In another example of “vote no, take the dough,” 83 House Republicans voted against a roughly $460 billion package of bills to fund large swaths of the federal government. About half of them (40) did so despite securing millions in federal funding for various projects in their districts. One of those who voted against was Rep. Lauren Boebert.
The Colorado Republican announced on Wednesday that she would vote against the “Swamp Omnibus.” A bill she tagged a “monstrosity” that “funds the Green New Deal.”
This is even though the bill includes more than the $20 million that she herself had requested for projects across the state’s 3rd congressional district.
The projects included $5 million to develop a water reservoir in Wolf Creek, $2.2 million for water infrastructure in Craig, and millions more for highway improvements in the district that she jointly requested with Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper.
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Republican Rep. Tim Burchett is also another good example. He secured over $12 million in earmark funding for his East Tennessee district. “Everything that we’ve asked for, I could defend,” Burchett said after voting. “I don’t think you can defend some of that stuff that’s in there. It’s just too much.”
That includes more than $2.3 million for a health screening program for the University of Tennessee Medical Center, $2 million for an affordable housing project in Knoxville, and more than $2 million to establish a Healthcare Supply Chain Data Engineering Center at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, a small town on the Kentucky border.
That did not stop Burchett from joining those who voted against the bill, which included all of his earmarks. He gave reasons for his opposition, including the bill’s cost.
“There are things that are in there that I can’t support,” said Burchett. “And I just made that commitment to the folks back home.” Members of Congress can request federal funding for individual projects in their districts via congressionally directed spending. It is also known as “earmarks.”
The idea behind the practice is to give lawmakers a more personal stake in government funding legislation, inspire bipartisanship, and also grease the wheels of the legislative process.
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However, Wednesday’s vote proves that logic can only go so far. And that plenty of Republicans are willing, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, to “vote no and take the dough.”
The practice has landed some Republicans in trouble recently, including Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida. Business Insider first reported on the congresswoman touting the $650,000 secured in a December 2022 government funding bill. But when a local journalist pressed her on it, the interview did not go well.
Last year, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama celebrated billions in broadband funding that the federal government was providing his state. However, he also voted against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that provided it.
Republicans carried a majority of the votes. But they weren’t the only ones to vote against the bill on Wednesday, despite securing earmark funding. Democratic Reps. Maxwell Frost of Florida and Mark Takano of California also voted against the legislation over gun policy changes in the bill.
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Wednesday’s bill, which still has to pass the Senate, will only partially fund the government, though it contains the vast majority of the earmarks. Congress will pass another package of bills that will fund the rest of the government before March 22.
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