Senator Murray Secures Over $4.5 Billion for Key Projects and Priorities Across WA in Draft Appropriations Bills

Murray leads Senate Appropriations Committee in passing four draft appropriations bills – MORE HERE

Following today’s markup, Senator Murray has passed 11 of the 12 government funding bills out of committee with overwhelming bipartisan support

Funding delivers $2.3 billion increase for child care and early learning, historic funding for Hanford, and major resources for projects across Washington state like the Howard Hanson Dam fish passage facility

***WATCH and READ: Chair Murray’s Opening Remarks at full committee markup***

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee, led by Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), voted to advance the Energy and Water Development; Defense; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; and Financial Services and General Government appropriations bills for fiscal year 2025—which Senator Murray wrote and negotiated.

“I’m proud to have passed another four bills out of my committee, once again making certain that Washington state priorities are federal priorities,” said Senator Murray. “My commitment to delivering the resources needed to power the mission of the Hanford cleanup and to support the workers is unshakeable—and I’m proud to have once again secured record funding for the Hanford cleanup. I’m especially proud to have delivered strong investments in our water infrastructure and major Army Corps projects that touch nearly every part of Washington, including $500 million for the Howard Hanson Dam fish passage facility to help save our salmon. In good news for the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, I once again boosted funding for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund with the guarantee that ports in Washington state will get their fair share.”

“Importantly, I secured a $1.6 billion increase to help make child care more affordable and accessible for families in Washington state and across America. I worked hard to boost our investments in mental health, lifesaving research, and women’s health research—including menopause research. In our legislation, I also managed to deliver funding to construct a new archives facility in the Seattle region. Finally, I’m glad to have secured funding to support our servicemembers, whether it’s by delivering a pay raise or making sure their kids can count on quality child care.”

In the draft bills passed out of committee today, Senator Murray secured $93.66 million in funding for key Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) projects across Washington state and over $4.4 billion in programmatic funding for Washington state priorities—a total of over $4.5 billion for Washington state, which does not include funding for national programs that will later be allocated on a competitive or formula-specific basis.

She also secured funding to invest in key national programs to help families make ends meet, protect our country, irrigate our crops, propel scientific research, and much more. Read more HERE.

Highlights, key provisions, and funding Senator Murray secured in each of the funding bills are below:

Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill

In the draft legislation, Senator Murray secured $41 million for 8 important CDS projects in Washington state:

• $1.5 million for the Columbia River Project to support the Upper Columbia Blocked Areas Program for Phase 2 Implementation Plan.
• $3 million for the Nelson Project Phase 2: Pipeline Conveyance and Water Delivery to improve pipeline conveyance and water delivery.
• $3 million for the Toppenish Creek Corridor Enhancement to support habitat restoration projects in the Yakima River Basin.
• $20 million for Grays Harbor, WA for the North Jetty repair project.
• $2.5 million for the Mount Saint Helens Sediment Control for pre-construction work on the Toutle River fish facility.
• $275,000 for The Dalles Lock and Dam for the continuing coordination on a comprehensive village development plan.
• $725,000 for the Yakima Delta, Benton County, WA for an ecosystem restoration project at the Yakima River Delta, including the removal of the Bateman Island Causeway.

Senator Murray also secured funding and new legislative language that are particularly important to Washington state, including:

• $3.34 billion for Hanford—$303.3 million above last year’s funding level. This amount includes $1.01 billion for Richland Operations (a $27.3 million increase over the President’s budget request); $2.208 billion for the Office of River Protection (a $207 million increase over the President’s budget request); $120.1 million for Safeguards and Security (equal to the President’s budget request); and $3.3 million for the Fast Flux Test facility (meeting the President’s budget request).
• $952 million for Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation projects across Washington state, which includes CDS funding:
  • $500 million for the construction of the Howard Hanson Dam Fish Passage facility; and
  • $49.23 million for the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan to support a thriving river basin.
• A historic $3.147 billion—a $319 million increase over fiscal year 2024—for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund—a longtime priority for Senator Murray—to invest in our nation’s port and waterway infrastructure, including in Washington state.
• $360 million more for the Office of Science at the Department of Energy, which supports cutting-edge research at our national laboratories and more than 300 universities, including at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and universities across Washington state.
• $65 million for PNNL’s Environmental and Molecular Sciences Laboratory and $19 million for construction of PNNL’s new Microbial Molecular Phenotyping Capability project.
• $31 million for Energy Delivery Grid Operations Technology, including $7 million to support efforts by PNNL to continue developing a national platform to host the data necessary for grid reliability modeling and analytics to support the clean energy transition.
• Funding to help the United States meet its obligations under the Agreement in Principle on the Columbia River Treaty.
• $5 million in new funding for a Northwest Tribal Pilot program to support ecosystem restoration projects on or near rivers or tributaries where Tribes have Tribal Treaty rights, including in the Mid-Columbia region.
• Report language explicitly directing the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to fully implement language Senator Murray championed in the 2020 Water Resources Development Act that requires the Corps to provide additional funding to Donor and Energy Transfer ports, which contribute more to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund than they can access. Seattle and Tacoma are both Donor ports and this language will help them get their fair share from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund. This is in addition to $60 million in discretionary funding for Donor and Energy Transfer ports, a $2 million increase over the fiscal year 2024 level, also authorized by Senator Murray in the 2020 Water Resources Development Act.

