Grijalva Secures $6,392,677.02 for Community Projects in AZ-03
WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-03) voted to pass H.R. 2471, consisting of all 12 fiscal year 2022 appropriations bills and supplemental funding to support Ukraine. The bill’s transformative investments will help working families with the cost of living, make education more affordable, transition Americans to clean energy, create American jobs, and tackle the climate crisis.
“I am pleased to vote for the budget bill today to fund important climate and clean energy initiatives, education funding, and help lower costs for working people. These investments will help Arizonans by funding critical programs and opportunities for communities across our state. I am disappointed that we could not pass necessary COVID-19 assistance and will push for swift passage of COVID-19 funds to continue to supply life savings treatments.
Because of Democrats’ leadership, this legislation provides holistic aid to the people of Ukraine that will provide much-needed humanitarian and security assistance. I support the people of Ukraine in their fight to protect democracy against Putin and urge for an end to this war. I will also continue to call out Big Oil who proceed to profiteer off this crisis and price gouge working families by raising gas prices even as they rake in record profits.
While there is much to be celebrated in this bill, I remain concerned by the bloated defense spending and unreasonable funding levels of the immigration related provisions. From the continuous border militarization funding to the Trump-era immigration enforcement and detention levels, Republicans continue to disregard the impact of this funding on my district and constituents. That’s why I invite Members of Congress to visit the border to understand first-hand the harmful impact of these provisions. If we want our budget to truly reflect our values, we must provide true parity between domestic and defense spending.”
H.R. 2471, the government funding bill, includes:
- $13.6 billion in emergency funding for security and humanitarian needs for Ukraine, as Russia wages its brutal war.
- Expanded environmental enforcement through increased funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and embraces a historic expansion of environmental justice efforts to address unacceptable pollution in communities of color.
- Transformative investments in clean energy and strongly supports offshore wind development, fostering the clean, affordable, and secure American energy of tomorrow.
- Increased funding for key domestic priorities, including strengthening Pell Grants by increasing maximum award by $400 and establishing President Biden’s new ARPA-H cancer initiative.
- Major bipartisan legislation, including reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) which includes Rep. Grijalva’s 116th amendments that expand definitions to help tribal victims and improve tribal criminal justice systems.
- New cybersecurity protections to fight against vicious cyber-attacks to our infrastructure by Russia and other bad actors.
Next week, the House is slated to pass a separate bill fulfilling President Biden’s request for $15 billion in funding to continue fighting COVID-19 at home and abroad, protect against new variants and avoid future lockdowns.
A full summary of the 12 regular appropriations bills is here. A summary of the Ukraine supplemental is here and a one-page fact sheet is here.
Background: Rep. Grijalva’s VAWA amendments were originally submitted during the 116th Congress and in the 117th Congress were included in the base text of VAWA.
Community Funded Projects
H.R. 2471 also includes $6,392,677.02 for Community Funded Projects for the 3rd District of Arizona.
“I am proud to vote for the Community Project Funding in this bill that I know will have a profound impact and make a real difference in the lives of so many in the 3rd District of Arizona,” said Rep. Grijalva. “These investments support jobs, underserved areas, tribal communities, schools, seniors, health care facilities, foster economic development, and address environmental issues in Southern Arizona. I am proud to have fought for funding that will make our community healthier, safer, stronger, and even more resilient.”
“The Tohono O’odham Nation is grateful to Chairman Grijalva for championing community project funding for a permanent Children’s Home on our Reservation. This funding is critical to the development and construction of a Children’s Home that will provide housing, care and support for some of the Nation’s most vulnerable and needy children. Many of these children are in off-reservation foster care — this project will allow us to bring them home to the reservation and to ensure that their care and education reflects O’odham values, language and culture. This project will help us provide our children with a brighter future which benefits them and our community at large. We thank Representative Grijalva for securing this funding that is so critical for some of our youngest tribal citizens.” – Ned Norris, Jr., Chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation.
“I am appreciative of Rep. Grijalva’s work to secure significant funding for the Dunbar Pavilion, which seeks to reinvest in one of Tucson’s most important African American cultural and historical sites.” – Mayor Regina Romero, City of Tucson.
“Partnering with business and industry is an important priority for Pima Community College. This funding will provide state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing equipment that will enable the College to not only train college students, but also to train and upskill business partners’ employees with needed 21st century skills. We are especially grateful to Senator Mark Kelly, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Congressman Raúl Grijalva, and Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick for their hard work in advocating on PCC’s behalf.” – Chancellor Lee Lambert, Pima Community College
“This funding comes at a critical time for Pima County and Southern Arizona. We still have a chance to control the spread of buffelgrass and thus preserve our saguaro forests and protect our neighborhoods and important resources from future fires. This funding will help protect A-mountain, Tumamoc Hill and Tucson Mountain Park.” – Debra Colodner, Director, Conservation Education and Science, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
“We are so excited that our vision for the Nogales Rural Innovation Center is becoming a reality! It will help us provide local business owners and startups with much needed space, equipment, workshops, mentoring to recover from the pandemic. Thank you to Congressman Grijalva for his amazing support!” – Clariza Gastelum, Executive Director, Nogales Community Development.
“JobPath has been supporting under-resourced Pima County residents through education and training programs for over 20 years. COVID-19 has significantly altered the workforce landscape in Pima County, and JobPath’s role in social and economic recovery cannot be understated. With JobPath graduates earning an average of nearly $50,000 upon program completion, we have demonstrated that investing in JobPath positively impacts local families and our local economy. We are incredibly grateful to have moved forward in the funding process, and we look forward to the impact this opportunity could provide.” – Ana Greif, JobPath CEO.
The projects advocated by Rep. Grijalva and funded by H.R. 2471 included:
- Project Name: Clinica Amista
Recipient: Clinica Amistad
Amount awarded: $184,595
General Description
- Project Name: Collaborative Restoration and Wildfire Mitigation
Recipient: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Amount awarded: $148,620
General Description - Project Name: Desert Valley Senior Center Equipment Replacements
Recipient: Desert Valley Senior Center
Amount awarded: $16,800
General Description - Project Name: Dunbar Pavilion and Dunbar School Arts and Culture Revitalization Initiative
Recipient: City of Tucson
Amount awarded: $573,014
General Description - Project Name: Flexible Industry Training (FIT) Lab at Pima Community College’s Center of Excellence in Applied Technology
Recipient: Pima Community College
Amount awarded: $1,010,000
General Description - Project Name: Historic Old Town Avondale
Recipient: City of Avondale
Amount awarded: $1.57 million
General Description - Project Name: JobPath Training Program
Recipient: JobPath, Inc.
Amount awarded: $500,000
General Description - Project Name: Nogales Rural Innovation Center
Recipient: Nogales Community Development
Amount awarded: $750,000
General Description - Project Name: Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s San Ignacio Health Facility
Recipient: Pascua Yaqui Tribe
Amount awarded: $889,648.02
General Description - Project Name: Tohono O’odham Permanent Children’s Home
Intended Recipient: Tohono O’odham Nation
Amount Requested: $750,000
General Description
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