Washington, DC  -  The Tuskegee Airmen National Memorial should receive an additional $500,000 this year to help fund the design and planning phase for the $29 million Macon County project, Congressman Mike Rogers said today.

The $500,000 earmark appears as a line item in the Interior Department Appropriations Conference Report which passed the House of Representatives last Thursday night by a bi-partisan vote of 216 to 205. The bill now moves to the Senate for further consideration, and if passed, on to the White House for final approval.

“I am pleased Congress continues to show strong support for the Tuskegee Airmen National Memorial and I encourage my colleagues in the Senate to pass this bill,” Rogers said. “This project is vital to the economic development of Macon County and is a fitting tribute to the lives of some of our country’s greatest African American soldiers.”

Rogers’ earmark would help the National Park Service continue the design and planning phase for the Tuskegee museum which is planned to draw tens of thousands of visitors to Macon County each year. Earlier this year, Rogers helped free up an initial $1 million for the project, money earmarked by then-Congressman Bob Riley in the 107th Congress but not dispersed because of bureaucratic delays.

From 1942 to 1946, nine hundred ninety-two soldiers graduated in aviation cadet classes at Tuskegee and volunteered to become the country’s first African American military airmen. The current mission of the Tuskegee Airmen is to inspire young people to study, sacrifice, and attain self-sustaining status with marketable skills in the fields of aviation and aerospace.