Congress' $1.7 trillion spending bill includes millions for gender, equity and climate initiatives
Omnibus spending package criticized over expansive LGBTQ, gender and equity earmarks
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Senate Thursday passed its $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package that will fund the federal government through 2023. The 4,000 page bill, which was released in the early morning hours Tuesday, includes $858 billion for defense, $787 billion for non-defense domestic programs and more than 7,200 earmarks costing over $15 billion.
Many Republican congressmen warned against the spending package, which they say is chock-full of earmarks used to fund politicians' pet projects at American taxpayers' expense, and will only increase inflation and the federal budget deficit.
"I brought along the 1.7 trillion, 4,000+ page Pelosi-Schumer omnibus spending bill that's being fast-tracked through the Senate," Senator Rand Paul tweeted Tuesday. "This process stinks. It's an abomination. It's a no good rotten way to run government. We're standing up and saying NO."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The bill includes $200 million for a "Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund," which will be used to promote "gender programs in Pakistan," and $286 million for Title X funding, which funds groups like Planned Parenthood. Although, the bill states that it prohibits spending any of the funds on abortions.
Earmarks also include $105,000 for an LGBTQ+ mentoring program at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh, $856,000 for the facilities and equipment at an LGBT Center in New York, $1.2 million for LGBT support centers at the San Diego Community College District, and $750,000 for the TransLatin@ Coalition for "workforce development programs and supportive services."
"The omnibus bill will funnel MILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to LGBT groups peddling radical gender ideology - many of those $$$ will go to orgs that target YOUTH You won’t believe how ridiculous some of these earmarks are," Rep. Chip Roy tweeted.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CONSERVATIVE BLAST THE 18 REPUBLICAN SENATORS WHO VOTED IN FAVOR OF OMNIBUS BILL ‘MONSTROSITY’
More than $2 million is included to fund a "facility infrastructure upgrade" at the National Great Blacks In Wax Museum, Inc. in Baltimore, $750,000 is set aside for "Transitional Housing and Services for LGBT and Gender Non-Conforming" in Albany, New York, $1.5 million for the LOFT or "The Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center Inc.," in New York, $750,000 for the acquisition of a building to create the Brooklyn Center for Social Justice, Entrepreneurship and the Arts and $1 million for Zora's House in Columbus, Ohio, which describes itself as a "non-profit coworking and community space built by and for women and gender expansive people of color."
The bill also allocates $3 million for bee-friendly highways under the "Pollinator-Friendly Practices on Roadsides and Highway Rights-of-Way Program" and $5 million "to examine the 7 impacts of culverts, roads, and bridges on threatened 8 or endangered salmon populations."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Over $3.6 million was allocated to the "Michelle Obama Trail" in Georgia, and $3 million was given to the New York Historical Society and the American LGBTQ+ Museum Partnership Project.
Other funding included $7.5 million for research to develop "a better understanding of the domestic radicalization phenomenon" and "advancing evidence-based strategies for effective intervention and prevention."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}More than $1.3 million is earmarked for "workforce development activities" at a climate education center in Los Angeles. Another $3 million is earmarked for "clean energy workforce development" at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
At least $575 million is set aside for "family planning/reproductive health … in areas where population growth threatens biodiversity or endangered species," which critics believe is not only a promotion of abortion, but an attempt to reduce population growth.
"Malthusianism is a disturbing, anti-human ideology that should have ZERO place in any federal program," Rep. Dan Bishop tweeted in response.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}RUSSIA WARNS US MILITARY AID TO UKRAINE WILL ESCALATE CONFLICT AS ZELENSKYY ADDRESSES CONGRES
Malthusianism is the theory of English economist and clergyman Thomas Robert Malthus, which argues "that population tends to increase at a faster rate than its means of subsistence and that unless it is checked by moral restraint or disaster (such as disease, famine, or war) widespread poverty and degradation inevitably result," according to Merriam Webster.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The House will vote on the spending package Friday morning.