Senator Jim Webb: Recovery Funds Fuel the Tidewater Economy

May 26, 2009 -- "Less than three months ago, the U.S. Senate with my support passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), to revive our struggling economy by addressing several long-standing needs throughout the country.

During the development of this crucial legislation, I worked with my colleagues to develop a recovery plan that was truly stimulative, with a set of specific guidelines and benchmarks for economic renewal. As a result, Virginia has received more than $2 billion to help maintain government services, invest in infrastructure, improve public facilities, and create or save more than 93,000 jobs in a range of industries. The Tidewater area has received a healthy percentage of these funds.

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The ARRA also included tax cuts for families and businesses, provisions to help unemployed Americans keep their health care benefits, and additional assistance for Social Security beneficiaries.

Recognizing the importance of Virginia’s waterways, reservoirs, and lakes, the Army Corps of Engineers awarded Tidewater more than $21 million in contracts for a range of projects from dredging in the James River channel to refurbishing bridge structures in the Virginia Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. These investments in water resources will not only create jobs, but they will also take 18,000 trucks off congested area-highways and provide much-needed maintenance to Virginia’s essential transportation and recreational waterways.

With more than 20 military facilities housing thousands of our nation’s servicemembers in Virginia, there is a constant need for improvements and maintenance ranging from upgrading hospitals and child development centers to renovating barracks and military housing. The ARRA provided almost $360 million in funding for infrastructure investments for these facilities, including $60 million for Langley Air Force Base, $43.6 million for Naval Station Norfolk, $27 million for Naval Air Station Oceana, and $5.6 million for Fort Lee.

In addition to military projects, funding for accelerated construction at the Thomas Jefferson Accelerator Facility will create 140 construction jobs and 50 permanent jobs upon completion.

During an economic downturn, community services can be strained with tighter budgets. Faced with the possibility of taking police off the street, the Department of Justice directed nearly $12 million in funding to Tidewater for local sheriffs and police departments and state criminal justice programs.

As a healthcare safety net, community health centers have seen an increase in patients who lack health insurance, placing stress on both staff and services. To ease this burden, the ARRA directed $5.7 million to fund 5 new community heath centers, to serve an estimated 24,390 patients and create 180 jobs. Twenty-four existing community health centers-- including Portsmouth Community Health Center, Eastern Shore Rural Health System and Peninsula Institute for Community Health in Newport News-- received more than $5.2 million in order to save 91 jobs and to continue to provide affordable healthcare to inner-city and rural communities.

As we move forward together in this economic recovery effort, I am committed to protecting Virginia’s taxpayers and advocating policies that will create jobs and ensure accountability in government."

Source: Senator Jim Webb