Ultraconservative Republicans are criticizing the 605 pages of appropriations that will be included in a $460 billion spending package to fund six government agencies that will be voted on Wednesday.
The earmarks have already caused an uproar in the Senate, where Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman’s office rescinded support for a $1 million earmark for an LGBTQ center in Pennsylvania that organizes BDSM parties.
The funding sparked a backlash on social media, leading Fetterman, who has long been one of the staunchest pro-LGBTQ lawmakers in the Keystone State, to have his earmark removed.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is proposing to defund the bill on the Senate floor Tuesday night.
Fetterman later told reporters that it was his staff, not him, who took action to withdraw the funding.
“It wasn’t my decision,” he said. saying. “I was not part of the process.”
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey also has his name on the assignment.
Fetterman said it was his office, not him, that tried to recover a $1 million allocation for an LGBTQ facility that hosts BDSM parties.
The money for the center would have been just a drop in the bucket of the $12 billion in appropriations included in the spending deal.
Republican and Democratic congressional leaders and appropriators drafted the package behind closed doors and were able to choose which personal priorities would receive funding.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., broke into the proceedings over X. “No one voted to add them and no one can vote to remove them. We’ve gone back 14 years, to before the Tea Party wave of 2010. “The swamp has once again bought Republican votes for the omnibus with special allocations,” he wrote.
The earmarks have already caused an uproar in the Senate, where Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman’s office rescinded support for a $1 million earmark for an LGBTQ center in Pennsylvania that hosts BDSM parties.
The Aviary hosts its monthly ‘fetish nights’ at LGBTQ center William Way
Here are some other pet projects that will get a cash injection if the package passes:
The Waadookodaading Ojibew Language Institute in Wisconsin will receive $5 million, courtesy of Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin.
New York Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman secured $1.65 million to build an “artist living and working space” with Environmental Leaders of Color.
Louisiana Republican Rep. Garrett Graves and Sen. Bill Cassidy secured $1 million for sugarcane research in their state.
Another $1 million will go toward Chicago’s electric vehicle infrastructure ‘master plan,’ thanks to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
In Providence, Rhode Island, $1 million will go toward a ‘citywide climate assessment.’
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., will receive $190,000 for a “shark repellent study” in Sarasota.
Youth Pacific salmon research in Alaska will get $4 million thanks to Sen. Lisa Murkowsi, R-Alaska.
A 50-acre business development site in Lexington, Kentucky, known as Legacy Business Park will receive $10 million thanks to Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky.
Public housing residents in Democratic Rep. Nanette Barragán’s California district will receive $1 million for a shared electric vehicle thanks to her.
Alabama State Route 167 will receive $20 million thanks to Republican Senator Katie Britt.
The NAACP headquarters in Baltimore will receive $500,000 thanks to Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
A boy scout camp, Camp Maluhia, will receive $1 million for a new dining hall thanks to Senator Brian Schatz.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., to receive $190,000 for ‘shark repellent study’ in Sarasota
Angoon, Alaska, a city of 349 people, will receive $3 million to improve landfills and waste management, as Mukowski requested.
Chattanooga, Tennessee, will receive $6.4 million to “support” 1.3 miles of trails on the Alton Park Connector, thanks to Republican Rep. Chuck Fleischmann.
Drummond Culinary Academy in Monterey, California, will receive $1 million thanks to Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren.
An opera house in Vergennes, Vt., will receive $500,000 to improve accessibility, thanks to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and the city of Berlin, Vt., with fewer than 3,000 residents, will receive $1.6 million to pedestrian infrastructure in the city center. .
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was especially successful in securing funding for projects in his state included in the bill, with eight projects included: $5 million for a pedestrian overpass at Coastal Carolina University, $7 million for Charleston “economic development.” County, $6 million for the Saluda Grade Railroad in South Carolina, $10 million for an ROTC facility at the University of South Carolina, $2 million for public land improvements and $2 million for Ramsey Grove State Park improvements, and $750,000 for waterlines and fire safety. improvement in Beaufort.
Republicans in the House banned earmarks in the Tea Party wave in 2011, citing abuse and corruption, and the Democratic-led Senate did so soon after under President Obama. But a decade later, in 2021, both parties recovered them.