NASHVILLE (AP) - President Barack Obama's budget proposal includes $181.5 million for a new federal courthouse in Nashville.

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, a Nashville Democrat who has long advocated for the new courthouse, lauded Monday's announcement a "critical next step" in getting the facility built.

The city has been waiting for federal funding for a new courthouse since the current complex was deemed inadequate in 1992.

Congress would have to approve the funding proposal for construction to move forward at the Nashville site acquired by the federal government between 2002 and 2005.

Cooper has called on the General Services Administration to raze the existing building on the site that has become a public safety hazard.

The replacement of Nashville's Estes Kefauver Federal Courthouse is the only new courthouse funded in Obama's budget.