The spending bill Congress approved Saturday includes a $10 million earmark for rebuilding the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) Headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base.

“STRATCOM has an absolutely essential mission providing global defense capabilities and efforts to combat weapons of mass destruction,” said Sen. Ben Nelson, who worked for months to win congressional approval for the earmark. “We must guarantee that they have the resources needed to carry out this critical mission. The aging STRATCOM headquarters have long needed an upgrade and this funding will ensure that the beginning phases of the project can be completed.”

The appropriations funding would allow for the planning and design of a new headquarters complex at Offutt Air Force Base.

Also included in the bill are more than $32 million in earmarks for Department of Defense Projects at Offutt, the Southeast Nebraska Cancer Center and Nebraska universities, including:

n $13.6 million — University of Nebraska-Lincoln to develop novel coating technologies for militlary equipment, to develop and demonstrate nanosensors for defense applications and a study of botulism treatments in bioiwarfare.

n $11.16 million — University of Nebraska Medical Center.

n $3.36 million — Offutt.

n $2.88 million — University of Nebraska-Omaha.

n $1.2 million — Southeast Nebraska Cancer Center to study targeted treatment of unique cancerous tumors.

Both Nebraska senators, Republican Chuck Hagel and Democrat Ben Nelson, supported the bill, which passed by a vote 78-12 in the Senate.

All three Nebraska representatives voted against the bill last year, before it was approved by the House with a vote of 268-150.