August 13, 2009

In last year’s presidential election, earmarks got a pretty bad name. The relatively tiny category of “congressionally directed spending” became synonymous with pork, waste, and political stealth.

But a series of eminently justifiable earmarks demonstrates the necessity of a funding mechanism accountable to local interests.

Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Dist. 7) announced this week that the House of Representatives recently approved his $300,000 request for funding to expand the Natural Occurring Retirement Communities (NORC) program in Union County. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Dist. 8) is sponsoring a measure that would provide United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ with $100,000 to fund additional services for senior citizens “aging in place.” And Rep. Rush Holt (D-Dist. 12) this week presented $190,000 in funding to Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Mercer County, in Princeton, to help seniors and their families coordinate services needed to maintain their independence. Other local lawmakers are undoubtedly at work on similar measures for social service institutions, Jewish and otherwise, in their districts.

NORCs represent a model for the partnership between government and social service agencies. They allow seniors to preserve their independence and dignity through a series of helpful and canny interventions. They are a bargain, delaying the enormous costs, to families and government, of extended stays in senior facilities. And they embody a Jewish ethos of devotion to the elderly, to the health of all individuals, and to the notion that a community is defined in part by its responsibility to all its members.

The lawmakers who support these efforts deserve the thanks of these communities and the satisfaction that surely comes from fulfilling the high expectations of the citizens they represent in Washington. Kol hakavod.

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