's Veterans
Senator Roberts: Senate Passes Interior Bill Contains Important Projects for Johnson County, Ft. Larned & Nation's Veterans
WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today announced the Senate passed the Interior Appropriations conference report containing important projects for Johnson County and Fort Larned. The bill also includes an amendment to correct a $1.5 billion shortfall in veterans health care services for 2005. The bill now goes to the president to be signed into law.
"At a time when our nation's men and women in uniform are making huge sacrifices to fight and win the war on terror," Senator Roberts said, "it is our duty to ensure that when they return, there are services to take care of their medical and readjustment needs. I am pleased the Senate has acted immediately in a bipartisan way to ensure that there is no gap in assistance."
At issue were internal accounting errors made by the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs that would have created a $1.5 billion shortfall for resources to address the health care needs of more than 100,000 soldiers returning from deployments overseas.
Regarding the Interior Bill projects, Senator Roberts said, "I am pleased the Senate acted quickly to make this important investment in our infrastructure and historical preservation efforts."
The following projects Senator Roberts personally worked to include in the bill:
- $500,000 for WaterOne, a quasi-municipal agency that provides water to more than 383,000 Johnson County residents.
WaterOne's primary source of water is from a jetty on the Kansas River which was breached, due to age, and was temporarily repaired last year. The funds will be used to reconstruct or replace the jetty. The project will shore-up Johnson County's water source and will block river degradation from migrating further upstream and endangering other water intakes.
- $1.159 million for construction to maintain the officers quarters at Fort Larned National Historic Site.
http://roberts.senate.gov/07-29a-2005.htm