Included in the $460 billion congressional spending package President Joe Biden signed over the weekend, narrowly averting a partial government shutdown, are specific amounts of money earmarked for local projects.
Congressional lawmakers can request funding in appropriations packages for various projects. Requests from Orange County lawmakers, this go-round, include operations and safety improvements on the freeway, renovations for public parks, community infrastructure improvements and help for people experiencing homelessness.
Most of Orange County’s congressional delegation, in this recent spending package, collectively brought back nearly $65 million in federal funding for local projects, except Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, who believes earmarks are a deviation from how government spending is supposed to work.
While this isn’t the only spending package this year — a larger bill, estimated to top $1 trillion and would ensure all federal agencies are fully funded — here’s a look at how Orange County residents may see an impact from it.
Health
Several million dollars will go toward various health initiatives, including $3.4 million to the county government for opioid prevention efforts in Orange County.
The $3.4 million will be used to help “increase opioid prevention, education and intervention services” in local communities across the county via medication, counseling and therapy, perinatal interventions, prevention campaigns and naloxone and fentanyl strips, according to Rep. Young Kim’s office.
Water infrastructure accounted for roughly $8.4 million of the funding earmarked for local projects, with nearly $2 million going to the Orange County Water District’s PFAS treatment plants. These plants remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — manmade chemicals that can have toxic effects on health — from local well water. After PFAS were found in drinking water in Orange County in 2019, OCWD launched a program aimed at testing various…
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