The U.S. Senate has passed several Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations bills that include more than $200 million in funding for Arkansas projects secured by U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR).
Boozman, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured approval for numerous items in the package, which provides full-year funds for the Departments of Defense, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, as well as other related agencies.
“Arkansans deserve to have their hard-earned tax dollars reinvested in their communities to help improve health outcomes including robust support for maternal and infant care, increase economic opportunity, and transform critical infrastructure,” Boozman said.
The funding package includes significant investments in maternal and infant healthcare, with $15 million allocated to the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith’s Center for Mother and Infant Healthcare and another $15 million to expand labor and delivery capacity at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). An additional $8 million will support the Infant Maternal Mortality Project at UAMS.
Workforce development initiatives received substantial funding, including $30 million for a University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Center of Excellence in Food Science and $20 million each for UA-Pulaski Technical College’s workforce training venue and Southern Arkansas University Tech’s Aerospace Defense Manufacturing Center.
Transportation infrastructure projects include $15.8 million for I-49 construction near Fort Smith and $8.1 million to increase warehouse capacity at the Port of Fort Smith.
The defense appropriations portion provides funding for the F-35 Pilot Training Center at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith, Arkansas National Guard facility modernization projects, and updates to production lines at Pine Bluff Arsenal.
The package also includes two bipartisan bills championed by Boozman: the PREEMIE Act, which reauthorizes federal research and intervention activities to reduce preterm birth and infant mortality, and the HOLD Act, which expands compensation eligibility for living organ donors to cover wages, travel, childcare and caregiver expenses.
