WASHINGTON   –  U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) announced that the FY 2009 Appropriations Omnibus contains projects for the Eighth Congressional District at her request.

The bill passed in the House of Representatives today by a vote of 245-178.

"I carefully consider each of these projects and how our federal tax dollars can best come home to improve our congressional district.  By making Southern Missouri transportation stronger, improving our public safety by fighting drugs and shoring up our defenses against flooding, we help our economy and our communities," Emerson said.  "I wish this legislation reflected more of the proper process we should use to control spending, but I can’t argue with the transparency measures that have been put in place by the Congress.  I think they have worked in this case and reflect all of the careful consideration I make for my requests."

If the bill is approved by the U.S. House of Representatives this week it will next be considered by the U.S. Senate.  A list of the appropriations projects included in the bill at the request of Rep. Emerson follows.

All items marked with an asterisk (*) were also requested by the President in the 2008 Budget.

	Project	Recipient	Amount
Agriculture	Soybean Cyst Nematode Research	Delta Area Agricultural Research Center (with Senator Bond)	$556,000
	Mid-West Mid-South Irrigation	Delta Area Agricultural Research Center	$645,000
	Rice Agronomy Research	University of Missouri Delta Center	$174,000
	Crop & Aquaculture Losses in SEMO	USDA Wildlife Services/APHIS	$207,000
	Vitis Gene Discovery	Missouri State Univ. - West Plain Campus	$422,000
	FAPRI Core Grant	Food & Agricultural Policy Research Inst. (with Sens. Bond, Grassley, Harkin, Kohl, Reid & Reps. Hulshof & Latham)	$1,139,000
	Center for Agroforestry	University of Missouri (with Senator Bond)	$660,000
	FAPRI Regionalized Implications of Farm Programs	University of Missouri (with Rep. Edwards)	$595,000
	Rural Policies Institute	University of Missouri (with Sens. Bond, Hagel, Harkin)	$835,000
	*Ag in the Classroom	U.S. Department of Agriculture	$553,000
	*(This is a programmatic request supported by the Missouri Farm Bureau.)
	Endophyte Research	University of Missouri (with Senator Bond & Rep. Hulshof)	$994,000
	Beef Technology Transfer	University of Missouri (with Sens. Lincoln, Pryor, Smith, Wyden & Reps. Boozman, Wu, Ross, Hooley)	$243,000
Commerce-Justice-State	Mineral Area Drug Task Force	Mineral Area Drug Task Force	$205,000
	Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force	SEMODTF	$165,000
	South Central Missouri Drug Task Force	SCMODTF	$250,000
	BJC Mental Health for Youth Offenders	Barnes-Jewish-Children's Hospital	$900,000
	Visual Intelligence Tool for Southern MO	Ozark-Foothills Regional Planning Comm.	$1,030,000
Energy & Water	All projects requested by the U.S. Army Corps Engineers
	Wappapello Lake (with Senator Bond)		$9,567,000
	Bois Brule Drainage & Levee		$2,130,000
	Cape Girardeau Floodwall		$2,575,000
	Clearwater Dam Major Rehabilation*		$23,924,000
	Mississippi River Levees (AR,IL,KY, MS,MO,TN,LA)		$3,800,000
	St. John's Levee Project (with Senator Bond)		$200,000
	Clearwater Lake/Black River (with Senator Bond)		$2,622,000
	St. Francois River MR&T (with Sens. Bond, Lincoln, Pryor & Rep. Barry)		$7,856,000
	Little River Diversion, Missouri (with Senator Bond)*		TBD
	Caruthersville Harbor (with Senator Bond)		$483,000
	New Madrid County Harbor (with Senator Bond)		$257,000
	SEMO Port, Mississippi River*		$8,000
	New Madrid Harbor, MO Mile 889 (with Senator Bond)		$141,000
Financial Services	Entrepreneurship Training/Workforce Development	Southeast Missouri State Univ.	$500,000
Interior	Mark Twain National Forest Meth Prevention	U.S. Forest Service	$492,000
	East Prairie Water Diversion	City of East Prairie, MO	$200,000
	City of Hartville Water Treatment Repairs	City of Hartville, MO	$138,000
Labor-Health & Human Services	SHOWMobile	Southeast Missouri State Univ.	$381,000
	MO Bootheel Regional Consortium	MO Bootheel Regional Consortium	$476,000
	Susanna Wesley Family Learning Center	Susanna Wesley Family Learning Center	$238,000
	Information Commons Development & Expansion	Southeast Missouri St. Univ.	$333,000
Transportation	All projects requested by the Missouri Department of Transportaton
	Route 67 Industrial Park Bypass, Poplar Bluff		$665,000
	Route 160 Safety Improvements, Taney County		$665,000
	Chester Bridge Repair, Perry County		$475,000
	Farmington Airport Parallel Taxi-way (with Senator Bond)		$855,000
	Route 63 Environmental Study & Review, Phelps, Maries, Osage Counties (with Rep. Hulshof)		$322,500