House appropriators are moving to strip a $1 million taxpayer cash request by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) that had been quietly earmarked for a Somali-led organization and buried in a must-pass government funding package.
Republican leaders are working to prevent the provision from jeopardizing a broader deal aimed at averting a shutdown.
The earmark was requested by Omar for the Somali-run organization Generation Hope’s “Justice Empowerment Initiative” in her district.
It was included in the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) portion of a legislative “minibus” that also funds the Commerce, Energy, Interior, and Justice departments.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) said Wednesday that he could not allow a single member’s project to threaten passage of a $184 billion funding package with a Jan. 30 deadline fast approaching.
“I can’t afford to have a million-dollar project jeopardize a $184 billion package of bills,” Cole told reporters.
“If we have an individual project that can pose a political problem, I’ve had these in the past from our side before, where we had to tell a member, ‘Look, there might be a way to do this, but our advice to you is to withdraw this.’”
Omar initially requested $1,460,877 for the program.
Her office claims the funding provides “job-specific training, computer skills development, peer support services, and access to education” as well as addiction recovery and mental health services.
The earmark is also backed by Minnesota’s two Democrat U.S. senators, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN).
Concerns over the earmark were echoed by Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), a member of the House Rules Committee.
Norman said he would support the overall funding bill only after receiving written confirmation that the “Somali million dollars” earmark would be removed.
Democrats also acknowledged the controversy.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, said earmarks cannot be allowed to derail the broader funding effort.
“It is under discussion, and it will be resolved,” DeLauro told Politico.
“That’s the way things go with these community projects.
“If there’s a difficulty, if there’s a problem, we try to work it out. Or it comes out.”
Democrats revived earmarks in 2021 under the rebranded label of “community project funding,” a move that continues to draw criticism from Republicans who argue the practice wastes taxpayer dollars and encourages political favoritism.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), a member of both the Rules Committee and the House Freedom Caucus, criticized several earmarks in the CJS package, calling them examples of “currency of corruption.”
Roy pointed to funding requests, including $1 million for a Climate Corps Fellowship in Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s (D-MA) district, nearly $2 million for Vermont Legal Aid’s Justice Mobile program requested by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and almost $2 million for detention center door replacements in Rep. Addison McDowell’s (R-NC) district.
“It’s ridiculous to buy votes in the currency of corruption in this town,” Roy told reporters Wednesday.
As part of the agreement to remove Omar’s earmark, House leaders are considering voting on the Energy-Water, Interior-Environment, and Commerce-Justice-Science sections separately.
Under the proposal, dissenting Republicans could vote against the CJS portion while supporting the other two, before the bills are recombined and sent to the Senate.
The White House urged Congress on Wednesday to pass the funding package, praising the reduced spending levels included in the bill.
“If this bill were presented to the President in its current form, his senior advisors would recommend that he sign it into law.”
According to its website, Generation Hope describes itself as a “Somali-led organization” that works with culturally specific treatment centers to connect East African individuals with culturally responsive services.
The organization was founded in 2019 by Abdirahman Warsame and Khadar Abi.
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