Schmidt Announces Funds for 2nd District Communities

WASHINGTON, D.C. – (January 15, 2026) – With today’s final passage of three more appropriation bills, Congressman Derek Schmidt (KS-2) has now secured more than $14 million for priorities in seven Kansas communities including drinking water, university research, healthcare, and public safety, his office announced.

The Senate today gave final approval to H.R. 6938, which the House previously passed and now will go to President Trump who is expected to sign it into law. With today’s passage, Congress has now completed six of the 12 annual government-funding bills – the most in many years – and the House has passed three more that remain pending in the Senate.

Overall, the enacted bills lower federal spending and reset funding priorities to more closely align with America First priorities set during the Trump administration rather than priorities set during the administration of President Biden. All of the appropriation bills to date have passed with bipartisan support.

“My goal in the congressional appropriations process is to reduce overall federal spending as much as possible because of the urgent need to slow the explosive growth of the federal government,” Schmidt said. “Once we have agreement on how much spending is possible to reduce and still pass the funding bills, then my focus becomes fighting hard to make sure priorities in our 2nd District communities are fully considered within those limits.”

So far in this Congress, Schmidt has secured funding for the following district priorities:

Secured in appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (H.R. 6938):

• Crawford County: $5.1 million for research and commercialization at Pittsburg State University, including $1.5 million for the Center for Graphene, $1.5 million for the Center for Commercialization, and $2.1 million for the Kansas Cyber Security Institute.
• Shawnee County: $750,000 for expanded mental health services for the Shawnee County Department of Corrections

Secured in appropriations for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies (H.R. 6938):

• Leavenworth County: $1.25 million for water distribution system improvements for Leavenworth Waterworks
• Montgomery County: $4.0 million for water distribution system improvements for Caney. Schmidt secured this funding in close cooperation with Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.).

Secured in appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (H.R. 5371, passed and signed into law in November):

• Labette County: $2.3 million for public safety modernization for Parsons
• Marion County: $600,000 for fire station modernization for Hillsboro
• Neosho County: $668,975 for medical imaging equipment and department modernization and related community health needs for the Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center

Funding for other 2nd District community priorities is pending in the remaining appropriation bills that have not yet passed.