[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 118 (Friday, July 31, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2171-E2173]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          EARMARK DECLARATION

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. RODNEY ALEXANDER

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 31, 2009

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership 
standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information 
regarding earmarks I received as part of the Departments of Labor, 
Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act, 2010, H.R. 3293.

[[Page E2172]]

  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 3293
  Department of Education, Elementary & Secondary Education (includes 
FIE)
  Ouachita Parish School Board located at 701 St. John Street, Monroe, 
LA 71201.
  The Northeast Louisiana Family Literacy Interagency Consortium; 
$400,000. The Northeast Louisiana Family Literacy Interagency 
Consortium (NELFLIC). NELFLIC is requesting funding so that more 
families can continue to be served, and served more effectively, by 
securing staff and resources. NELFLIC is determined to enhance its 
services to provide flexible, year-round hours and to target special 
populations more intensely than ever before. The English as a Second 
Language services to be offered in Union and West Carroll parishes can 
double the number of participants in each site. Serving the 
incarcerated population in Richland parish incurs significant expenses 
due to the dynamics of the program and to ensure that children can 
participate sufficiently in appropriate services. In order to serve the 
high school population in Lincoln parish, the Even Start center must 
have highly qualified personnel available to work with the children 
from 7:20 to 3:35 five days per week. Funding is requested to retain 
the staff at each site and to provide transportation and other support 
services to accommodate the flexible schedules and growing population 
of participants. Expanding services or the service area will help to 
empower families to gain literacy skills, build strong families, earn a 
living wage, and move toward self-sufficiency.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 3293
  Department of Education--Elementary & Secondary Education (includes 
FIE)
  Institute for Student Achievement, One Hollow Lane, Suite 100, Lake 
Success, NY 11042
  Institute for Student Achievement; $150,000. ISA is requesting 
$150,000 in funding to continue its partnership with the Point Coupee 
Central Prep High School located in the Point Coupee Central High 
School building. Point Coupee Central Prep High School opened in 
September, 2008 with a cohort of grade nine students. It will grow one 
grade per year until it serves students in grades 9 to 12, at which 
time the Point Coupee Central High School will be phased out. ISA will 
remain in partnership with EBR throughout the entire school development 
period. A clear, explicit set of non negotiable principles defines the 
ISA research-based school reform capacity-building model. With its 
strategic partner, the National Center for Research, Education, 
Students and Teaching (NCREST) at Columbia University, ISA facilitates 
the implementation of these principles through coaching and 
professional development. Additionally, ISA provides technical 
assistance, administrative guidance, and formative student assessments 
in writing and mathematics which inform instructional practice, program 
advocacy and program assessment.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 3293
  Department of Health & Human Services Centers for Medicare and 
Medicaid Services (CMS)--Research & Demonstration.
  PACE Greater New Orleans, 4201 North Rampart, New Orleans, LA 70117.
  PACE Greater New Orleans, for facilities and equipment; $500,000. 
This project is for $4 million to allow PACE Greater New Orleans, 
Franciscan PACE and CHRISTUS Health to expand and develop additional 
PACE services and space on the Westbank of Jefferson Parish as well as 
in Monroe and Alexandria so they may be able to serve more elderly and 
offer them an alternative to institutionalized care. Expansion of 
service personnel and capacity could allow PACE New Orleans to serve 
150 more elderly, PACE Monroe approximately 124 and PACE Alexandria 
approximately 125. The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly 
(PACE) is a capitated benefit authorized by the Balanced Budget Act of 
1997 (BBA) that features a comprehensive service delivery system and 
integrated Medicare and Medicaid financing. The program is modeled on 
the system of acute and long term care services developed by On Lok 
Senior Health Services in San Francisco, California. The model was 
tested through CMS (then HCFA) demonstration projects that began in the 
mid-1980s. The PACE model was developed to address the needs of long-
term care clients, providers, and payers. For most participants, the 
comprehensive service package permits them to continue living at home 
while receiving services rather than be institutionalized. Participants 
must be at least 55 years old and be certified as eligible for nursing 
home care by the appropriate State agency. However the average age of a 
