Press Releases

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the fiscal year 2022 appropriations package that included nearly $7 million for community projects across Washington’s 1^st Congressional District that were submitted by Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01). These projects include recreation and community centers, child care facilities, career development and youth engagement programs, and telehealth expansion in rural areas that will directly benefit Washington families and communities.

DelBene submitted ten projects to the House Appropriations Committee for consideration in April 2021. The legislation passed by the House today includes all ten of DelBene’s projects, which will serve communities across the 1^st Congressional District:

• $2.5 million for projects in King County
• $2 million for projects in Skagit County
• Over $1.2 million for projects in Snohomish County
• $1 million for projects in Whatcom County
• Over $250,000 for projects serving both Snohomish and Skagit counties

“After months of negotiations in Congress, I am pleased that we reached a bipartisan agreement on a government funding bill—and with it, nearly $7 million in direct federal investments to help WA-01 communities build back better after the pandemic,” DelBene said. “These projects will help address critical gaps in community access from providing support services for at-risk students and youth struggling with homelessness to expanding telehealth and modernizing recreation centers to offer high-speed internet and other needed resources.”

The projects included in the legislation are:

Project submissions came directly from non-profit, city, county, Tribal, and state entities, and all requests submitted to the committee were done in collaboration with project sponsors.

“This funding is a game-changer for our college and our greater community. Child care is essential to student achievement, employee recruitment and retention, as well as community stability. This CPF will allow us to replace our 25-year-old portables that currently make up our childcare center,” said Dr. Amy Morrison, President of Lake Washington Institute of Technology. “Now, we will be able to increase the number of students served by our Early Learning Center and do so with new, healthy, and sustainable facilities. I cannot thank Congresswoman DelBene and her staff enough for their leadership and advocacy supporting LWTech and our hard-working students for many years.”

“This funding will allow the Snohomish Health District to create the infrastructure needed to implement telehealth, directly observe TB therapy for patients in a virtual environment, and identify opportunities to expand public health programming into our rural communities,” said Snohomish Health District Administrative Officer Shawn Frederick. “We expect this will help us reduce travel time and related costs for the TB program each year in Snohomish County. We are deeply grateful for Congresswoman DelBene’s partnership and support of public health for this important work. Together we will help improve patient experience and maintain high treatment success rates.”

“We are thrilled to have this visionary community project recognized and supported by Congresswoman DelBene and her colleagues,” said Mount Vernon Mayor Jill Boudreau. “The funding supports economic development, broad access for all community members, and innovative regional environmental solutions. Thank you for seeing this project for what it is, and what it will mean to this city.”

The package now moves to the Senate, which is expected to take up the bill soon. The bill also includes $13.6 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Detailed descriptions of the community projects submitted by DelBene can be found here.

A summary of the funding package can be found here.