OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has passed a 1,050-page spending bill, which includes roughly $13 billion in earmarks, or “pork barrel” spending.
With more Democrats voting in favor of the bill than Republicans, it passed 339–85. Ultimately, 132 Republicans and 207 Democrats supported the motion.
Both Republican and Democratic Party members have included earmarks in their legislation. There are six appropriations bills totaling approximately $460 billion in the spending package.
Friday (March 8) is the first spending deadline in the temporary spending bill that Congress passed last week. The new spending package includes appropriations bills that would be in effect for the remainder of the 2024 fiscal year.
“One Republican Senator gets 8 earmarks in the omnibus today. No one voted to add these and no one gets to vote to take these out. We have gone backward 14 years, to before the 2010 Tea Party wave,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-K.Y., said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, referring to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “The swamp is back to buying Republican votes for the omnibus with earmarks.”
Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and said the spending package is “packed with 6,600+ earmarks totaling $12.7 BILLION DOLLARS. Skyrocketing inflation. Massive debt. But Washington keeps spending your money on stupid pet projects. NO MORE EARMARKS.”
Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul issued a similar message online, saying it is “disappointing that Republicans are going along with Democrats” in moving forward with the spending bill that has hundreds of earmarks.
“This is a real step backwards, and I will oppose it with every fiber of my being,” Paul said.
Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee said there was “no way any mortal could actually vet all of the earmarks in the 48-hour time period they’ve given us so far. Earmarks are the corrupt currency of Congress. No self-respecting Republican should touch them.”
Lee said Senate lawmakers can still request that their earmarks be stripped from the bill.
When it became known that the LGBTQ community center in Philadelphia had rooms where members could test out sex fetishes, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., asked to have his $1 million earmark for renovations removed from the bill.
Fetterman wrote the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee requesting the action. Right now, it’s unclear if the earmark has been taken out of the bill.
According to reports, Sen. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, has supported numerous earmarks in the spending bill.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the Senate from Kentucky, is stepping down from his position in November, and Thune is vying to succeed him.
Lee asked Thune to remove the earmarks from the budget package over the phone. Before the deadline, Thune’s office was unavailable for comment.
The head of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Bob Good of Virginia, stated that the United States “should not be giving $12.7 billion to Congressional pork projects when we are $34 trillion in debt.”
The Democratic-led Senate will now consider the bill.
Earlier this month, the House handed President Joe Biden’s climate agenda a big defeat after approving key legislation that would strip him of blanket authority when it comes to the permitting of new liquified natural gas projects.
Nine Democrats joined 215 Republicans in voting in favor of the Unlocking Domestic LNG Potential Act, making the outcome 224-200 and officially bipartisan.
Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, chairman of the House Energy Action Team, introduced the legislation on Feb. 1. The legislation aims to reverse Biden’s recent actions, which temporarily halted permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects.
“Just last year, President Biden told the Europeans that they needed to get off Russian gas and that the U.S. would supply their liquid natural gas needs. Now that it is an election year, he is reneging on that deal to appease his radical climate base,” Pfluger told Fox News Digital ahead of the vote.
“Two-thirds of the world’s natural gas is produced in four countries: Russia, Iran, the United States, and Qatar. This effective ban on U.S. LNG exports is a gift to Putin and the Iranian regime that just killed three service members with their weapons to the Houthis,” the Texas lawmaker continued. “I am proud to stand up for American jobs when the president seems to only stand up for the interests of Russia and Iran.”
Some of the most recent issue-related surveys heading into the 2024 election put “climate change” and “the climate” way down the list of top concerns, which include economic worries, the chaotic U.S.-Mexico border, and inflation.
The Texas lawmaker noted further that Russian natural gas, which is filling the gaps in the global market, is 40 percent dirtier and worse for the environment and, ostensibly, the climate than U.S. LNG.
If enacted, Pfluger’s bill would amend the Natural Gas Act of 1938, giving the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) exclusive authority to approve or deny applications for the siting, construction, expansion, or operation of LNG export projects.
In approving or rejecting permits, FERC would be required under the bill to “deem the importation or exportation of natural gas to be consistent with the public interest.”
“Joe Biden would rather appease the radical environmentalists in his party than protect hardworking Americans. House Republicans will not stand idly by while the Biden administration’s Green New Deal agenda destroys American jobs, stifles American energy, and benefits our adversaries,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital in a statement.
