U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine applauded the passage earlier this month of legislation to fund the nation’s defense, security, health, education, transportation and housing programs. Included in the legislation was $151,000 in congressionally directed spending for the Gloucester Mathews Care Clinic to create a nursing station and replace aging equipment such as two HVAC systems and a generator, as well as $354,000 for the regional Bay Consortium Workforce Development Board to improve digital learning and literacy in the 16 localities in its coverage area, including Mathews and Middlesex. Funding for these projects was in addition to $2 million for maintenance dredging at Winter Harbor, $1.6 million for the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s forecasting work, and $802,000 for the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission’s purchase of water-monitoring stations in the Chesapeake Bay that were all supported by both senators and passed in previous government funding bills,...