The economic stimulus bill enacted by US president Barack Obama will provide US$ 1 billion to Jewish nursing homes and social service agencies, according to the UJC Federation. The funds come from the US$ 87 billion that the legislation allots for Medicaid programs as a result of an increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP). An increase in FMAP was a top priority for Jewish groups in the United States as part of the US$ 787 billion bill signed on Tuesday by Obama.
The federation system receives about 1.4 percent of total Medicaid funds, so it will get more than $1 billion of the US$ 87 billion provided in the package. Jewish groups advocated for a variety of forms of assistance to vulnerable populations that ended up in the final version of the legislation. William Daroff, vice president for public policy and director of United Jewish Communities' Washington office, said the demand for social services has increased as the recession has worsened, and the supply of resources to fund those services "has been taxed to the limit. The legislation signed into law today by President Obama will hopefully not only shorten the duration of the economic recession, but will also blunt its impact on those who have been devastatingly impacted by providing needed funds to social service agencies,” he said.
The Orthodox Union (OU) did not take a position on the bill but congratulated the president and Congress for its enactment and said "like all Americans, we hope and pray it will indeed spark an American economic recovery." OU public policy director Nathan Diament praised the legislation for its allocation of millions of dollars to fund educational services and students with disabilities - which are provided to private as well as public schools. But he noted "our continuing disappointment" that religious and other non-public schools were excluded from receiving money for the "green" school modernization program outlined in the legislation.
