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After 2019’s historic flooding, it would have been easy to lose hope. So many Nebraskans lost their belongings, their livelihoods, and even their homes to what seemed like endless waves of water and ice. All told, the floods of that spring cost us four lives and over $3 billion in damage.
But we didn’t lose hope. Instead, we banded together to make it through, and once we had, we worked together to rebuild.
The Nebraska Public Power District was crucial to our recovery. Many parts of their power grid were damaged or destroyed, but they still worked tirelessly to keep power running for the over one million Nebraskans they serve across 91 of our 93 counties.
NPPD has been rebuilding their infrastructure for over two years now, and through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), they will have access to more than $3.7 million to help them continue to do so. This is in addition to other federal funding they have already received, and this grant will help repair some of the critical utilities that were lost in 2019.
Meanwhile, our state’s scientific community continues to be at the forefront of research and innovation. Shortly after FEMA’s announcement, I heard from the National Science Foundation that they had awarded a research grant investing $20 million in Nebraska over the next five years. This funding will support the creation of a research and education cluster of Nebraska colleges and universities focused on quantum science and technologies, as well as related workforce development and K-12 education programs for the next generation of scientists.
This funding will combine faculty researcher expertise from UNL, UNK, UNO, and Creighton University, and also foster partnerships with several community and tribal colleges. By awarding this grant to our state, the NSF has recognized the groundbreaking work that has positioned Nebraska well to lead a new phase of quantum materials research. This research will have important benefits for Nebraska’s economy, as well as the country’s economy.
The NSF has also announced three other grants over the past couple weeks. Totaling more than $900,000, these awards will boost research on emergency management technologies and environmental biology at UNO and UNL, respectively. This NSF funding will strengthen Nebraska’s research and education capabilities in science and engineering.
Another piece of good news for Nebraska recently came out of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They announced at the end of May that the Nebraska HHS has won a $5.3 million grant to support our state’s ongoing response to the pandemic. They also awarded a $2.3 million grant to the Douglas County Health Department to help address COVID-19 health disparities among high-risk and underserved groups in the Omaha area.
The funding for this grant program came from the COVID aid package that Congress passed in December 2020. I was proud to support this bipartisan bill, which has provided funding for countless programs like this one.
I also sent a letter to the Health Resources and Services Administration earlier this year, asking them to include Charles Drew Health Center in Omaha in a health center vaccine program meant to assist underserved communities. Charles Drew Health Center does exactly that, but they weren’t originally on the list. I was happy to see the agency acknowledge this good work through this funding.
When all we see in the news are stories about what has gone wrong in the world, it can be easy to forget that a lot is going right. Nebraskans came together to take on COVID-19 just like we did after 2019’s flooding, and we have remained a center of innovation throughout both of these hard times.
Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.