WASHINGTON – A Senate panel that plays a key role in federal spending has OK’d $2 million earmarked for a proposed Down East Heritage Center in Washington County.

The money has not cleared Congress yet. It is part of a spending bill funding the Interior Department and related agencies for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The latest action comes from the Senate Appropriations Committee, and its bill must later be reconciled with a similar spending bill from the House of Representatives.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced the news Thursday. It follows a recent approval by the Maine Legislature of a spending package containing $1 million for the heritage center. In a letter to the Appropriations Committee, Collins, who has worked for three years to obtain federal funding for the $6 million heritage center, urged the committee to fund the authorization, which she shepherded through the last Congress.

Proponents of the new center expect to raise the additional funds through private sources.

“This is excellent news, which keeps the project on track for completion by 2004. This is an exciting enterprise that not only will celebrate the 1604 settlement of Saint Croix Island, but also will develop the natural, historical and cultural resources [of] Washington County,” Collins said.

On Nov. 22, 2000, the Saint Croix Island Heritage Act became law, authorizing involvement by the National Park Service in the development of the Down East Heritage Center. That act instructs the Interior Department to assist in the planning, construction and operation of the center and it authorizes the department to spend $2 million to assist with the design and construction on a dollar-for-dollar match with non-federal sources.