Ultra-conservative Republicans are opposing the 605 pages of earmarks 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 scandal in the Senate, where the office of Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman withdrew support for a $1 million earmark for a Pennsylvania LGBTQ center that organizes BDSM parties.
The funding sparked a backlash on social media, prompting Fetterman, who has long been one of the staunchest pro-LGBTQ lawmakers in the Keystone State, to call for the earmark to be removed.
Senior appropriator Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., moved Tuesday night to strip funding from the bill on the Senate floor.
Fetterman later told reporters that it was his staff, not him, who took action to cut off the funding.
“It wasn’t my decision,” he said said. “I wasn’t part of the process.”
Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania is also on the earmark.
Fetterman said it was his office, not him, that tried to claw back a $1 million earmark for an LGBTQ facility that hosts BDSM parties
The money for the center would have been just a drop from the $12 billion in earmarks included in the spending deal.
Republican and Democratic congressional leaders and appropriators drafted the package behind closed doors and got to choose whose personal priorities were funded.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., weighed in on X. “No one voted to add it and no one should vote to remove it. “We’ve gone back fourteen years, to before the Tea Party wave of 2010. The Swamp is back at it buying Republican votes for the earmarked omnibus,” he wrote.
The earmarks have already caused scandal in the Senate, where the office of Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman withdrew support for a $1 million earmark for a Pennsylvania LGBTQ center that hosts BDSM parties.
The Aviary hosts its monthly ‘fetish nights’ at the William Way LGBTQ centre
Here are some other pet projects that will get a cash infusion if the package is approved:
The Waadookodaading Ojibew Language Institute in Wisconsin will receive $5 million thanks to Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin.
New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman has raised $1.65 million to build an “artist living and working space” with the Environmental Leaders of Color.
Republican Representative Garrett Graves of Louisiana and Senator Bill Cassidy received $1 million for sugar cane 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, a Republican from Florida, will get $190,000 for a “shark repellent study” in Sarasota.
Juvenile Pacific Salmon Research in Alaska gets $4 million thanks to Sen. Lisa Murkowsi, R-Alaska.
A 50-acre business development site in Lexington, Kentucky, known as Legacy Business Park, is getting $10 million thanks to Rep. Andy Barr, R-KY.
Public housing residents in Democratic Rep.’s California district. Nanette Barragan gets $1 million for a share of an electric car thanks to her.
Alabama State Route 167 gets $20 million thanks to GOP Sen. Katie Britt.
The NAACP headquarters in Baltimore is getting $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, a Florida Republican, gets $190,000 for a ‘shark repulsion study’ in Sarasota
Angoon, Alaska, a city of 349 residents, will receive $3 million for landfill and waste management improvements, as requested by Mukowski.
Chattanooga, Tennessee is getting $6.4 million to “support” 1.3 miles of trails on the Alton Park Connector, thanks to Republican Rep. Chuck Fleischmann.
The Drummond Culinary Academy in Monterey, California will receive $1 million thanks to Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren.
An opera house in Vergennes, Vermont will get $500,000 to improve accessibility, thanks to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and the city of Berlin, Vermont, population less than 3,000, will get $1.6 million for pedestrian infrastructure in the city center.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was particularly 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 the “economic development” of Charleston County, $6 million for the Saluda Grade rail trail 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 improvements to Ramsey Grove State Park, and $750,000 for waterline and fire safety improvements in Beaufort.
Republicans in the House banned earmarks with the Tea Party wave in 2011, citing abuse and corruption, and the Democratic-led Senate did so soon after under President Obama. But ten years later, in 2021, both parties brought them back.