**Kuster’s amendment to protect rural Granite State veterans’ access to care and connect homeless veterans across the country with support systems passed with this bill**

Washington, D.C. ⁠— Today, Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02) voted to invest in American families and the American economy with a package of government funding legislation for Fiscal Year 2023. This legislation will support Granite State veterans and hardworking families, create good-paying jobs and protect health and well-being.

“In addition to critical measures for our veterans, the legislation passed by the House today also makes essential investments in our country’s long-term success and future,” said Rep. Kuster. “I was proud to vote for this legislation today to prioritize what matters most to Granite Staters: economic solutions to lift up the middle class, working families, and small businesses, long-term funding to combat climate change, important measures to support our farmers and producers, critical steps to bolster veterans mental health services, and concrete efforts to build safer communities with less crime and violence and more security. This spending package puts us on track to build a better, brighter future for all and I urge the Senate to quickly pass it.”

Specifically, the appropriations spending package passed by the House provides for:

• Transportation and Housing and Urban Development
• $62.7 billion for HUD, including an expansion of housing choice vouchers to more than 140,000 individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness and 5,600 new units for seniors and persons with disabilities
• $105.4 billion in budgetary resources for DOT, which will create and sustain tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs rebuilding our crumbling transportation infrastructure
• Provides $75 million for programs that provide rapid re-housing and support services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence -- a provision championed by Rep. Kuster
• More than $2.6 billion to reduce emissions, increase resiliency, and address historical inequities in transportation and housing programs
• Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration
• $560 billion for the expansion of broadband service
• $30 billion in loan authority for the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program
• More than $1.5 billion for rental assistance and affordable rental housing vouchers for low-income families and the elderly in rural communities
• $111.2 billion in required mandatory spending for SNAP, including $3 billion for the SNAP reserve fund, which will serve more than 43.5 million people
• $3.6 billion in discretionary funding to the FDA to combat the opioid crisis, stem food outbreaks, and address heavy metals in baby food
• Rep. Kuster led a bipartisan amendment that increased funding for the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) program to $3.5 million. In New Hampshire, ATTRA offers programs like “Armed to Farm,” agriculture training for military veterans transitioning to farming
• Energy and Water Development
• $38 million for the Northern Border Regional Commission, a 15% increase in funding. The Commission invests in community and economic development projects in northern and western New Hampshire
• $4 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy
• $350 million to advance technologies to increase resiliency, efficiency, and clean energy capabilities of the nation’s electricity delivery system
• $8 billion for the DoE Office of Science for research in energy innovation
• $100 million to accelerate domestic manufacturing of key clean energy technologies
• $550 million for Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy, to advance transformative energy technologies
• $10.8 billion for the nation’s water infrastructure
• Financial Services and General Government
• $326 billion for Entrepreneurial Development Programs at the Small Business Administration
• $336 million for Community Development Financial Institutions, including $10 million to increase the availability and affordability of small-dollar loans
• $400 million for Election Security Grants to augment State efforts to improve the security and integrity of elections for Federal office
• A provision making Dreamers eligible for federal employment
• Interior and Environment
• $11.5 billion for the EPA, including $126 million to advance work related to PFAS, $5.18 billion for State and Tribal Assistance Grants, and $301 million for Environmental Justice
• $207 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities
• $4.4 billion in departments that support the education and health care of Native American families
• Military Construction and Veterans Affairs
• $15.1 billion for military construction, including $274.4 million for Child Development Centers, $2.1 billion for Family Housing, and $135 million for Climate Change and Resiliency Projects
• $135 billion in discretionary funds for VA, including $13.9 billion for mental health care, $911.1 million for Gender-specific Care and Programmatic Efforts for Women, and $2.7 billion for Homeless Assistance Programs

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