[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 33 (Wednesday, February 25, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E375-E376]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          EARMARK DECLARATION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. PETE SESSIONS-

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 25, 2009

  Mr. SESSIONS. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership 
standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information for 
publication regarding earmarks I received as part of H.R. 1105 FY 2009 
Omnibus Appropriations Act.
  Requesting Member: Congressman Pete Sessions
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Justice, OJP Byrne Discretionary Grants
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Phoenix House
  Address of Requesting Entity: 2345 Regan Street, Dallas, Texas, 75219
  Description of Request: I have received an earmark of $500,000 to 
expand the service delivery system for the increasing number of Dallas 
area adolescents who are seeking drug treatment. Dallas has been 
identified by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) as one 
of the communities hit hardest by the problem of drug abuse among our 
nation's youth, and the ONDCP has recognized Dallas as a High Intensity 
Drug Trafficking Area. The impact of alcohol and drug abuse has been 
well documented in terms of financial costs to federal, state, and 
local governments. North Texas, especially Dallas, is experiencing an 
epidemic of the use of `cheese,' a mixture of black tar heroin and 
over-the-counter drugs a very dangerous and highly addictive 
combination.
  Requesting Member: Congressman Pete Sessions
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Justice, COPS Law Enforcement Technology
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Dallas County Sheriff's Department
  Address of Requesting Entity: 133 North Industrial Blvd., Dallas, 
Texas 75207
  Description of Request: I have received an earmark of $100,000 to 
update the AFIS system for the Dallas County Sheriff's Department. The 
Dallas County Sheriff's Department books approximately 400 people every 
24 hours. The current system is slow and is susceptible to error and 
misidentifications. A biometric ``2-fingerlook-up system'' is needed in 
order to process arrestees accurately and effectively. Dallas County 
Sheriff's Department needs to update its AFIS system, AFIX Tracker. 
These upgrades will provide each of the surrounding agencies the 
ability to search the Dallas County database. Dallas County will also 
have the ability to search databases maintained in the surrounding 
counties, including Parker County, Collin County and Denton County. The 
outcome of this regional database approach will be to dramatically 
increase the efficiency and hit rate of the Dallas County Sheriff's 
Department's AFIX Tracker AFIS system.
  Requesting Member: Congressman Pete Sessions
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Corps of Engineers, Construction
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Dallas
  Address of Requesting Entity: 1500 Manila 4EN, Dallas, Texas 75201
  Description of Request: I have received an earmark of $13,000,000 for 
the Dallas Floodway Extension (DFE). This request is for continuation 
construction funding of the Dallas Floodway Extension (DFE). It is a 
joint effort between the City of Dallas and the Army Corps of Engineers 
consisting of a ``chain of wetlands'' and a system of protective 
levees. The flood control improvements will reduce flooding for 12,500 
structures in the Central Business District and area neighborhoods 
permitting balanced growth. The DFE builds on prior flood protection 
efforts undertaken by the City to protect low-income neighborhoods and 
the primary wastewater treatment plant that serves 75% of Dallas's 
needs. The proposed improvements will increase the level of protection 
of the Dallas Floodway levee system to the Standard Project Flood or 
800-year event. Features will include 5.5 miles of levee construction, 
170 acres of wetlands development and 1,179 acres of land preservation. 
The main objective of this project is to provide improved flood 
protection for the full length of the Trinity River Corridor in Dallas 
in a way that supports the achievement of environmental, recreational, 
mobility and economic development goals.
  Requesting Member: Congressman Pete Sessions
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Energy, Office of Science
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Southern Methodist University
  Address of Requesting Entity: 6425 Boaz, Room 205, Dallas, Texas 
75275
  Description of Request: I received an earmark of $951,500 for the 
Advanced Parallel Processing Center (APPC) at Southern Methodist 
University. The Advanced Parallel Processing Center (APPC) is a ``super 
computer'' that will allow significant contribution in computationally 
intensive areas of research at SMU and other north Texas academic 
institutions. This center will allow the North Texas university 
community to access state of the art parallel computing resources. SMU 
is participating in the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron 
Collider. The APPC will allow SMU to analyze the data collected from 
ATLAS. APPC will benefit the study of high energy physics, statistical 
modeling of functional MRI data collected from veterans suffering from 
Gulf War Syndrome, problems in cancer chemotherapy, logistics for the 
banking industry, network design for the telecommunications industry, 
and applications of energy conservation and nanotechnology. The United 
States must continue to lead the world in science research in order to 
remain globally competitive and to attract the best and the brightest 
scholars.
  Requesting Member: Congressman Pete Sessions
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Federal Highway Administration, TCSP
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Irving
  Address of Requesting Entity: 825 West Irving Blvd. Irving, Texas 
75060
  Description of Request: I received an earmark for $380,000 for the 
City of Irving's Irving Boulevard Corridor Enhancement Project, which 
includes Story Road and Irving Boulevard, Highway 356. The Corridor is 
in need of structural enhancements that include a bridge and the 
enclosure of an open drainage channel for pedestrian and vehicle 
traffic. These enhancements will reduce congestion and make multi-
functional use of space. The corridor is of critical importance to the 
region because it runs east to west and connects to the Dallas Fort 
Worth Airport.
  Requesting Member: Congressman Pete Sessions
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources 
and Services Administration
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Southern Methodist University, 
Southwestern Consortium for Anti-Infectives and Virological Research
  Address of Requesting Entity: 6425 Boaz, Room 205, Dallas, TX 75275
  Description of Request: I received an earmark of $381,000 for 
Southern Methodist University who is teaming with several other Texas 
universities and medical centers to establish a premiere collaborative 
Center of Excellence that would unite leading regional HIV/AIDS and 
infectious disease researchers and clinical scientists for the 
development of new therapies against drug-resistant viral infections of 
high medical and socioeconomic importance. One of the goals of this 
consortium in developing new therapies against drug-resistant viral 
infections is to expand the role of viral-based gene therapy in modern 
molecular medicine for the treatment of terminal health disparities, 
such as malignant CNS tumors in children. The requested support would 
be to provide state-of-the-art infrastructure for NIH-supported 
research programs in the Southwest (TX-NM) with national and 
international collaborations.
  Requesting Member: Congressman Pete Sessions
  Bill Number: H.R. 1105
  Account: Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute 
of Health
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: The University of Texas Systems, 
Brain Health and Repair Project
  Address of Requesting Entity: 2200 West Mockingbird Lane, Dallas TX 
75325

[[Page E376]]

  Description of Request: I received an earmark of $381,000 for the 
Brain Health and Repair Project at the University of Texas at Dallas 
which involves a unique multi-disciplinary collaboration among a 
talented team of scientists with expertise ranging from cognitive 
neuroscience, neurology, biomedical engineering, brain imaging, to 
those advancing brain repair treatments. The Brain Health and Repair 
Project takes a comprehensive approach to address some of the most 
pressing public health issues related to brain health. New evidence 
from brain science reveals that more can be done to prevent and detect 
injuries, as well as to repair the brain than modem medicine thought 
possible only a few years ago. UT Dallas has the largest number of 
cognitive brain scientists in Texas with specific expertise focused on 
advancing sensitive measurements of lasting impact of Traumatic Brain 
Injury on cognition, social, and brain function and developing 
effective methods to repair the brain given appropriate type, levels 
and intensity of stimulation.

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