20 House Members, Mostly GOP, Voted No to Funding for Their Districts

Higgins voted in opposition to the bill, no matter securing $2.3 million in federal funding for an emergency operations center on the port in Morgan Metropolis, Louisiana.

He was thought of one among 20 House members — 15 Republicans and 5 Democrats — who voted in opposition to Friday’s authorities funding bill no matter securing so-called “earmarks,” acknowledged formally as congressionally directed spending.

Earmarks, which enable lawmakers to funnel spending in the direction of explicit initiatives of their districts, are controversial. Republicans banned them in 2011 amid accusations of fraud and waste, nonetheless Democrats launched them once more in 2021. One argument in favor of earmarks is that they make high-stakes legal guidelines easier to maneuver, providing lawmakers a stake in foremost funds and giving administration a technique to corral votes.

Nevertheless present votes current that there are limits to that logic.

Friday’s bill encompassed roughly 70% of federal authorities funding, along with the Pentagon, the State Division, the Division of Homeland Security, and completely different corporations.

The other 30% was contained in a separate funding bill handed roughly two weeks up to now, nonetheless that bill contained way more earmarks, significantly for House members. Nonetheless, 42 House members who secured earmarks voted in opposition to it anyway, 40 of whom had been Republicans.

The federal authorities funding bill, a compromise hashed out between the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House, barely handed with the required two-thirds majority on Friday. Every progressives and Republicans found causes to oppose it.

Republicans protested that the bill didn’t embody positive hardline immigration-related protection provisions, that custom wrestle “riders” had been stripped from the compromise legal guidelines, and as always, that the federal authorities is spending an extreme amount of money.

Lastly, lots of the GOP conference voted in opposition to the bill, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is now threatening to oust Speaker Mike Johnson over it.

22 Democrats, the overwhelming majority of whom are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, voted in opposition to the bill in protest of elevated navy funding, elevated funding for border enforcement measures, and a one-year ban on funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a key provider of assist to Palestinians, considerably in Gaza.

That included Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the chairwoman of the caucus, who voted in opposition to the bill no matter securing $1.3 million for seismic structural upgrades on the Seattle Public Library.

“We’re continually rewarding waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the Pentagon by providing them with a much bigger value vary 12 months after 12 months,” Jayapal talked about in a press launch.

Republicans particularly have confronted accusations currently of “voting no and taking the dough” — not merely when it comes to earmarks, nonetheless for celebrating funding from funds that they wholly opposed.

Already, Republicans including Greene and Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado have bragged about earmarks they secured in authorities funding funds this week, although they voted in opposition to the last word product.

Listed below are the 15 Republicans who voted in opposition to the bill, no matter securing earmarks:

• Brian Babin of Texas

• Gus Bilirakis of Florida

• John Curtis of Utah

• Mike Ezell of Mississippi

• Garrett Graves of Louisiana

• Michael Customer of Mississippi

• Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee

• Clay Higgins of Louisiana

• Trent Kelly of Mississippi

• Burgess Owens of Utah

• Mike Rogers of Alabama

• Chris Smith of New Jersey

• Greg Steube of Florida

• Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey

• Randy Weber of Texas

Listed below are the 5 Democrats who did the similar:

• Andre Carson of Indiana

• Joaquin Castro of Texas

• Pramila Jayapal of Washington

• Summer season season Lee of Pennsylvania

• Nydia Velázquez of New York