Sinema Working to Boost Economic Opportunities & Development in Border Communities

Dec 20, 2023

New Sinema-backed legislation fully funds the Southwest Border Regional Commission to fuel economic opportunities in small and rural border towns

WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema cosponsored the Southwest Border Regional Commission Reauthorization Act – legislation providing meaningful funding opportunities for Arizona border communities, including organizations that help manage the ongoing border crisis like Yuma’s Regional Center for Border Health.

The legislation reauthorizes and increases funding available to the Southwest Border Regional Commission, which boosts economic development, modernizes infrastructure, and improves quality of life in communities along the southern border. The legislation comes as Sinema leads bipartisan border negotiations to address the ongoing crisis.

“Right now, small and rural communities along Arizona’s southern border are managing a crisis they did not create. Reauthorizing the Southwest Border Regional Commission will expand economic opportunities as we work to craft lasting solutions to the security and humanitarian crisis at the southern border,” said Sinema.

Sinema introduced the legislation alongside New Mexico Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, fellow Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, and California Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler.

The Southwest Border Regional Commission (SBRC) was created in the 2008 Farm Bill to strengthen economic opportunity in the southern border regions of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.

The Southwest Border Regional Commission Reauthorization Act increases SBRC authorizations for grant funding to $100 million for Fiscal Years 2023-2027, and $200 million for Fiscal Years 2028-2032. The Sinema-backed bill additionally establishes new planning grants to address health care shortages in border communities, which would benefit Arizona organizations like Yuma’s Regional Center for Border Health, along with other critical projects and services like wastewater and local workforce development.