BOTTOM OF THE PORK-BARREL

Bottom of the Pork-Barrel  

We know it's always dangerous to raise the concept of merit when discussing the actions of elected officials, but there's something particularly special about Senate Republicans' jettisoning of a Federal measure that would have aided workers who became ill as a result of the World Trade Center clean-up.

Apparently the main complaint about the measure, which Sen. Hillary Clinton attached to a bill providing funding for port security, was that the lion's share of the money would have gone to those based in the New York area. (Some of the Republican Senators may also have figured that approving a measure that would benefit Ms. Clinton politically at a point when she looms as a leading contender for the Democratic nomination for President in 2008 was not in their interests.)

With all due respect to the help provided by volunteers from other parts of the country, the bill's major beneficiaries shouldn't be a surprise, given that most of the thousands of employees involved live and work here. It stands to reason that they would also constitute a majority of those who became ill as a result of their work at Ground Zero and related sites, including the Fresh Kills landfill, and therefore a bulk of the group that would qualify for a payment of $5,800 a year for five years per individual to help cover their related medical costs.

Unfortunately, the same attitude that has led to homeland security funds becoming a pork-barrel enterprise - with threat of a terrorist attack having little to do with the allocation of money - apparently carried the day in the Senate last week, and Ms. Clinton's amendment was removed from the final bill.

Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch, during a City Council hearing last week dealing with the needs of first-responders who were involved in the 9/11 rescue and recovery efforts, expressed justified outrage with the Bloomberg administration's slow response to the medical problems of many of those employees and its opposition to state legislation that offered compensation to them and their families.

But as Mayor Bloomberg has emphasized in defense of his position, the 9/11 terrorist attacks here were intended as a strike against the nation, not New York City, and there should be a national obligation to help those who responded and have had their health affected as a result.

Several of the police and fire unions have friendly relations with both the Bush Administration and Republicans in Congress. They would do well to use the good will they have established to make the case - and exert some pressure if gentle persuasion isn't enough to do the trick - that kind words about what heroes they represent mean very little without a commitment of Federal money to assist their members who are most in need of help because of their unstinting work on 9/11 and in its aftermath.