Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (TX-26) secured $8,910,000 in appropriations funding for local projects in North Texas in the Omnibus Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2004. The measure included spending levels for seven appropriations bills (District of Columbia, Foreign Operations, Commerce, Justice, State, Agriculture, Transportation, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, Housing, NASA, EPA, and Labor, HHS and Education). The appropriations process is an annual activity wherein Members of Congress vote upon spending levels for 13 separate bills. Once Congress, both the House and Senate, has approved the individual bills, they are sent to the President for his signature. President George W. Bush signed the Omnibus Appropriations Bill into law on Friday, January 23, 2004. “The appropriations process is arduous, but I believe our diligence has paid off,” stated Congressman Michael Burgess. “I worked alongside many of my Texas colleagues to secure funding levels that would benefit my constituents in the 26th District.” Below is a detailed listing of the funding allocations passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Transportation-Treasury $ 700,000 Widening Interstate 35 East between FM 2181 and Lake Lewisville (Denton County) $ 300,000 “Ways to Work” (Tarrant County) $ 2,000,000 Denton Municipal Airport Improvements $ 4,000,000 McKinney Municipal Airport Improvements (Repair runway and taxiway) $ 160,000 Bus purchases (Grapevine, TX) Commerce-Justice-State $ 500,000 District Attorney’s Office (Tarrant County) will receive funding for their Automated Fingerprint Identification System Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education $ 250,000 Voyager Universal Literacy Program funding will be given to the Lewisville ISD $ 300,000 University of North Texas (UNT) will receive funds for Laboratory Experience and Development of Early Researchers $ 250,000 UNT and Paul Quinn College will receive funds for a Science and Math (SAM)Teacher Academy Veterans Affairs-Housing and Urban Development $ 250,000 Texas Institute for Environmental Assessment and Management at UNT for watershed research $ 200,000 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Economic Development Initiative (EDI)Program for infrastructure for downtown development (Denton, TX)