Chet Edwards For Congress

Strengthening Our Homeland Security & National Defense:

Chet has secured:

• $22 million for Texas A&M for the National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center. The Administration budget had cut this to $9.5 million, which would have resulted in cutting 50 instructors and staff (out of 110) and cutting the number of trained first responders from 40,000 to 9,000.




• $1.96 million for Texas A&M's Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute for nuclear nonproliferation efforts such as developing new ways to detect, prevent, and reverse the proliferation of nuclear materials and educating the next generation of leaders in the nuclear sciences field.




• $9.5 million for key Department of Defense research projects at Texas A&M including detection methods of biochemical warfare agents, Ft. Hood training lands restoration, improving military satellites, among others.




• $2.6 million for research into microencapsulation for vaccine delivery at Texas A&M. Research will seek to allow vaccines to be included in pill form rather than injection, allowing soldiers to carry them into the field.




• $3.4 million for development of a trauma registry by Texas A&M and the Army Institute of Surgical Research. The project will develop a research database to track wounded soldiers to enable improvement of health care delivery to soldiers coming back from Iraq.




• $1.5 million for the Consortium for Autonomous Satellite Systems, funding research at Texas A&M that will help improve surveillance and communications in military satellite systems by making them lighter, more mobile, and adaptable.






• $1.2 million for bioaerosol sampling for U.S. Army Base Protection. This funding will allow Texas A&M to continue development of technology that detects chemical, biological contaminants in the air.




• $1 million for Digitization Support to Fort Hood. The University XXI program, a collaborative initiative with Texas A&M University and the University of Texas (Austin) to provide digitization support to Fort Hood. The funds will continue an ongoing program leveraging the software expertise of Texas A&M University for the Army using advanced, information-based technology to provide battlefield advantages to our troops to help them plan missions.




• $450,000 in additional funds to Texas A&M for nuclear nonproliferation efforts to conduct research and coordinate efforts with the Department of Energy and Russian universities to curb the proliferation of nuclear materials and weapons across the world.




• $500,000 to help preserve Pointe du Hoc, the most historic site of the D-Day Invasion, which is currently at risk due to continuing coastal erosion. Texas A&M researchers have been seeking to survey the site, identify culturally significant resources and preserve the site for historic remembrance. Lt. Col. Earl Rudder led “Rudder's Rangers” up Pointe du Hoc in a key assault of the D-Day invasion.