By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – More federal aid could be trickling into the pipeline for UB's Center for Bioinformatics. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer met with concerned leaders for the project in Buffalo Monday. Schumer reassured them he's working to bridge the $10 million gap in federal funding for the medical campus.
Last spring, UB asked Schumer and New York's other congressional representatives for more than $12 million in federal aid to help create the Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics. So far, only $2 million has come in. Monday, Schumer met with UB President William Greiner, and the other top project leaders, assuring them that the federal well is not dry.
Schumer says recent reports were "overly pessimistic" about how much federal money could still be coming.
"You never get all you ask for," Schumer said. "When someone asks for ten, we give five or six (million). But there was a $4 million appropriation from the energy and water bill, which wasn't included in that article, which we're still in the running for and have a shot at."
And Schumer says that's on top of another $4 million to $6 million still pending in Congress in the current year's budget. But if only half the possible funding is eventually passed, as Schumer indicated, that would leave UB looking for half of the $12 million in federal funding originally asked for.
Schumer says he's confident he can build support in Congress, based on the merit of the project.
"I'll point out the collaborative nature of it, how important it is to the Western New York economy and how important it will be to national research," Schumer said. "You combine bioinformatics with cancer research and you get all sorts of things. This is the only place that can do that right now."
Schumer asked President Greiner and the other project leaders for details to take back to his colleagues on how they are working together to make the future medical campus a success.
Also Monday, Schumer told local leaders in Buffalo he's optimistic about a bipartisan plan that could bring federal relief to local budgets. Schumer detailed the proposed aid package that could mean $116 million for struggling municipalities in Erie County.
All told, New York would receive $2.5 billion. Schumer believes the bipartisan bill has a good chance of passing because everyone sees the logic of helping communities deal with the current fiscal crisis.