WASHINGTON — Nearly $11 million to help widen Interstate 35, bring an Army National Guard unit headquarters to Waco and aid research at Baylor University is imperiled as the 111th Congress comes to a close.

Leaders in the House and Senate haven’t made any final decisions about how to wrap up the lame-duck session, but omnibus appropriations bills containing millions of dollars worth of earmarks could be scrapped in favor of a stopgap continuing resolution that would more or less extend current spending levels.

Such a resolution would mean funding U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, secured in spending bills over the summer would evaporate.

Funding secured in spending bills over the summer by U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, would likely evaporate under a proposed earmark ban. At right is Edwards' wife Lea Ann.
Rod Aydelotte / Tribune-Herald, file

Earmarks in question include $5 million to plan and design Waco area headquarters for the Army National Guard’s 143rd Airborne Infantry Battalion. The unit’s original home is in Waco but it is currently at Camp Mabry in Austin.

There’s also nearly $2.6 million for research and construction at the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative and $1 million for the Baylor Avionics Research and Development Lab.

Edwards had also earmarked $2 million to cover possible cost overruns for the ongoing I-35 widening and $350,000 for security enhancements at Texas State Technical College-Waco.

Experts and lawmakers alike have said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s announcement his party would forgo earmarks appears to have greatly diminished the chances that either chamber will pursue omnibus spending bills.

Baylor’s vice provost for research Truell Hyde said Thursday the university may have to look elsewhere for financial support given the moratorium.

Assuming the moratorium spells doom for the Baylor earmarks, “that has an impact on the BRIC,” Hyde said. “But it is what it is.”

A local transportation planner said the loss of a $2 million earmark for I-35 construction overruns was bad news but not a death blow for the ongoing widening projects.

“Fortunately the I-35 projects are coming in under budget,” said Chris Evilia, director of the Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization. “The $2 million is very nice to have because its gives us flexibility but it’s not a deal-killer.”

Edwards said the impact of losing the money for the National Guard unit relocation project could be more serious, since the earmark covered only the first phase of what is projected to be an expensive project.

Edwards, who was unseated earlier this month, has served as chairman of an Appropriations Committee panel with control of the purse strings for military construction.

Efforts to reach Lt. Col. Douglas O’Connell, commander of the 143rd Airborne Infantry battalion, on Thursday and Friday were unsuccessful.

An Edwards spokesman cautioned the direction on spending for the lame-duck session is not set in stone and could be shaped during the next few weeks.

“Often the decisions aren’t made until the deadline is looming, so nothing is official yet,” said the spokesman, Josh Taylor.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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