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Congresswoman Salazar Secures Major Healthcare, Jobs, Infrastructure, Environmental, and Education Wins for Miami

March 17, 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar (FL-27) proudly announced more than $17 million in funding will soon come to Miami as a direct result of her advocacy on Capitol Hill.

On March 11, 2022, the U.S. Senate passed the Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations Package after passing the U.S. House of Representatives on March 10th. Today, President Biden signed the appropriations package into law, making the wins official for Florida's 27th District.

"Miami sent me to Washington to fight for them, and I'm doing just that," said Congresswoman Salazar. "I'm proud to have secured over $17 million in funding for Florida's 27th District. These projects will create jobs, strengthen healthcare and water systems infrastructure, and address the harmful effects of a changing climate, making Miami an even better place to live and work."

The FL-27 community funding projects in the FY22 Appropriations Package include:

  1. $7.65 million to Mt. Sinai Medical Hospital. As the sole hospital provider during disasters for vulnerable populations without options, Mount Sinai fulfills an essential emergency healthcare function for the city, state, and federal governments.  Mount Sinai Medical Center has developed a Resiliency Master Plan that will protect campus facilities and mitigate damage from storm surge, seawater intrusion, windstorm damage, and flooding. The requested funds for this project would go towards resiliency improvements that the center needs to continue to safely serve its 10,000,000+ annual visitors and protect the lives of patients, hospital staff, and local residents in times of severe weather emergencies.
  2. $2 million to the Greater Biscayne Bay Harmful Algae Bloom Monitoring Program.  This project will combat red tide and promote health and wellbeing for the community, marine life, the environment, and the local economy by creating a monitoring system to predict the extent of future toxic algal blooms in Biscayne and Florida Bays.
  3. $500,000 to FIU's Startup Tech and Food Business Hub. StartUP FIU is a university-wide initiative that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship for its students, faculty, alumni, and for the greater community of Miami. This project proposes to partner with community and local governmental organizations in Florida’s 27th District to develop a Startup FIU Technology and Food Business Hub that would create over 500 jobs. The proposed grant would be used to help students partner directly with companies to enhance their skills in digital marketing, social media, website development, e-commerce, design thinking, sales, finance, entrepreneurship, and data analytics.
  4. $3 million to West Miami's Potable Water Main Improvements Project. The City of West Miami’s existing potable water system is comprised largely of 4”-8” cast-iron mains constructed over 50 years ago and is unsuitable to serve the existing population of the City. The outdated system suffers from leakage, intermittent failures, and ruptures causing disruptions in service, damage to infrastructure, and potential contamination. This project will help the City replace its aged and outdated water infrastructure.
  5. $1.15 million for Frost Museum's National Center for Education and Conservation of Florida's Coral Reefs. This project will create a new community-focused coral nursery and education center at the Frost Museum of Science, which would allow for research, education, and conservation work to save Florida's coral reefs. The proposed center would provide unique opportunities for continuous education, research and dissemination, and active field conservation of Florida's coral reefs, while connecting people to marine science, STEM-based education, biodiversity, and restoration. 
  6. $606,000 for Pinecrest's Stormwater Management Project. The Stormwater Management Project focuses on much-needed infrastructure improvements to reduce flooding and more effectively manage stormwater. The proposed project is located in an area that has suffered repetitive flooding over the years, and this project would dramatically reduce the risk of floods in the future.
  7. $500,000 to Key Biscayne's K-8 Center Elementary School Stormwater Improvements. This project will provide a safer, more quality educational environment for school-aged children at Key Biscayne’s K-8 Elementary and Middle School by reducing the excessive flooding experienced in and around the school. In addition to addressing flooding at the school, this would also help reduce the high amount of pollutants discharged into Biscayne Bay.
  8. $1.6 million to West Grove Biscayne Bay Water Pump. This pump will support the conversion of parcels served by septic systems to the sanitary sewer system to reduce the risk of nutrients being transported to the groundwater aquifer (Biscayne Aquifer), canals, and ultimately Biscayne Bay. This will help prevent sewage backups into homes and potential exposure of residents to floodwaters that may be contaminated with sewage. It is expected to provide a safe and reliable sewer service that will perform better in a coastal community subject to the impacts of rising groundwater.

Aside from the $17+ million coming to Florida's 27th District, the Appropriations Package also included:

  • 6% increase in defense spending, including:
  • a pay raise for service members
  • a substantial increase in funding to help fight emerging threats from China and Russia
  • an increase in funding for Israel's Iron Dome
  • $14 billion to help Ukraine itself against Russia and provide the country with humanitarian assistance
  • Assistance to help secure the border, by:
  • Preventing the Biden Administration from canceling previous construction contracts for barriers at the border
  • Increasing funding for ICE and Customs and Border Patrol
  • Funding for law enforcement at historic levels:
  • Increased Department of Justice law enforcement grants by 15%
  • Increased the Capitol Police's budget
  • Funding to fight the opioid epidemic
  • Increased funding for U.S. Customs and Immigration Services to process more visas and address the current backlog
  • Increase in funding for VA healthcare

To read more about Congresswoman Salazar's FY22 Appropriations Requests, click here.

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