Listening to Democrat Hall speak is Republican Orange County Executive Ed Diana

Goshen – Congressman John Hall Monday said that while earmarks for local project funds have been wiped clear for the remainder of the federal fiscal year that ends September 30, he will do what he can to fund money for them now or push to have them funded in the 2007-08 federal budget.

Hall’s comments came as he cut the ribbon for his Orange and Rockland County district office at the Orange County Government Center in Goshen.

“My promise to those who were told that there was an item in the funding either for the Hambletonian (in Goshen), or in the case of Putnam County, the Kent Senior Citizen Center, is that I will work as hard as I can to get those things taken care of in the ’08 budget, which we start work on this week. And that fiscal year begins October 1, so that’s not that far away,” he said. Hall said he will try to track down the agencies from which the funds were supposed to come and “get it directed to where it was supposed to go anyway.”

Hall also noted his committee assignments include Transportation and Veterans, two important assignments given his district is home to Stewart Airport and two VA hospitals – Montrose and Castle Point.