Dear John,

It was great to be in Luzerne County as our communities came together to celebrate the opening of the Wyoming Area Regional Police Department's (WARP) headquarters in Wyoming.

I'm proud to have brought home $963,000 in federal funds to provide the Wyoming Area Regional Police Department with new police cruisers, body cameras and other essential equipment.

Our new regional police department deserves the best equipment to provide the highest level of police services possible to the residents of Wyoming, West Wyoming, West Pittston and Exeter Boroughs and Exeter Township.

Thank you to WARP Police Chief Michael Turner, WARP Commissioner Joseph Pizano, and all of our state and local officials who helped make the former PA State Police barracks on Wyoming Avenue our Wyoming Area Regional Police Department's new headquarters.

We are so grateful and lucky to have such capable and dedicated officers who are always willing to go above and beyond the call of duty.

A heartfelt thank you to all of our brave police officers who help to keep our communities safe day in and day out.

To learn more about federal funds that I secured for our law enforcement and first responders, read on.

This week, I hosted a law enforcement roundtable in Lackawanna County to discuss the importance of funding local law enforcement to curb gun violence and gang activity in our region.

Making sure our Northeast Pennsylvania law enforcement officers are able to safely serve our communities continues to be a top priority of mine.

As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and Ranking Member of the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee, I oversee more than $70 billion in annual federal spending.

That means I am in a unique position to help equip NEPA's police and first responders with the funding and technology they need to safely do their jobs.

I'm proud to have secured $2.5 million in federal funds for the Luzerne County District Attorney's Office to create a county-wide SWAT team to make sure our Luzerne County officers are safe, prepared and equipped to protect our communities.

I also secured $2 million in federal funds for the Lackawanna County District Attorney's Office's Gun and Gang Reduction and Intelligence Project to target gang, drug and illegal gun activity in our region by bolstering interdepartmental cooperation, communication and intelligence networks.

Additional federal funding I brought back to NEPA for law enforcement and first responders includes:

• $2.1 million to the City of Wilkes-Barre’s Community Policing Technology and Equipment Initiative.
• $3.5 million to the Scranton Police Department for training and technology upgrades.
• $3 million for a new Moosic Fire & Police Facility.
• Additional operations funds for Monroe County’s shared West End Emergency Services.

I'm grateful to all of the officers and first responders who serve our region.

I will continue to advocate on their behalf in Congress to ensure they have the necessary funding to safely do their jobs.

Thank you to everyone who attended our rountable discussion for offering your perspective, experience and insight - U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, PA State Police Dunmore Troop Commanding Officer Captain Michael Walsh, Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell, Scranton School Board President Ty Holmes, Luzerne County Drug Task Force Coordinator Larry Whitehead, University of Scranton Department of Criminal Justice/Cyber Security Chair Dr. Michael Jenkins, Provost Dr. Michelle Maldonado and additional faculty from the university's criminal justice and cyber security department.

We’ve seen way too many coal companies file for bankruptcy and break their promise to clean up mine sites after they’ve made their profits, leaving the American people on the hook to foot the bill.

This week, I introduced a pair of bills to help ensure accountability and save taxpayers millions by addressing and preventing “zombie mines,” idled modern-era mines that have not been cleaned up by irresponsible coal companies.

My Coal Cleanup Taxpayer Protection Act will help ensure coal companies restore mine lands across the country to their original state after mining operations cease.

Loopholes within the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977  have allowed too many mine operators to fail to put down bonds equal to cleanup costs.

My Coal Cleanup Taxpayer Protection Act eliminates these reckless self-bonding practices and requires operators to put down the full cost required for cleanup of their mines and tightens rules on other types of bonding that have been shown to leave taxpayers paying for cleanup costs.

Going one step further, my Bond Improvement and Reclamation Assurance Act, tackles bonding issues by requiring regulators to consider important financial and environmental factors when calculating bond amounts, including inflation rates, water pollution treatment costs and more.

These commonsense bills will ensure accountability and safeguard communities for generations to come.

Learn more here.

Every year, as a Member of Congress, I have the distinct honor of nominating young men and women from Pennsylvania’s 8th congressional district to the elite United States Service Academies.

On April 30, from 5 - 7 p.m., my office is hosting a Military Service Academy Information Session for high school students and their families to learn more about attending the academies and the congressional nomination process.

If you know a high school student interested in attending West Point, the Naval Academy or any of the other service academies, please share this information with them.

Visit the Military Academy Nominations page on my website to learn more.

To RSVP, or to get more information, contact my office at 570-341-1050 or email [email protected].

Be safe and well,