Huffman Votes to Pass Funding Package

Community Projects, Tribal Housing, Climate Resiliency Investments, Included in First Round of Appropriations Bills

March 06, 2024

Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the first six Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bills, which included significant victories for California’s Second Congressional District championed by Representative Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael). The legislation includes over $9 million in federal funding for projects in CA-02 that the Congressman nominated as part of the Community Project Funding process.

This government funding package also includes historic funding for Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act programs, including $1.3 billion for the Indian Housing Block Grant to help tribes address unmet housing needs. In the last two appropriations cycles, Rep. Huffman led the bipartisan call for the first funding increases in over a decade, and this year he helped secured a massive $324 million increase.

“For the past three fiscal years, we have been able to include funding for game-changing community projects in our district. Although Republicans fought tooth and nail to decrease these projects, I’m happy to share that I secured over $9 million for 13 projects in CA-02. This, on top of historic investments for tribal housing, transformative climate and clean energy funding, and protections for reproductive health which I advocated for, make this first tranche of funding a successful package that will grow our economy and build healthier, safer, and stronger communities up and down the North Coast,” Rep. Huffman said.  

“Republicans’ inability to govern never ceases to amaze me. After months of failing to pass their extreme appropriations bills, they finally accepted help from House Democrats to create a sensible funding bill and pass it through the House, bringing us one step closer to ending their constant whiplash of government shutdown threats. My Democratic colleagues and I were also successful in blocking House Republicans from inserting any of their radical MAGA policies to make abortion illegal everywhere, slash efforts to fight climate change, and threaten our national security,” Huffman concluded.

As part of the package, Rep. Huffman secured more than $9,040,418 million in Community Project Funding for northwest California:

  • $500,000 for Alexander Valley Health and Wellness Center Construction in Sonoma
  • $500,000 for the Coyote Valley Dam General Investigation/Feasibility study in Mendocino
  • $1,500,000 for the Dream Quest Community Youth Center in Humboldt
  • $500,000 for Anderson Valley Elementary Septic Replacement in Mendocino
  • $165,000 for the Mendonoma Mobile Health Clinic in Mendocino
  • $997,999 for the New Senior Center in Humboldt
  • $1,000,000 for Property Acquisition to Expand Housing Services and Waste Reduction Programs in Marin
  • $850,000 for Pt. Reyes Senior Housing in Marin
  • $236,140 for Purchase of Winter Weather Emergency Equipment in Trinity
  • $500,000 for Pyke Field Park Community Use Improvement Project in Del Norte
  • $1,000,000 for San Francisco North Bay Dairy Community Transition Assistance in West Marin County
  • $1,116,279 for the Tolay Creek Bridge Replacement and Restoration Project in Sonoma
  • $175,000 for Unidentified Human Remains Forensic Genetic DNA Testing in Humboldt

Additionally, Rep. Huffman supported Community Project Funding for CA-02 submitted by Senators Padilla and Feinstein for $1,800,000 for Hamilton Airfields Wetlands Restoration in Marin.

More information on the Community Project Funding requests can be found here.

Rep. Huffman worked to include provisions that put people over politics and help improve the lives of people in America, while pushing back on draconian Republican cuts. The package:

  • Rejects House Republicans’ proposed cuts of more than 22% and does not include hundreds of the harmful, discriminatory policies that would have hurt Americans.
  • Fully funds the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) at the administration’s requested level of $7.03 billion and reverses the Republican effort to drastically cut the fruit and vegetable benefits in the WIC program.
  • Protects women’s access to mifepristone and reproductive care against Republican attempts to ban abortion nationally.
  • Confronts the climate crisis with more than $15 billion of transformative investments in clean energy and science, which will help develop clean, affordable, and secure American energy, increased climate change and resiliency funding to help military installations adapt to rising sea levels and worsening natural disasters, and increased funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to carry out its coastal, fisheries, marine, and satellite work.
  • Invests more than $10 billion in our nation’s water infrastructure, critical to protecting communities from more frequent and severe storms and worsening droughts.
  • Provides additional funding to continue the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act pay increase for wildland firefighters.
  • Supports our veterans and their families with investments in health care, including targeted investments that advance women's health, mental health, substance abuse disorder programs, and homelessness assistance.
  • Includes strong investments to plan, design, and construct critical facilities on military installations, including family housing, barracks, and child development centers, and build, repair, and retrofit Veterans Affairs facilities.
  • Increases funding for projects in the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) and to the NATO Security Investment Program, for necessary infrastructure for wartime, crisis, peace support and deterrence.
  • Remediates harmful substances and chemicals leaked into the land and water sources.
  • Creates and sustains well-paying American jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure with investments in airports, highways, transit, passenger rail, port, and affordable housing.
  • Stabilizes communities by protecting housing assistance for nearly 5 million low-income individuals and families to ensure they continue to remain in safe, stable, and affordable housing.
  • Promotes safe transportation and housing with a skilled and growing workforce to conduct inspections, mitigate hazards, and study emerging threats and innovative solutions.
  • Restores funding for rail and transit systems gutted in House Republicans’ original funding bills.
  • Enhances and protects wildlife habitat, biodiversity, and threatened and endangered species by preventing more than $13 billion cuts and blocking over 100 poison pill policy riders aimed at undermining the conservation of our natural resources.
  • Protects essential funding for the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities and the Smithsonian Institution.

This package includes the following funding bills: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.

The text of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 is available here. A full summary of the appropriations provisions in the bill is available here. Community Project Funding included in the package is available here.

The legislation is scheduled to be signed into law by President Joe Biden on Friday, March 8, 2024. The remaining six appropriations bills for fiscal year 2024 are expected to be released in the coming days and be voted on ahead of their expiration on March 22.