Boxer Priorities Move Forward

Washington, DC– The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, which includes $31 million requested by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) for key priorities throughout California.

The bill also includes funding for the production of 10 C-17 aircraft. Senator Boxer has consistently championed efforts to continue production of the C-17.

These investments include:

Military Burn Trauma Research and Clinical Trials Program

Location: nationwide

Amount: $6,000,000

Funding will support multicenter clinical burn trials to advance the treatment of service members who suffer burns during military service. All proposals will undergo rigorous, competitive review by a team of burn and research experts. Only those projects that most effectively address high priority research areas identified by the Department of Defense will be funded. These clinical trials will work to solve issues related to scarring, limitations in function and movement, and returning to society as an independent and confident burn survivor.

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Inland Empire Perchlorate Remediation

Location: Cities of Rialto and Colton, Fontana Union Water Company, West Valley Water District

Amount: $ 4,000,000

Funding will be used to install ten new water treatment systems to remove perchlorate from water used by 250,000 people in western San Bernardino County. The new treatment systems will clean 31 million gallons of water per day.

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Northern California Institute for Research and Education (NCIRE) Neuroscience Center of Excellence-Neuropsychiatric and Neurotrauma in U.S. Warfighters

Location: San Francisco, CA

Amount: $ 5,000,000

Funding will be used to support research to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. Northern California Institute for Research and Education’s Neuroscience Center of Excellence is the only research center of its kind associated with the Veterans Administration health care system.

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National Automotive Center’s CALSTART Defense Advanced transportation Technology Program, Hybrid Truck Users Forum (H-TUF)

Location: Pasadena, CA

Amount: $ 6,000,000

The National Automotive Center will help develop new technologies to give the military more advanced hybrid, clean-fuel vehicles. On top of the environmental benefits of using less fuel and producing fewer emissions, hybrid technology offers safety benefits to military operations, such as fewer refueling stops.

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Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Operating Room of the Future

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Amount: $ 2,000,000

The U.S. Army continues to partner with Cedars-Sinai to improve combat medicine and surgery. The design and development of a neurosurgery-orthopedic operating room with new flexible and mobile technology will be used to demonstrate and put into practice improved configurations for combat-zone operating rooms, where military surgeons are confronting new types of injuries.

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UCLA High Speed, High Volume Laboratory Network for Infectious Diseases

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Amount: $ 2,000,000

This is the final stage of funding for the High-Speed, High Throughput Laboratory initiative—a partnership between the UCLA School of Public Health and Los Alamos National Lab (LANL). This project will improve our nation’s ability to respond to a bio-emergency by establishing a laboratory and network capable of quickly analyzing and processing high quantities of biological samples.

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California National Guard Eagle Vision III Upgrades

Location: Sacramento, CA

Amount: $ 6,000,000

This project will upgrade the California National Guard Eagle Vision III system, a mobile commercial satellite imagery collection and processing system. Given California’s recent fire seasons, this upgrade is particularly crucial in the state because it allows people, such as firefighters, to see through clouds and haze.

The bill now goes to the full Senate for consideration.

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