A full summary of the bill is available HERE.

Defense Appropriations Bill

In the draft legislation, Senator Murray secured a number of national funding priorities that are particularly important to Washington state, including:

• $667.6 million more than last year for the Shipyard Infrastructure and Optimization Program for modernization and optimization of each of the four public shipyards, including at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard;
• Full funding for the Department of Defense’s child care initiatives, to support full-day, universal pre-K, and for the renovation and repairs of DOD Child Development Centers, like the child development center at Fairchild Air Force Base.
• $2 billion for Defense-wide environmental mitigation activities, including for PFAS remediation.
• A 4.5% pay raise for all servicemembers and a 5.5% pay raise for junior enlisted personnel.
• New funding to help survivors of sexual assault and prevent sexual assault in the military—a longtime priority for Senator Murray—and additional funding to reduce suicide in the military.
• $15 million above the President’s budget request for medical research to support military family health and well-being, including growing families, menopause and mid-life women’s health, and gender-specific health care.

A full summary of the bill is available HERE.

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill

In the draft legislation, Senator Murray secured $47.5 million for 30 important CDS projects in Washington state:

• $500,000 for Altera to provide educational materials for children.
• $1 million for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound to expand career pathways and training programs for secondary students.
• $1.7 million for Central Washington University to develop and implement workforce training for secondary students.
• $1.6 million for the City of Seattle to support overdose-response teams.
• $900,000 for Communities in Schools of Washington State to expand comprehensive mental and behavioral health training programs for educators and staff.
• $2.4 million for Compass Health to construct a community-based mental health facility.
• $2.5 million for East Adams Rural Healthcare to construct a wellness and learning center.
• $1.5 million for Evergreen Health Monroe to build and renovate specialty care spaces.
• $320,000 for First 5 FUNdamentals to purchase technology and equipment to support postpartum healthcare services.
• $2.1 million for Greater Health Now to equip a mobile unit with staff to support the delivery of maternal care services.
• $750,000 for Green River College to develop a military family higher education program.
• $330,000 for the International Rescue Committee to provide mental health services to immigrants and refugees.
• $10.4 million for the Lummi Nation to construct a substance use treatment facility.
• $2.5 million for the Muslim Association of Puget Sound to design and construct a clinic.
• $1 million for the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging to support a helpline to assist older Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander individuals.
• $1.5 million for Olympic Medical Center to expand their telehealth program
• $1 million for One Community Health to expand dental services.
• $250,000 for Overlake Service League to expand educational services for children experiencing homelessness.
• $500,000 for Piece County to improve early childhood school readiness and education outcomes.
• $1.65 million for Sea Mar Community Health Centers to equip a dental training site and clinic.
• $3 million to Seattle Children’s Hospital to construct a youth behavioral health crisis stabilization observation unit.
• $750,000 to Southwest Washington Accountable Community of Health to construct a mobile medical clinic.
• $1 million for Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council to expand workforce development through education and training services.
• $3 million for Spokane County to expand a crisis stabilization center.
• $500,000 for Tacoma School District No. 10 to develop a maritime skills program for secondary students.
• $2.5 million for The Kline Galland Center to replace heating and equipment.
• $1 million for United Way of the Blue Mountains to expand teacher training and community workforce development for childcare programs.
• $250,000 for the Washington Poison Center to replace and upgrade equipment and upgrade.
• $1 million for the Washington State Hospital Association to build capacity for rural hospitals to provide labor and delivery services in Washington state.
• $100,000 for the White Salmon Valley School District to expand after-school programming for under resources and low-income students to address learning loss.

