Dear Fellow Nebraskans,
2020 has been a hard year for many - from recovering after the 2019 historic floods to battling the coronavirus pandemic. That is why it has been a priority of mine to get funding to Nebraska through legislation.
The 2019 floods caused more than $1 billion in damage mainly in the eastern part of the state along the Missouri river. It was the resilient stories of Nebraskans that allowed me to convince Congress to fund disaster relief packages for farmers, homeowners, local governments and others.
In addition, I ensured that military bases across the country that had been impacted by flooding and hurricanes, received the funding they needed to make necessary repairs to facilities and equipment. In Nebraska, Offutt would need nearly half a billion dollars quickly, even more including the cost to replace the advanced mission equipment lost.
But during our negotiations on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) I noted that not all of the needed funding was included in earlier relief packages. I told the Omaha World Herald in June 2019,“I made it clear up front I was going to throw down…I was going to pound the table on this one.”
We were able to get additional funding for Nebraska to begin to rebuild.
Once we started to recover from the floods, we were hit by the coronavirus and I was determined to make sure the residents of Nebraska’s second district had the funding and equipment needed to fight it. I’ve supported critical legislation like the CARES Act, the Paycheck Protection Program and the Flexibility for Localities and Eligibility Expansion (FLEX) Act. Besides supporting this funding, in November 2019 Reps. Paul Tonko, Jim Langevin and I introduced H.R. 4982 the Health Care Workforce Protection Act which was later included in the CARES act and covers all NIOSH-certified masks.
After talking with local mayors and the League of Municipalities, I introduced H.R. 6652 the Flexibility for Localities and Eligibility Expansion (FLEX) Act of 2020; bipartisan legislation allowing additional flexibility for state and local governments to access previously approved federal relief funds to offset lost revenue due to the health emergency from COVID-19.
As we continue to be ready and resilient, I wanted to take a minute to highlight domestic violence. October is domestic violence awareness month which is why I am being joined by the CEO of the “Set Me Free Project” Stephanie Olson, Crysta Price CEO of HTI Labs and Anne Boatright MSN. RN from the NE Attorney General’s Office to discuss how to combat domestic violence. Please join me on October 27 at 9am on Facebook Live as we address this important issue.
As always, I hope you are staying safe during these trying times. If my office can be of assistance, please reach out at 402-938-0300.
Sincerely,
Don Bacon
Member of Congress
