Monday, October 2, 2006

Getting things done for us!

The Indiana Daily Student reports on U.S. Representative Mike Sodrel's efforts to bring needed money to Indiana University for research at the IU Cyclotron facility and the Chemistry department. Here is a press release from Sodrel's office on the matter.

Sodrel has been busy in Washington securing funds for his district, and specifically for Monroe County. As I mentioned in my letter to the editor two months ago, Sodrel secured $500,000 in federal matching funds for the expansion of Fullerton Pike. Eleven months ago, the House and Senate passed an appropriations bill that included $1,800,000 for a Bloomington Transit park-and-ride program, on top of $4,000,000 approved for the same plan a few months before that.

There are many reasons to vote for Mike Sodrel this November, and the funding that he has secured for the Ninth District (and especially Monroe County) is one of those reasons. It is encouraging to see a first-term member of Congress working aggressively to make sure that local projects get federal funding. If that money is going to be spent anyway, it might as well be spent in southeast Indiana.

The money for Indiana University is especially important because of the benefits that research will have for national security and the new threats we face in the War on Terror. One of the fundamental tasks of the federal government is to provide for the common defense. The funding Sodrel secured for Indiana University will not only help toward that end, but will also have non-military applications.

Once again, Mike Sodrel is getting things done for us. Thanks Mike!