$17M In Federal Spending Bill Earmarked For Peninsula

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — The massive federal spending bill that passed last week will benefit several Peninsula projects.

President Joe Biden on Friday signed the $1.7 trillion bill, which averts a government shutdown.

The bill finances federal agencies through September and provides another significant round of military and economic aid to Ukraine one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dramatic address to a joint meeting of Congress.

The bill includes $2 million for the Highway 1/Frenchman’s Creek intersection and bicycle/pedestrian improvements, $3 million for library projects in San Mateo and East Palo Alto, and $2.4 million for a stormwater capture project.

The funding package also includes emergency supplemental funding to respond to the devastation caused by recent natural disasters and triggered by extreme weather events and emergency resources to support the Ukrainian people and protect global democracy.

“Whether it’s wildfire mitigation and management, library restoration, environmental and historic preservation, health care and early childhood development, public transportation improvements, or critical infrastructure updates, each of the community projects included in this year’s funding package are vital to ensuring our communities continue to grow and thrive. Government must serve the people first—these projects ensure that will be done,” Rep. Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo) said in a statement.

“As my time in Congress comes to an end, I’m proud that so many local initiatives—including crucial work to restore our iconic and beautiful San Francisco Bay—will now have the federal support and resources they need and deserve after years of underfunding. Ensuring our communities and hardworking families benefit from these federal resources has been my greatest priority and privilege, and I am grateful for Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro’s leadership and support of these crucial projects.”

The bill, which runs for 4,155 pages, includes about $772.5 billion for domestic programs and $858 billion for defense and would finance federal agencies through the fiscal year at the end of September.

The bill passed by a vote of 68-29 and now goes to the House for a final vote before it can be sent to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

“This is one of the most significant appropriations packages we have done in a very long time,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “The range of people it helps is large and deep.”

Lawmakers were racing to get the bill approved before a partial government shutdown would occur at midnight Friday, and many were anxious to complete the task before a deep freeze and wintry conditions left them stranded in Washington for the holidays. Many also want to lock in government funding before a new GOP-controlled House next year could make it harder to find compromise on spending.

Senators heard from Zelenskyy about the importance of U.S. aid to his country for its war with Russia on Wednesday night. The measure provides about $45 billion in military, economic and humanitarian assistance for the devastated nation and NATO allies, more than Biden even requested, raising total assistance so far to more than $100 billion.

“Your money is not charity,” Zelenskyy told lawmakers and Americans watching from home. “It’s an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.”

Lawmakers were in disagreement over which amendments were to be voted upon to lock in a final vote on an expedited basis. The impasses had the potential to prevent passage of the bill before the midnight Friday deadline. But negotiations overnight led to a breakthrough and senators gathered early Thursday morning to work through more than a dozen amendments before getting to a final vote.

The House won’t be able to take up the bill until Friday morning, and while it is expected to pass, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the chamber will also approve a stopgap spending resolution to ensure government services continue without interruption before the bill is signed into law.

The spending bill was supported by Schumer and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, though for different reasons.

McConnell cited the bill’s nearly 10% boost in defense spending, which he says will give America’s Armed Forces the funding and certainty needed to ensure the country’s security.

“The world’s greatest military will get the funding increase that it needs, outpacing inflation,” McConnell said. “Meanwhile, non-defense, non-veterans spending will come in below the rate of inflation, for a real-dollar cut.”

McConnell faced pushback from many Republicans who don’t support the spending bill and resent being forced to vote on such a massive package with so little time before a potential shutdown and the Christmas holiday.

“There has not been enough time for a single person to have read this entire bill. The bill and process ignores soaring inflation, rising interest rates and our ballooning debt of $31 trillion,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. “Enough is enough.”

Eighteen Republican senators joined with Democrats in voting for the bill.

For two senators, the bill puts the finishing touches on their work in Washington. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is retiring after serving some 48 years in the Senate and as the current chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He negotiated the bill for months with Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the committee’s ranking Republican, who was elected to the Senate in 1986 and is also retiring.

“What a capstone to a brilliant career,” Schumer said.

The bill also contains roughly $40 billion in emergency spending in the U.S., mostly to assist communities across the country recovering from drought, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

And, of course, it includes scores of policy changes unrelated to spending that lawmakers sought to include in what is going to be the last major bill of the Congress, else they start from scratch next year in a divided Congress where Republicans will be returning to the majority in the House.

One of the most notable examples was a historic revision to federal election law that aims to prevent any future presidents or presidential candidates from trying to overturn an election. The bipartisan overhaul of the Electoral Count Act is in direct response to former President Donald Trump’s efforts to convince Republican lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence to object to the certification of Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021.

The bill also allowed Congress to follow through on some of the most consequential bills it had passed over the past two years, such as a measure aiming to boost computer chip production in the U.S. and another to expand health care services to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. Some $5 billion was provided help the VA implement some of the changes called for in the PACT Act, and the amount of money provided specifically for VA health care soared 22% to nearly $119 billion.

“These benefits are deserved,” Leahy said. “They were earned, and they are owed.”

The $1.7 trillion spending bill includes funding for these projects:mar$494,300 for the Cities of Belmont and San Bruno Wildfire Prevention Project

• $750,000 for the City of Burlingame Town Square Project
• $1,200,000 for the City of Redwood City for the Douglas Avenue Pump Station Project
• $2,400,000 for the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County for a Stormwater Capture Project
• $1,000,000 for the County of San Mateo, CA for an electronic health records initiative
• $800,000 for the Daly City Early Learning Center for Infants and Toddlers
• $1,500,000 for the East Palo Alto New Public Library
• $800,000 for the Fencing for Caltrain Right of Way
• $494,300 for the Filoli Wildfire Mitigation Project
• $2,000,000 for the Highway 1/Frenchman’s Creek Intersection and Bike/Pedestrian Improvements
• $988,600 for the Levee Protection Planning and Improvements Project (CIP 301-657)
• $741,450 for the Midpeninsula Open Space Wildland Fire Resiliency Project
• $750,000 for the San Mateo County History Museum Carriage House
• $1,500,000 for the San Mateo Marina Branch Public Library Restoration Project
• $1,500,000 for the South San Francisco New Library and Parks and Recreation Center

— The Associated Press and Patch staffer Gideon Rubin contributed to this report