WASHINGTON – Rep. Mark Souder, R-3rd, has asked taxpayers to underwrite $42 million in northeast Indiana projects next year, including money to widen Gump and Flutter roads, install a partial “green” roof of plants on a middle school, develop a program to teach Arabic and Chinese to high school students and expand the medical research program at Grace College.
Most of the projects won’t be approved as Congress writes the legislation that pays for the federal budget for 2010, but Souder has a policy of submitting most requests made by the towns, counties, businesses, colleges and museums in northeast Indiana.
Souder submitted the requests Friday, the deadline for all submissions to the committees that decide which projects to bless.
For the first time, all the requests – called “earmarks” – must also be posted on lawmakers’ Web pages. Reps. Mike Pence, R-6th, and Dan Burton, R-5th, said they won’t request money for projects in their districts.
Souder asked Congress to OK:
•$700,000 to help Zimmer develop its “pneumatic nail gun” idea. The gun would fast-fire darts into broken bones, eliminating the need for metallic pins and clamps.
•$7.2 million for Raytheon to design a system that helps infantry troops launch precise rockets and minimize collateral damage.
•$5 million for a new hangar for jet repairs at the Air National Guard unit at Fort Wayne International Airport.
•$3.75 million for Undersea Sensor Systems in Columbia City to develop upgraded Sonobuoys.
•$3 million for Alcoa’s Auburn factory to develop components that lessen the weight of armored Humvees and other heavy military vehicles.
•$50,000 to assess the dam at Lake Papakeechie in Kosciusko County.
•$200,000 to help expand the offices of American Red Cross of Northeast Indiana to accommodate an emergency operations center.
•$2 million to widen Indiana 205 at its intersection with U.S. 30 in Columbia City in preparation for Parkview Hospital’s new facility in 2011.
•$1.5 million for new water and sewer lines to a new industrial park in Nappanee.
•$5 million to widen Elkhart County Road 17 from U.S. 33 to Indiana 119.
•$522,200 for a snow blower and other equipment for Fort Wayne International Airport.
•$1,529,636 for five diesel buses for Citilink.
•$2 million for sidewalks and open spaces in downtown Angola.
•$1.5 million for a sewer system in Syracuse.
•$4.8 million to widen 1.6 miles of Gump Road from Indiana 3 to Coldwater Road.
•$5 million to widen 3.2 miles of Flutter Road and realign its west end with the St. Joe-Maplecrest roads intersection.
•$1 million to redesign the intersection of Pontiac Street and Anthony Boulevard.
•$2 million to develop Manchester College’s pharmacy school in Fort Wayne. The money would be used to recruit a dean and other leaders, develop the curriculum and clinical rotation sites, recruit students and renovate facilities.
•$260,000 to create a languages institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, to teach high school students Arabic, Chinese and Japanese.
•$950,000 to help Trine University in Angola develop online classes for a master’s program in civil/mechanical engineering.
•$300,000 to expand the work-training programs at Easter Seals Arc of Northeast Indiana.
•$151,700 for equipment for a health sciences lab at the University of Saint Francis.
•$2 million to expand the adult and continuing education program in medical-device research at Grace College and Theological Seminary.
•$5 million for the National Tooling and Machining Foundation to provide training for the metalworking industry.
•$650,000 to help pay for a section of “green” roof on Summit Middle School in Southwest Allen County Schools.
•$2.5 million for Parker Hannifin Corp. in New Haven to develop technology to more efficiently manage the heat produced in hybrid and all-electric vehicles.
•$1.6 million for Trine University to renovate facilities so it can develop a master’s program in applied biomechanical engineering.
•$5 million to expand the sewer plant in Nappanee.
•$2 million for Auburn’s sewer upgrades.
•$2 million for Mentone’s sewer improvements.
•$2.2 million to upgrade sewers in Fort Wayne’s Woodrow/Vance neighborhood.
•$650,000 to buy equipment for local law enforcement to identify suspects through palm prints.
•$250,000 to pay salaries for a new criminal intelligence division in Elkhart County’s prosecutor office to focus on meth-related prosecutions.
Souder’s requests are among thousands House members are submitting to the committees that allocate the portion of the federal budget not already spoken for. Mandatory spending for areas such as Medicare and farm subsidies takes up about two-thirds of the budget.
The practice of asking for earmarks has come under increasing criticism as the number of requests has multiplied and as the federal deficit has expanded.
