Chet Edwards For Congress

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County

Chet Edwards has worked hard for McLennan County and his hometown of Waco, using his seniority and seat on the House Appropriations Committee to bring some of our tax dollars back home.

Since the November 2004 election, Chet has secured $74 million in investments over Administration budget requests for defense jobs, better roads, protecting the Waco VA Hospital, cleaning up Lake Waco and other key priorities for McLennan County.

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County

Fighting to Save the Waco VA Hospital

• Since 2006, Chet has secured $5.7 million for innovative Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) research at the Waco VA in collaboration with Ft. Hood and Baylor University.




• As Chairman of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, Chet recently wrote and passed the largest budget increase -- $11.8 billion -- in the history of the VA. This record level increase has led to the increase of the number of employees at the Waco VA by 127, the Waco Regional office by 138, and made possible $49 million for five new construction projects on the Waco VA campus starting in 2008.

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County

Protecting Local Water Quality

• Chet obtained authorization for $10 million for environmental infrastructure projects on the Bosque River that will promote improving water quality in Lake Waco and the Bosque watershed. Some examples of projects that could be funded are buffer strips, wetlands, lagoon upgrades, wastewater treatment plant upgrades and dairy modifications.




• Chet introduced the Central Texas Water Recycling Act of 2007 which authorized $8 million to build an innovative water recycling program in partnership with Waco, Lorena, Robinson, Hewitt, Woodway, Bellmead, and Lacy-Lakeview. This project will manage water resources effectively through regional satellite treatment plants providing conservation of our community's water supply, reducing costs to taxpayers, and reducing water demand on Lake Waco.

Working Hard for Waco & McLennan County
Making Our Communities Safer and Supporting Law Enforcement

• Chet secured $500,000 to update the Waco Police and Fire Departments’ Emergency Dispatch System. This funding will update the Waco PD’s 20-year-old dispatching system and install a more effective dispatching system, which will help officers to respond to emergency calls more quickly and efficiently. The funds will also enable the Waco Fire Department to implement a computer-aided dispatch system to respond faster to distress calls.