Congresswoman Lee Announces Additional $4.5+ Million Investment for Rural Firefighters and UNLV Passes House as Part of Bipartisan Budget Package

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Susie Lee (NV-03) voted to pass a second and final bipartisan government funding package for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) in the House of Representatives, which includes over $4.5 million to support first responders in remote and rural areas of southern Nevada and advance UNLV’s cutting-edge research.

The bipartisan budget overall reflects Congresswoman Lee’s commitment to a wide range of priorities for southern Nevada, which she was able to champion from her seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

“Every day from my seat on the House Appropriations Committee, I have been southern Nevada’s voice in the room where our nation’s most important funding decisions are made," said Congresswoman Susie Lee. "Today, I helped pass in the House the second and final bipartisan budget package that includes over $4.5 million of direct federal investment to help our local first responders provide life-saving services in remote and rural areas of southern Nevada and enhance UNLV’s role as a hub for cutting-edge technology.”

The two community projects that will receive federal funding through Congresswoman Lee’s appropriations requests are:

• $588,572 for the Rural Fire Station Emergency Generators: This project will invest in the installation and replacement of emergency generators at two fire stations located in Bunkerville, Nevada, and Searchlight, Nevada. These stations are critical to enhancing community security by providing resiliency to the volunteer firefighters that serve these areas. With these generator replacements, these stations will become fully equipped to provide life-saving services during a power outage and to support emergency response. The installation of new emergency generators will provide resiliency against power interruption, enable continuity of service by local volunteer firefighters, and provide enough power capacity for a safe refuge area for the community in the event of natural disaster.  

• $4,000,000 for the University of Nevada Las Vegas, NV, for the purchase of high-performance computing equipment: This funding will allow UNLV to execute a major hardware and software upgrade at its National Supercomputing Institute, in support of research across computing, cybersecurity, privacy, and more. The upgrades will provide the computing power and performance needed to study cutting-edge issues in cybersecurity and to develop solutions to emergent challenges in privacy, data analytics, and threats to interconnected networks. As cyberattacks continue to mount and cybersecurity vulnerabilities multiply, this project will allow UNLV to play its part in driving forward scientific research and keeping up with the evolving cyber environment.

Earlier this month, Congresswoman Lee announced over $17 million in federal investments for 12 projects in southern Nevada. This brings the total direct community investment through the two budget packages to $21,596,608 across 14 projects.

Congresswoman Lee has been a bipartisan champion for Nevada's Third Congressional District. To date, she has now secured over $61 million for local projects across southern Nevada and returned over $30 million to constituents through casework. She serves as Vice-Chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus and has been named the #1 most bipartisan member of Congress across the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, and all state governors.

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