{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.jones.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senator-jones-announces-funding-for-alabama-priorities-in-appropriations-package-passed-by-congress", "Senator Jones Announces Funding for Alabama Priorities in Appropriations Package Passed by Congress", "2019-12-19", "2019", "2019-12", "Democrat", "House", "AL", "Doug Jones", "J000300", "www.jones.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON  U.S.\r\nSenator Doug Jones (D-Ala.) today announced that dozens of his requests to fund\r\npriorities for Alabama were included in a year-end appropriations package that\r\npassed the Senate today. The two funding bills now head to the President's desk\r\nfor his signature. From\r\nincreased resources for our HBCUs to additional funding to prevent the spread\r\nof Chronic Wasting Disease in our deer population, there are dozens of Alabama\r\npriorities included in this bill, said Senator Doug Jones. The deal\r\nwill also fund my Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Commission, end the\r\nKiddie Tax on military families, and provide funding for heirs' property owners\r\nto resolve burdensome legal issues. I want to thank Senators Richard Shelby and\r\nPatrick Leahy, who lead our Appropriations Committee, for their bipartisan work\r\nto get this done. Key\r\nprovisions championed by Senator Jones include: \r\nEnding the Kiddie Tax: As a result\r\nof the Military\r\nWidow's Tax,\r\nGold Star spouses often put benefits in their children's names in order to\r\ncollect full survivor benefits. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act significantly raised\r\ntaxes due on these benefits up to a tax rate of 37 percent, resulting in\r\nsurprise tax increases of over $1,000 for many families. The inclusion of Senator\r\nJones' bill\r\nto get rid of the Kiddie Tax will restore the previous lower tax rate on these\r\nbenefits. \r\nCivil Rights Cold Case bill implementation: $2M has\r\nbeen allocated for National Archives and Records Administration to implement\r\nSenator Jones' Civil Rights Cold Case Collection Act, which was signed into\r\nlaw\r\nby the President early this year. \r\nFunding gun violence prevention research: For the\r\nfirst time in two decades, Congress will allocate $25M for research into the\r\ncauses of gun violence in America. Senator Jones has supported this effort as a\r\ncommon-sense, bipartisan step to better understand and prevent acts of gun\r\nviolence.  \r\nImproving maternal and child health: $17M\r\nincrease for programs to improve maternal and child health through the Health\r\nResources and Services Administration, including an additional $5 million to\r\nreduce maternal mortality. Senator Jones has introduced numerous pieces of\r\nlegislation\r\nto support families and increase access to health care for women and children.  \r\nIncreasing funding to enforce federal child\r\nprotection laws: $90M\r\nfor State Grants and $55.66 million for the Community-Based Child Abuse\r\nPrevention grants to enforce the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment\r\nAct, which Senator Jones has introduced legislation to reauthorize in 2020.  \r\nRaising the purchasing age for tobacco to 21: The deal\r\nprohibits sale of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21 across the\r\ncountry. Senator Jones joined similar legislation earlier this year.  \r\nClotilda excavation assistance: $500,000\r\nfor the Smithsonian Institution to support excavation, education, and community\r\nengagement around discovery of the Clotilda, the last known slave ship\r\nto arrive in the United States. The bill also expands eligibility for Civil\r\nRights grants under the Historic Preservation Fund to include recently\r\ndiscovered sites of the transatlantic slave trade, including the Clotilda.\r\nSenator Jones also recently memorialized\r\nthe discovery\r\nof the Clotilda, which was found near Mobile, Alabama, in a Senate resolution. \r\nFunding programs to resolve heirs' property\r\ndisputes: $5M\r\nsecured by\r\nSenator Jones\r\nfor a new heirs' property relending fund program. \r\nPreventing the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease: Preventing\r\nthe spread of Chronic Wasting Disease: $1.72M for the U.S. Geological\r\nSurvey and $5M to the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service to combat chronic\r\nwasting disease. As an avid hunter and outdoorsman, Senator Jones has\r\nintroduced several\r\npieces of legislation to fight the spread of CWD. Also included in the bill\r\nwas another of Senator Jones' priorities, the Modernizing the\r\nPittman-Robertson Fund for Tomorrow's Needs Act, which will help state\r\nwildlife agencies to conduct important CWD outreach activities. \r\nIncreasing HBCU funding:  o\r\nIn\r\naddition to securing permanent\r\nmandatory funding\r\nfor HBCUs, Senator Jones has advocated for this bill to also provide $325Ma 15\r\npercent increasefor HBCU discretionary funding next year. Last year, he also secured a 14-percent\r\ndiscretionary funding increase in the omnibus funding bill. o\r\n$119M\r\nfor Historic Preservation Fund; including $10M for Historically Black Colleges\r\nand Universities (HBCUs) grants, and $15M for civil rights grants. o\r\n$50M,\r\nincluding $10M for Public HBCUs, for HBCU Capital Financing. \r\nIncreasing the maximum Pell Grant award: Students are\r\nnow eligible for a $150 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award, bringing the\r\nmaximum award to $6,345 per student.  \r\nFunding wastewater grant programs: $5M for the\r\nHousehold Water Well System Grant Program, which Senator Jones expanded in last\r\nyear's Farm Bill to include up to $15,000 for households in rural areas to\r\ninstall and maintain individually owned decentralized wastewater systems.  \r\nEnforcing EPA civil rights protections: $9.554M for\r\nenforcement of environmental justice programs under EPA. Earlier this year,\r\nSenator Jones called\r\non EPA to better enforce civil rights protections in the environmental\r\njustice context.  \r\nSaving miners pensions: The bill\r\nshores up the miners pension plan, which is headed for insolvency due to coal\r\ncompany bankruptcies and the 2008 financial crisis, and ensures that the miners\r\nwho are at risk due to coal company bankruptcies will not lose their healthcare.There\r\nare nearly 6,000 United Mine Workers of America pensioners in Alabama. \r\nProtecting public transportation funds: The bill\r\nincludes Senator Jones' amendment to protect $1.2B in public transportation\r\nfunds, including more than $7M that was set to be cut for Alabama transit\r\nagencies without this amendment. \r\nProtecting Alabama auto manufacturers from\r\nunnecessary tariffs:\r\nThe bill requires the release of automobile and auto part Section 232\r\ninvestigation within 30 days, which Senator Jones\r\nhas called on\r\nthe Administration to make public. \r\nAddressing the shortage of pilots and lack of\r\ndiversity in military service: $3M for the Air Force and Army\r\nJunior ROTC to create pilot scholarship programs to increase diversity in\r\nmilitary pilot ranks. Senator Jones introduced a\r\nbill\r\nearlier this year to authorize the secretaries of each military department to\r\ncreate these programs.  ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.jones.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senator-jones-announces-funding-for-alabama-priorities-in-appropriations-package-passed-by-congress"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.268069889396429, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}