Ilhan Omar Caught Sneaking Carveout for Somali-Led Group in Spending Package

House appropriators plan to strike Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s $1 million earmark for a Somali-led organization from the lower chamber’s funding package Wednesday, as the presence of the carveout threatened to tank the shutdown-preventing bill.

Omar’s earmark was for Generation Hope’s “Justice Empowerment Initiative” in her district and was tucked into the Commerce, Science, and Justice minibus, which will provide funding for the Commerce, Energy, Interior, and Justice departments, in addition to other related agencies. Republican Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, told reporters he cannot allow one member’s project to derail a carefully negotiated full-year funding bill with the Jan. 30 funding deadline fast approaching.

“I can’t afford to have a million dollar project jeopardize a $184 billion package of bills,” Cole said Wednesday. “If we have an individual project that can pose a political problem, I’ve had these in the past from our side before, where we had to tell a member, ‘Look, there might be a way to do this, but our advice to you is to withdraw this.’”

Omar initially requested $1,460,877 for the program, which provides “job-specific training, computer skills development, peer support services, and access to education” as well as services to address addiction recovery and mental health needs, according to the congresswoman’s website. The earmark is also backed by Minnesota’s two senators, Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith.

Omar did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Republican South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman, who serves on the Rules Committee, also expressed reservations toward the minibus in two Rules meetings this week, telling reporters he will vote for the bill on the House floor upon seeing a written agreement to remove the earmark for “Somali million dollars.”

Democratic Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee who had strong support for the minibus on Monday, also emphasized earmarks must not cause problems for the overall bill.

“It is under discussion and it will be resolved. That’s the way things go with these community projects. If there’s a difficulty, if there’s a problem, we try to work it out. Or it comes out,” DeLauro told Politico on Wednesday.

Democrats rebranded earmarks — which were banned under Republican leadership for more than a decade — in 2021 as “community project funding,” which still elicits ire from hardline Republicans looking to cap how much taxpayer dollars are spent on hyperlocal projects.

Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy, who sits on both the Rules Committee and the House Freedom Caucus, highlighted “currency of corruption” earmarks in the CJS package, including $1 million for a Climate Corps Fellowship in Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley‘s district, nearly $2 million for Vermont Legal Aid’s Justice Mobile program — requested by Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders — and almost $2 million for “detention center door replacement” in Republican North Carolina Rep. Addison McDowell’s district.

Roy has called various earmarks in the CJS package “nonsense” that no one he represents “wants to see their money going towards.”

“It’s ridiculous to buy votes in the currency of corruption in this town,” Roy told reporters Wednesday.

Part of the agreement to remove Omar’s earmark also involves voting on the three titles in the package — Energy-Water, Interior-Environment, and Commerce-Justice-Science — separately, allowing dissenting Republicans to vote against the CJS measure while supporting the other two. Following the vote, the three bills would be put back together in one bundle before being handed off to the Senate.

The White House on Wednesday urged Congress to pass the package of appropriations bills, applauding the decreased spending the minibus puts forward.

“If this bill were presented to the President in its current form, his senior advisors would recommend that he sign it into law.”

On its website, Generation Hope describes itself as a “Somali-led organization” that works “closely with culturally specific treatment centers to connect East African individuals with culturally responsive treatment options.” It was founded by Abdirahman Warsame and Khadar Abi in 2019.

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