WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the support of U.S. Senator Angus King, the Senate this evening passed by a vote of 72-26 a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that funds the federal government through Fiscal Year 2014, cuts the federal deficit by more than one-half from the 2010 level, and continues progress toward fiscal stability. Its passage tonight also avoids another government shutdown and ends a years-long pattern of governing-by-crisis.

Senator King was a member of the Senate Budget Conference Committee, which developed the bipartisan budget agreement that served as a framework for House and Senate appropriators to write the funding bill.

Following the bill’s passage, Senator King released the following statement:

“The bill passed this evening avoids another devastating government shutdown, delivers much-needed sequester relief and financial certainty for the economy, and provides valuable funding for programs important to Maine while continuing progress on reducing the federal deficit. As a direct result of this legislation, Maine will receive critical funding that will benefit the state’s military-related industries, transportation and infrastructure networks, educational programs like Head Start, health-related research initiatives, and critical veterans’ programs, among many other things.

“I am proud to have been a member of the Budget Conference Committee that developed the bipartisan budget agreement that was the foundation for this funding bill. And as a member of the Armed Services Committee, I am happy to have helped secure the additional $100 million necessary to help procure the fifth DDG-51 destroyer at Bath Iron Works, as well the $11.5 million for military construction projects at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

“Congress has, over the past few years, done a disservice to the country and to the American people by failing to bridge the partisan divide, pass a budget, and fund the government in a fiscally responsible manner. The vote tonight, in combination with the good work of the Budget and Appropriations Committees over the past few months, is a refreshing departure from the pattern of lurching from one self-inflicted budgetary crisis to the next. I am hopeful that this will once again become commonplace, rather than remain the rare bipartisan achievement.”

BACKGROUND: The omnibus bill funds federal departments, agencies, and programs, and contains several provisions that are of particular significance to Maine including:

• $100 million funding increase to procure the fifth DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer to be built at Bath Iron Works. In June 2013, the Navy awarded Bath Iron Works a $2.8 billion contract to build four DDG-51s with the option for a fifth ship if the necessary funding could be secured by congressional appropriators under sequestration.

• $11.5 million in funding for military construction at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The $11.5 million in military construction funding will go towards the consolidation of structural shops, which will improve the efficiency of operations at the Shipyard.  The project was originally scheduled for 2015 before being accelerated to 2014 following efforts by members of the Maine and New Hampshire delegations to increase investments to address modernization needs at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

• $8.6 billion for Head Start, which is $612 million more than Fiscal Year 2013 levels. Maine lost more than 350 Head Start slots due to sequestration.

• $3.4 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which represents an increase of almost $170 million from Fiscal Year 2013.

• $6 million increase in Essential Air Service funding, which supports routes to communities including Presque Isle, Bar Harbor, Waterville, and Rockland.

• $179 million for federal highway funding in Maine, exceeding the Fiscal Year 2013 apportionment by more than $1 million and matching the level authorized through the Moving Ahead for Progress in the Twenty-First Century (MAP-21) Act.

• $600 million for the Transportation Infrastructure Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants, including at least $120 million for rural projects like the $6 million grant that the Department of Transportation awarded in 2013 to build a modern breakwater for the Port of Eastport.

• $6 million in Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding from the Federal Highway Administration to continue operation of the Downeaster.   

• $1 billion increase in funding for National Institutes of Health, raising is total budget to $29.9 billion. Research Institutes in Maine, like Jackson Labs, Maine Medical Center Research Institute, and the University of New England, often benefit from NIH funding.

• $17.4 billion for the renewal of existing Section 8 Tenant Based Rental Assistance vouchers, which is a $1 billion increase relative to FY2013.  If funding had remained at sequester levels, an estimated 500 to 1,250 Maine families could have lost housing vouchers.

• $75 million for Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers, equal to FY 2013 levels and the President’s request, to help homeless veterans find and maintain affordable housing.

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