DaytonDailyNews.com

WASHINGTON— The Dayton region is on track to receive nearly $50 million in earmarks for Dayton-area defense projects, including a $1 million appropriation that could bring 400 jobs to the community.

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday passed a bill that included the funding, part of a larger $459.6 billion bill funding defense programs.

Dayton's share represents an increase from last year, when the House passed $43.45 million in funding for regional defense projects. Michael Gessel, vice president for governmental affairs at the Dayton Development Coalition, said the number of regional earmarks has also increased since last year. That's a surprise, he said, because the Dayton area's Republican congressmen are now in the minority party, and there is pressure in some quarters to reduce earmarks, which some refer to as "pork."

Among the regional earmarks approved: $1 million for a Toledo-based nanotechnology company that wants to set up a new facility in Dayton. The company, NanoSperse, had been courted by a variety of communities, Gessel said, but wanted to locate in Dayton because of the proximity to the National Composite Center and the University of Dayton Research Institute. This earmark, he said, will make that happen.

NanoSperse has estimated that its Dayton location will bring 400 jobs to the region in the next five years, Gessel said.

The bill also will give a funding boost to the Air Force Institute of Technology thanks to a $4 million earmark for the Advanced Technical Intelligence Center, which would train government workers in intelligence skills.

The funds still must survive a vote of the full House, as well as a conference with the Senate version of the funding bill, before they are passed into law.