- 83 Home Republicans voted in opposition to a invoice to fund giant parts of the federal authorities.
- 40 did so regardless of securing tens of millions of {dollars} in funding for his or her districts.
- It is one other instance of “vote no, take the dough.”
On Wednesday, 83 Home Republicans voted in opposition to a roughly $460 billion bundle of payments to fund giant swaths of the federal authorities.
Forty of them did so regardless of requesting — and securing — tens of millions of {dollars} in federal funding for quite a lot of initiatives of their districts.
Take Rep. Lauren Boebert for instance. The Colorado Republican introduced on Wednesday that she would vote in opposition to what she dubbed the “Swamp Omnibus,” slamming the invoice as a “monstrosity” that “funds the Inexperienced New Deal.”
The #SwampOmnibus maintains COVID spending ranges, funds the Inexperienced New Deal, and excludes almost all conservative coverage riders we fought for.
No marvel Democrats are ramming this monstrosity via earlier than Sleepy Joe takes the stage tomorrow.
The actual query is: why are…
— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) March 6, 2024
That is regardless of the invoice together with greater than $20 million that she herself had requested for initiatives throughout the state’s third congressional district, which she recently abandoned to hunt reelection in a safer district on the opposite aspect of the state.
That included $5 million to develop a water reservoir in Wolf Creek, $2.2 million for water infrastructure in Craig, and tens of millions extra for freeway enhancements within the district that she collectively requested with Democratic Sens. Michael Bennett and John Hickenlooper.
Boebert’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark.
There’s additionally Republican Rep. Tim Burchett, who secured greater than $12 million in earmark funding for his East Tennessee district.
“All the pieces that we have requested for, I might defend,” Burchett advised Enterprise Insider after the vote. “I do not suppose you possibly can defend a few of that stuff that is in there. It is simply an excessive amount of.”
That included greater than $2.3 million for a well being screening program for the College of Tennessee Medical Heart, $2 million for an reasonably priced housing undertaking in Knoxville, and greater than $2 million to ascertain a Healthcare Provide Chain Knowledge Engineering Heart at Lincoln Memorial College in Harrogate, a small city on the Kentucky border.
But Burchett was among the many Republicans who voted in opposition to the invoice, which included the whole lot of his earmarks. He cited each the price of the invoice and the truth that it was a bundle of six appropriation payments, which he stated he’d favor to vote on individually.
“There are issues which are in there that I can not help,” stated Burchett. “And I simply made that dedication to the parents again house.”
By a course of generally known as congressionally directed spending — colloquially generally known as “earmarks” — members of Congress can request federal funding for particular person initiatives of their districts.
The thought behind the apply, which Democrats introduced again in 2021 after Republicans banned the apply 10 years earlier, is to provide lawmakers a extra private stake in authorities funding laws, encourage bipartisanship, and grease the wheels of the legislative course of.
But Wednesday’s vote reveals that logic solely goes to date and that plenty of Republicans are keen — within the phrases of former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi — to “vote no and take the dough.”
It is a apply that is landed some Republicans in sizzling water lately, together with Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida.
After Enterprise Insider first reported on the congresswoman touting $650,000 that she secured in a December 2022 authorities funding invoice, she was pressed on it by an area journalist, and the interview did not go well.
In one other occasion from final 12 months, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama celebrated billions in broadband funding that the federal authorities was offering for his state, regardless of voting in opposition to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation that offered it.
However Republicans weren’t the one ones to vote in opposition to the invoice on Wednesday, regardless of securing earmark funding. Democratic Reps. Maxwell Frost of Florida and Mark Takano of California each voted in opposition to the laws over gun coverage adjustments within the invoice.
The appropriations invoice that we simply voted on has a whole lot of good in it. Some may be questioning why I voted NO. It’s fairly easy..
Tucked away on this invoice is the best rollback of the background examine system because it was created.
— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) March 6, 2024
Wednesday’s invoice, which nonetheless has to go the Senate, will solely partially fund the federal government, although it accommodates the overwhelming majority of the earmarks.
Congress has till March 22 to go one other bundle of payments that can fund the remainder of the federal government.
Listed here are the 40 Republicans who voted in opposition to the invoice, regardless of securing earmark funding:
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Jodey Arrington of Texas
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Jack Bergman of Michigan
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Gus Bilirakis of Florida
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Lauren Boebert of Colorado
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Mike Bost of Illinois
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Tim Burchett of Tennessee
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Ben Cline of Virginia
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Mike Collins of Georgia
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James Comer of Kentucky
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Dan Crenshaw of Florida
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John Curtis of Utah
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Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee
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Byron Donalds of Florida
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Brad Finstad of Minnesota
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Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota
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Matt Gaetz of Florida
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Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
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Morgan Griffith of Virginia
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Harriet Hageman of Wyoming
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Andy Harris of Maryland
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Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee
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Clay Higgins of Louisiana
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Wesley Hunt of Texas
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Darin LaHood of Illinois
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Barry Loudermilk of Georgia
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Anna Paulina Luna of Florida
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Brian Mast of Florida
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Cory Mills of Florida
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Greg Murphy of North Carolina
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Troy Nehls of Texas
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Invoice Posey of Florida
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Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington
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John Rose of Tennessee
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Keith Self of Texas
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Greg Steube of Florida
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Claudia Tenney of New York
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Jeff Van Drew of New Jerey
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Beth Van Duyne of Texas
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Mike Waltz of Florida
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Randy Weber of Florida