PACE recipient is 75. The PACE program becomes the sole source of 
services for Medicare and Medicaid eligible enrollees.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 3293
  Department of Health & Human Services, Health Resources and Services 
Administration (HRSA)--Health Facilities and Services.
  CHRISTUS Health St. Francis Cabrini Hospital, 3330 Masonic Drive, 
Alexandria, LA 71301.
  CHRISTUS Health St. Francis Cabrini Hospital for an electronic 
medical records initiative; $400,000. CHRISTUS St. Francis Cabrini has 
undertaken an initiative to lower the cost of care by leveraging 
communication and health information technology, with an emphasis on 
using these tools to improve access and lower costs for the under- and 
uninsured. The project will reduce inappropriate use of the emergency 
department while providing a care team to help coordinate their care 
and provide a medical home. Reducing the cost of care requires 
investment in health IT infrastructure. This project began almost a 
year ago by deploying community health workers using all manual 
processes. This activity will automate the process of data collection, 
information sharing and increased communications with the clients to 
reduce inappropriate utilization, improve access and reduce costs, all 
while helping them to better care for themselves. Internal funding is 
lacking due to competing priorities. Funds will be used for investing 
in core infrastructure needs that will become operating costs in future 
years but at a much lower level.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 3293
  Department of Health & Human Services, Health Resources and Services 
Administration (HRSA)--Health Facilities and Services.
  CHRISTUS Health System, 9830 Jennifer Lane, Shreveport, LA 71106.
  CHRISTUS Health System for a rural health initiative; $350,000. 
School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) enable CHRISTUS Health to provide 
primary and preventative health care services to children and 
adolescents in Louisiana, many of whom are among the working poor. 
Besides immunizations and physical examinations, SBHCs provide well-
child care, dispensation of over-the-counter and prescribed medicines, 
routine lab tests, management of chronic conditions, and initial care 
for acute illnesses and injuries. The centers provide mental health 
services including individual, family, and group therapy. SBHCs 
emphasize prevention as well as early identification and treatment of 
physical and mental health concerns. Prevention programs concentrate on 
proper nutrition, dental hygiene, exercise, and the elimination of 
substance abuse, use of tobacco, teenage pregnancy, violence, and 
suicide. CHRISTUS Health sponsors and operates 25 of the 62 SBHCs in 
Louisiana. With earmark funds of $350,000, these centers could address 
such critical health issues as childhood and adolescent obesity. The 
money could also help the centers provide more dental services and 
expand mental health services.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 3293
  Department of Health & Human Services, Health Resources and Services 
Administration (HRSA)--Health Facilities and Services.
  Richland Parish Hospital, 407 Cincinnati Street, Delhi, LA 71232.
  Richland Parish Hospital for facilities and equipment; $1,025,000. 
This request would increase access to vital preventive and diagnostic 
health care services in Northeast Louisiana through the use of one-time 
funding to purchase Digital Mammography and 16-Slice Computerized 
Tomography (CT) Scan machine and a Mobile Unit to transport the 
equipment throughout the region. This will particularly impact the low-
income, under and uninsured residents of the most rural areas of the 
region, who so many times do not have the resources to travel to the 
larger urban areas to obtain these services. Currently, a resident must 
travel at least to Monroe to obtain these services, which is over 60 
miles away from many of the communities in the most northeast part of 
the state. RPH is a participant in the LA Rural Health Information 
Exchange Network and was the first hospital to be linked with the LSU 
Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC-S) in Shreveport. If they are able to 
obtain this equipment, they will be able to transmit these tests to the 
specialists at LSUHSC-S. Many of the low-income, under and uninsured 
patients are referred to LSUHSC-S for specialty care. Due to the lack 
of resources, patients may very well forego treatment until the 
condition is much more serious.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 3293
  Department of Health & Human Services, Health Resources and Services 
Administration (HRSA)--Health Facilities and Services.
  University of Louisiana at Monroe, 700 University Avenue, Monroe, LA 
71209
  University of Louisiana at Monroe for facilities and equipment, 
including purchase of a mobile dental unit; $840,000. The University of 
Louisiana at Monroe College of Health Sciences Department of Dental 
Hygiene proposes the purchase of a mobile dental unit for use 
throughout the northeastern portion of the State of Louisiana. The use 
of this mobile unit would enhance the teaching capabilities of the 
dental hygiene program and would provide a

