Posted on February 11, 2026
WASHINGTON — More than a quarter of a billion dollars for local New Jersey projects — requested by Republicans and Democrats alike — is cleared after Congress passed a series of spending bills.
Spread across at least 270 projects, the new money stands in stark contrast to funding that had been approved last year but was stripped in a Republican budget deal in early 2025. That move cost New Jersey more than $200 million.
On the list is money to pay first responders, tear out lead pipes, shore up flood-prone regions, dredge rivers, purify drinking water and make other improvements.
“That’s what people are looking for. How are we making their lives better with some dollars?” Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-10th), in an interview with NJ Spotlight News, said about funding she procured for her district.
That includes $250,000 for “smart” traffic light installation in Union Township, an anti-violence program at Seton Hall University and a drinking water project in Orange Township. “We have some pedestrian safety, stuff around clean drinking water,” McIver said. “It’s a little bit of all.”
A shot at more
The money, called community project funding or earmarks by supporters — and pork or pet projects by detractors — is attached to congressionally approved spending in recent months as lawmakers patched together a series of bills to pay staff and keep federal agencies, programs and services running.
The total New Jersey funding picture is still coming into focus.
The state could receive more — funding attached to a legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security — depending on what legislation Congress passes and President Donald Trump signs to operate that department.
This area of funding is in addition to a handful of other potential aid for New Jersey, including $700 million for Gateway, the Hudson River passenger rail tunnel project whose broader spending was frozen by Trump and now is subject to a court fight.
Democrats, leveraging a potential government shutdown at week’s end, are pressing to reform how federal agents carry out immigration enforcement. In particular, they want Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officers to obtain judge-approved warrants, remove their face masks and carry operating body cameras in their daily work.
Due to corruption scandals decades ago, Congress banned earmarks, then brought them back in 2021 with new disclosure rules.
While a politically right-leaning subset of Congress members oppose earmarks, every New Jersey lawmaker submitted proposals for earmarks and obtained money for them this budget cycle. NJ Spotlight News has tracked earmarks — a rare way for members to show a direct financial link with their home state or district, often with the form of a comically large check and ribbon cutting — since their return.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd), who has often brought back to his district more funding than his New Jersey House colleagues did to theirs, touted a handful of his earmarks, including $1,624,000 for an emergency shelter water supply for Vineland.
“The nearly $24 million in federal funding, which I secured, will go towards vital projects and initiatives that will greatly improve the safety, health, and quality of life of Ocean and Monmouth County residents,” said fellow Republican Chris Smith (R-4th).
Smith’s earmarks including funding for police, domestic violence centers and more than $5.6 million combined for two military bases — Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst — to “facilitate the construction” of an aircraft hangar.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th) said $1.25 million he obtained would go toward the Alberta Lake cleanup in Neptune Township.
“Restoring the lake improves stormwater management, protects nearby homes and roads, and strengthens the resilience of the community as extreme weather events become more frequent,” Pallone said.
Stormwater runoff, flooding and water quality projects were common themes for New Jersey projects. The Trump administration, meanwhile, is threatening to weaken the Clean Water Act, the landmark 1972 law that regulates pollutants and sets quality standards in U.S. waters.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5th) obtained $850,000 for Tenafly natural flood control, Sen. Cory Booker secured $2 million for Plainfield flood reduction and Rep. Nellie Pou (D-9th) snagged $1,092,000 for Edgewater stormwater infrastructure improvement.
“From infrastructure and stormwater management to youth programs, food security, and services for seniors and the unhoused, these projects will make a tangible difference in people’s daily lives,” Pou said in a statement.
More for senators
Police and firefighter funding is also common. Rep. Donald Norcross (D-1st) won a $900,000 earmark for Westville Fire District 1 to purchase a rescue engine.
Senators can submit more earmarks for more money than House members, who are limited to 15 such submissions. Multiple lawmakers can join on a single earmark. The congressional appropriations committees write and debate the funding bills, determining which requests are included.
Pou, McIver and Rep. Herb Conaway (D-3rd), the three newest New Jersey members, had not obtained any community project funding until recent funding bills became law. Pou and Conaway were sworn in too late, while McIver inherited no earmarked funding from her predecessor, the late Donald Payne Jr., who died in office.
When she was in the House last year, Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, submitted an earmark for about $1.1 million for a Millburn water pump station. That funding was cut in March 2025, after Republican leaders removed all earmarks from a spending deal.
“That’s a real loss to people in my district,” then-congresswoman Sherrill told NJ Spotlight News in an interview at the time, walking on Capitol Hill after votes.
About a year later, an earmark for that same project won approval, though for a little less money.
