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Bill Includes Big Spending For Bay Area

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 5, 2009

Updated: 03/05/2009 12:33 am

A $410 billion spending bill to fund the federal government through September is drawing criticism for the more than $7.7 billion it contains in so-called "member items." That funding for favored projects of lawmakers includes hundreds of millions of dollars for the Tampa Bay area and other parts of Florida.

Local, State Beneficiaries

>>> $250,000 for Boys & Girls Club of Tampa's Hispanic Youth Gang Prevention Project - Sponsors: Rep. Kathy Castor, Sen. Bill Nelson
>>> $4.2 million for Tampa Harbor dredging, other projects - Rep. Gus Bilirakis, Rep. Adam Putnam, Castor

>>> $2.2 million for HART bus and "para-transit" acquisition - Castor

>>> $476,000 for Hillsborough Community College Veterinary Technology Program, including building construction - Putnam

>>> $123 million for Everglades restoration - Sen. Mel Martinez, Nelson, Castor and others

See more listings on Page 7

The Cuba Connection

Further casting a bit of a cloud on the bill's fate are unrelated and controversial provisions attached to allow Cuban-Americans to visit their relatives in Cuba more frequently and to ease other restrictions regarding Cuba.

What's Next

The bill was approved by the House last week, and Democratic Senate leaders hope to pass it today for President Barack Obama to sign by Friday, when a temporary government funding measure expires.

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