[[Page E2173]]

critically needed service to patients unable to access regular dental/
dental hygiene care. The mobile dental unit would serve the delta area 
of Louisiana which has been designated an economically and socially 
depressed area, which in the past has been approved for federal 
development funding. The mobile unit would benefit underserved patients 
who lack the financial resources and/or transportation to obtain proper 
dental care. The unit would be staffed by a dentist, dental assistant, 
dental hygienist and dental hygiene students who would work with local 
public health offices to coordinate services.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 3170
  SBA
  Grambling University, 400 Main St., Grambling, LA 71245
  The primary goals of the Greater North Louisiana Community 
Development Corp are to: a) stimulate creation, attraction, retention 
and expansion of business and industry in North Louisiana, b) provide 
access to financial capital, c) promote the growth of ``homegrown'' 
business using technology to provide rural isolated entrepreneurs with 
access to information, technical assistance, professional services and 
expertise. The Rural U.S. is home to over 56 million Americans who live 
in some of the country's poorest regions. As nationally publicized by 
all mediums, the state of Louisiana is involved in a long-running 
battle to find solutions to poverty and combating literacy (see 
attachments A & B--GNLCDC Service Area Demographics and Maps). The 
primary employers in the targeted parishes are light manufacturing 
companies. It is expected that manufacturing jobs will continue to 
decline in the 21st Century, therefore diversification is critical to 
the stimulation and survival of rural communities.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 3326
  RDTE, A
  Louisiana Tech University, 700 W California Ave, Ruston, LA 71272
  Anti-Tamper Research and Development $3,800,000. This program will 
provide the research, development, and testing of technologies that can 
significantly reduce or eliminate the threat of reverse-engineering or 
software extraction from the guidance/avionics package of military 
aircraft and missiles. We will initiate the R&D of specific 
technologies that can be used to prevent tampering of aviation and 
missile systems, initiate the development and instrumentation of 
techniques that can be used to test the vulnerability of missile 
systems before and after insertion of the technology, and test the 
initial technology produced by this program. Technologies developed 
will prevent the extraction, disassembly, and reuse of U.S. aviation 
and missile Critical Technology/Critical Program Information hardware 
and software. The DoD is currently aware of how vulnerable its weapons 
systems are to reverse-engineering, and this effort will develop 
measures to decrease or eliminate this vulnerability.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 3326
  RDTE, AF
  Louisiana Tech University, 700 W California Ave, Ruston, LA 71272
  Remote Language-Independent Suspect Identification $3,200,000. 
Louisiana Tech University seeks funding for research in remote 
language-independent suspect identification. Our researchers have 
developed technologies that use mathematical models for identity 
verification. Aspects of this work have been commercialized in the 
private sector. The University has worked with the Air Force and 
industry partners in further development of the algorithms and software 
for military applications. These funds will support our faculty and 
partners identified by the Air Force in extending the development of 
these algorithms.
  Congressman Rodney Alexander
  H.R. 3326
  RDTE, AF
  Louisiana Tech University, 700 W California Ave, Ruston, LA 71272
  Cyber Security Research Program $1,500,000. Louisiana Tech University 
seeks funding to initiate programs in the recently funded Cyber 
Security Laboratory to support new research and educational efforts in 
cyber security. This laboratory is a key component of the Center for 
Secure Cyberspace (CSC), a collaboration between Louisiana Tech 
University and Louisiana State University. Funding for the CSC, 
totaling $8 million, has been provided by the Louisiana Board of 
Regents and the two universities. Researchers are developing core 
research foundations in evolvable sensor hardware/software and 
corresponding transformational technologies for the early prediction, 
detection, and control of anomalous behavior in cyberspace. The CSC has 
built strategic collaborative relationships between national and 
international academic and industrial partners, with the Air Force 
Cyber Command (P), Air Force Research Laboratory, and other state and 
federal agencies. Many of these partners have provided input into the 
design of the CSL. The proposed funding will enable us to configure, 
test and validate the new equipment and software, which is being 
purchased in FY 2009, and to support initial research projects between 
the CSC and partners. These initial projects will enable Tech and its 
partners to gather preliminary data to serve as the basis for further 
funding from multiple agencies.

                          ____________________