The Boise Airport and adjoining National Guard base are getting millions of dollars of improvements thanks to a new federal program.
What used to be considered "pork-barrel projects" are now legitimate under what's known as Community Project Funding.
For years, Idaho Guardsmen have had to get medical services and training wherever they could.
"They have been nomads for the past five or six years as we get them from facility to facility, and this home is going to allow them to be so much more effective," said Col. Chad Kornberg, Commander of the 124th fighter squadron.
Thanks to a new government program called Community Project Funding they're getting a new 10,000 square foot medical facility on-site worth 6.5 million dollars.
Congressman Mike Simpson put forth the request.
"It has to be a request from the community; can't be something from Congress. It has to be a request from the community. It has to be for nonprofits or governmental entities. It can't be for-profit companies and that type of thing," said Simpson.
When finished it will replace old buildings on base and provide first-class medical care and training for service members.
But just across the tarmac, the City of Boise will also benefit from 700,000 federal dollars to replace an aging taxiway.
Unlike pork projects of the past, Simpson says the community projects can have no direct financial connection to politicians and must be not-for-profit projects.