Senator Murray also secured a number of national funding priorities that are particularly important to Washington state, including:

• $2.3 billion increase for child care and early learning program within HHS over fiscal year 2024. It provides $10.35 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG)—a $1.6 billion or 18% increase over fiscal year 2024—which will help more families across the country find and afford the child care they need. It also provides $12.97 billion for Head Start, a $700 million increase over fiscal year 2024, which will support Head Start teachers and staff as local programs face ongoing staffing challenges. Delivering sustained annual increases to our federal investments in child care and Head Start has been a top priority for Senator Murray as she works to tackle the child care crisis.

• $5 million for a new Menopause Research to Action Network to promote research and integrate best practices into clinical settings to improve treatment and management of perimenopause and menopausal symptoms. In addition, she secured language requiring NIH to create and implement a comprehensive research agenda on menopause-related research and advance the treatment of menopausal symptoms; report on data and knowledge gaps in research, testing, and treatments; and convene a stakeholder workshop. Senator Murray also secured $200 million for an NIH-wide effort to support women’s health research across the lifespan. This funding reflects Murray’s commitment to enact her landmark bill to boost menopause research and expand awareness and training for health care professionals however possible.
• New authority for NIH to address loopholes in sexual harassment reporting and strengthen accountability by requiring institutions to complete investigations into concerns about harassment, bullying, retaliation, or hostile working conditions, even if the alleged perpetrator leaves their current position and is no longer employed by the institution. The bill also provides the NIH Director the authority to decline the transfer of an award to a different institution, helping to close the “pass-the-harasser” loophole. Senator Murray has pushed year after year to address harassment at NIH and has asked multiple NIH Directors about what the agency is doing to tackle the unacceptable problem and whether NIH needs new tools.
• $4 million for a youth homelessness prevention demonstration program, established by Murray in the March 2024 funding package and based on Murray’s youth homelessness bill—which will provide grants to state, local, and Tribal governments and non-profit community-based organizations to provide primary prevention services for youth at risk of homelessness.
• A $100 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award, increasing the total maximum award to $7,495 for the 2025-2026 school year.

A full summary of the bill is available HERE.

Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill

In the draft legislation, Senator Murray secured $5.16 million for 6 important CDS projects in Washington state:

• $510,000 for the Children’s Home Society of Washington to expand their business incubation program and provide business support.
• $800,000 for the Latino Civic Alliance to expand programming for small business owners.
• $1 million for the Refugee Artisan Initiative to expand services through renovation of the existing building.
• $1.1 million for Support for Early Learning & Families (SELF) to expand business training programs that support new child care providers.
• $1 million for Tabor 100 to expand small business technical assistance and entrepreneur training programs.
• $750,000 for the Tacoma Urban League to expand small business programming.

Senator Murray also secured a number of national funding priorities that are particularly important to Washington state, including:

• $30 million for construction of a new long-term records storage facility in the Seattle region for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to continue providing our region’s federally recognized Tribes, local and state governments, and general population with access to invaluable historical resources. This follows the $9 million Murray secured in the March 2024 funding package for planning and design of the new facility. In 2019, the federal government attempted to sell the current property at Sand Point and relocate the contents. Each year since then, Senator Murray has worked to ensure the records and archives are safely maintained and accessible in the Seattle region.
• $3 million for repairs at the existing NARA Sand Point facility to support its continued use and protect the records and materials stored there.
• $17.487 million to replace the fire alarm control system and fire pumps at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in Seattle. These critical safety systems are at the end of their serviceable life andat risk of failure.
• $35 million—a $7 million boost over fiscal year 2024—for the Native American Community Development Financial Institutions Program to support Native communities’ access to capital and financial services.
• $21 million for the State Trade Expansion Promotion (STEP) Program, which helps small businesses improve their access to overseas markets and the value of their exports. The Washington State Department of Commerce has received funding under STEP for 10 years.
• The bill also provides $3.5 million—a $1.5 million increase over last year—for the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy Murray established with former Senator Burr as part of her bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act, which was signed into law in December 2022. The office, housed within the White House, and launched in July, serves as a mission control and ensures there is a team in place, ready to go 24/7, to guide an all-of-government response to new and emerging public health threats. 

A full summary of the bill is available HERE.

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