Senate Conservatives Rip ‘Gateway Drug’ Earmarks In Government Funding Bills

A group of Senate Republicans are holding up five appropriations bills, known as a minibus, citing in part their opposition to hundreds of earmarks included in the new government funding package.

The earmarks in the package include $1 million appropriated to renovate the elevators at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, $7 million for a bike path in Hawaii and another $1 million subsidizing California’s embattled rail system. Conservatives have long argued that steering federal dollars to pet projects back home is wasteful and have pointed to conference rules that prohibit congressionally directed spending, known as an earmark, since 2011.

That policy has not been overturned despite Senate appropriators including an array of earmarks in annual funding bills for fiscal year 2026. Congress is up against a Jan. 30 deadline to fund the remainder of the federal government following lawmakers passing three regular spending bills in November as part of the bipartisan deal to end the record-breaking 43-day fall shutdown. (RELATED: Democrats Who Voted Against Shutdown Deal Took Victory Lap For The Millions Of Dollars It Gave Their Districts)

“We’ve got a conference resolution against earmarks and here we are in control and we’re at about $5 billion of earmarks,” Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a brief interview. “Yeah, I have a problem with that.”

Johnson, who has frequently called on Congress to slash spending, argued earmarks are a “gateway drug” to higher budget deficits and wasteful spending.

Democratic Connecticut Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy jointly requested $250,000 for a historic preservation effort in Greenwich, Connecticut. The affluent suburb in close proximity to Manhattan is one of America’s wealthiest enclaves.

Democratic Delaware Sen. Chris Coons has requested a total of $1 million for two opera houses in his state. His Democratic counterpart, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, has secured $500,000 for new roofing at the Honolulu Museum of Art.

Democratic lawmakers are also seeking to steer federal dollars to entities espousing left-wing views on race and transgender issues.

Democratic Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith secured $835,000 for a Duluth-based nonprofit supporting black business owners and hosting “race awareness workshops” in schools.

The organization says it aims to “empower the Black community by reconstructing socio-cultural narratives.”

A nonprofit serving Latin American youth that offers “LGBTQ+ ally workshops” in schools and government agencies is also slated to receive $1.5 million following an earmark request from Democratic Maryland Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen.

Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a leading critics of earmarks in the upper chamber, said Monday that he’s discussed his concerns with Senate GOP leadership.

“We need to figure out where we [Republicans] are on this,” Lee told the DCNF in a brief interview. “We banned them as a conference.”

Lee slammed reporting in The Hill on Monday where an anonymous GOP senator was featured railing against Senate conservatives for objecting to the inclusion of earmarks in the annual funding bills.

“Who are these mysterious, unnamed Republican senators who are ‘fuming’ over Republican objections to $5 billion in earmarks, many of which fund radical, left-wing causes?” Lee wrote on X. “I wish they were mad about that. Instead, they’re ‘fuming’ that not all Republicans are on board.”

Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott has also slammed the minibus package for including more than $100 million in earmarks requested by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Elevator modernization at the Metropolitan Opera is among the minority leader’s congressionally-directed spending items in the minibus package.

“Why should we prioritize elite New Yorkers’ wish lists over cutting spending to make life more affordable for American families?!” Scott wrote in a Monday X post.

Some Republicans have defended the inclusion of earmarks in annual funding bills, arguing lawmakers understand the funding needs of their state better than the federal government.

However, fiscal hawks have continued to sound the alarm that earmarks are imprudent when the country is $38 trillion in debt.

“Unfortunately, the norm in Washington is to keep spending money we don’t have and keep incurring deficits,” Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul told the DCNF. “That’s my main objection.”

Andi Shae Napier and Caden Olson contributed to this report. 

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].