Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced a breakdown of the various Kentucky-centered funding included in the Fiscal Year 2021 government spending bills signed into law by President Donald Trump on Monday.
The bill secured more than $5.1 billion to stop the flow of illegal drugs into Kentucky and support those in recovery. This includes $25 million for the transitional housing pilot program Comprehensive Addiction Recovery through Effective Employment and Reentry Act, directing nearly $1 million to Kentucky.
McConnell and Congressman Andy Barr (KY-06) established the CAREER Act in the 2018 opioid package that helps address the impact of substance abuse on America’s workforce by connecting those in recovery with career services and stable housing opportunities.
This also included $3.4 billion for the Community Development Block Grant program, providing resources to address various community challenges, including the effects of the opioid and substance abuse epidemic.
More than $5 billion was allotted in the interest of economic development, infrastructure, and student and worker preparation. This included $22 million for national broadband mapping to accurately identify areas needing improved service, such as rural Kentucky.
Kentucky will receive $25 million for the Abandoned Mine Land pilot program to develop land previously used to mine coal to support economic development in Appalachia.
The U.S. Department of Labor received $35 million to provide career and training services to dislocated workers in rural areas, such as dislocated coal workers in Kentucky.
More than $1 billion will go toward Kentucky’s role in national defense, including $84 million for new in-state military construction projects, including a Fort Knox elementary school and the National Guard and Reserve Center in Frankfort. This also includes a pay raise for service members.
The new funding also includes $316 million for environmental cleanup at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
McConnell secured $25 million to fight the war on Asian Carp. This will fund the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help remove the invasive species from waterways like Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley.
Agriculture Research Service sites will receive $4 million to continue researching hemp.
A provision in the bill will extend the 2014 Hemp Pilot Program, allowing states like Kentucky ample time to transition to the new program after USDA finalization.
Ongoing CBD medical research will receive $5 million.
The Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act will receive permanent tax cuts that were set to expire at the end of the year, including a reduction in federal excise taxes and regulatory relief for Kentucky’s distilleries, breweries, and wineries.
