(Washington – Jan. 19, 2014) U.S. Representative Richard Hanna recently announced that a federal budget agreement released Jan. 13 includes a $51 million increase in funding for the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome and also eases across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration.
The House and the Senate are expected to approve the $1.1 trillion funding bill this week and President Barack Obama is expected to sign it promptly. The spending agreement comes on the heels of a bipartisan budget deal struck in December, when Republicans and Democrats agreed to partially repeal the sequester and avoided another potential government shutdown.
Rome Lab will see a total increase in funding by $51,473,000 from Fiscal Year 2013, which is an increase of nearly 38 percent. Rep. Hanna has been an outspoken supporter of the defense assets in upstate New York and Rome in particular.
“Rome Lab is second to none in its work on advanced research and innovations,” Rep. Hanna said. “Sequestration and other uncertainties made this past year the most challenging in recent memory for our defense industry.
“There is much to look forward to in 2014 in addition to Rome Lab’s funding increase: Griffiss was selected as one of six UAS test sites, and the only test site in the Northeast, which strengthens Rome Lab’s roots in the Mohawk Valley by establishing a partnership to test sensors and UAS technologies that are already being developed here in Rome. The Cyber Research Institute is also in place and set to grow as a key partner and facilitator of the Lab as it continues to develop this year. I look forward to continuing to assist with the growth of both Rome Lab and Upstate’s technological resurgence in the days and years ahead.”