U.S.
Senator Charles E. Schumer will reap big rewards with the passing of
the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill which passed the House
and Senate bill this week.
$507,093,000
for the Presidential Helicopter program and $156,085,000 for the
Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) program, two major helicopter
construction projects being undertaken by a team of Sikorsky Aircraft
and Lockheed Martin Owego.
$66.8
million for Impact Aid section 8002 (Federal Properties), which will
mean about $3.5 million in federal aid for the Highland Falls-Fort
Montgomery School District.
Extension
of the “mass transit tax benefit,” which would provide $250 per
month for 2015 and $255 for 2016 in pre-tax savings to help cut costs
for mass transit commuters, customers would be eligible for higher
tax deductions to save them hundreds of dollars a year.
$105
million for upgrades and renovations to the Alexandria Bay border
crossing in New York State.
$4.5
million in funding for Rome Labs in New York State.
$2.32
million in federal funding to dredge the Port of Rochester’s Harbor
in New York State.
$1,285,000
in federal funding to fully dredge the Port of Oswego’s Harbor in
New York State.
$70
million in funding for Rochester Institute of Technology’s National
Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), an increase of $3 million
from last year’s funding level.
$68
million for the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser
Energetics (LLE) in New York State.
$166M
for Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and $110 million for the
National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) and $15.5 million for
the light source’s experimental tools.
Teacher
Expense Deduction allowed eligible educators, including teachers,
instructors, counselors, principals, and aides, to deduct up to $250
from their tax bill for any unreimbursed expense incurred for books,
supplies, computer equipment (including related software and
services), and other equipment, as well as supplementary materials
used in the classroom, making this tax benefit a permanent part of
the tax code.
$19
million in funding for a new $19 million non-commissioned officer
(NCO) training academy at Fort Drum in Watertown, New York.
$157.19
million for two radar systems manufactured by teams at the Lockheed
Martin Salina plant.
$1.3
billion in funding for the Naval Reactors program.
$91
million in funding for the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Test and
Evaluation/Science and Technology (T&E/S&T) program, an
increase of roughly $9 million from last year.
Language
that will provide Puerto Rico with the same base payment rate as
hospitals in the states, will provide hospitals in Puerto Rico with
an additional $618 million between 2016 and 2025. Eliminates the
exclusion of Puerto Rico hospitals from the Medicare component of the
HITECH Act, which authorizes bonus payments for hospitals that become
meaningful users of electronic health records, could increase
payments to Puerto Rico hospitals by $266M over 10 years.
