Topline: The ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus opposed this year’s $1.7 trillion federal budget, urging lawmakers to vote against the bill and trigger a government shutdown because it was “loaded with hundreds of pages of earmarks.”
What the Freedom Caucus failed to mention is that its own members and allies have earmarked $957 million over the last two years.
Key facts: A recent OpenTheBooks report found that the average Freedom Caucus earmark in the last two years cost taxpayers $4.6 million — more than double the average for the rest of Congress.
In total, 22 Caucus members and allies filed 210 earmarks, with 27 others abstaining from the practice that often funds wasteful and corrupt pet projects in politicians’ home districts.
The full database of earmarks can be viewed here.
The Freedom Caucus was founded on fiscal conservatism, but its members earmarked more money than “The Squad,” a group of eight progressive Democratic House members.
The 22 Caucus members who filed earmarks got an average of $23.1 million this year. The average Squad member brought home $13.9 million.
In fact, Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) singlehandedly earmarked more than The Squad. He secured $432 million over two years before he was kicked out of the Caucus this March for missing too many meetings.
Last September, Weber posted on social media that “We MUST cut the woke & weaponized spending of the federal gov & we should be reining in the out-of-control spending.”
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) requested money for his alma mater Louisiana State, and Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) sent money to West Texas A&M, where his son attends school.
Other questionable projects included $190,000 to test shark repellent from Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) and Rep. Morgan Griffith’s (R-VA) $505,000 earmark to help medical students buy fake corpses.
Griffith also requested $500,000 to build an elevator in the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, even though Republicans recently banned earmarks for museums.
Background: This year’s federal budget contained 8,051 earmarks worth $15.7 billion.
Earmarks were banned for 10 years but were reinstated in 2021 by both parties, despite concerns they could still be used for personal political gain.
At one point last summer, the top 63 earmarkers in the House were all Republicans.
Supporting quote: Several Freedom Caucus members defended their earmarks in statements to the New York Post.
Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) defended his earmarks by saying that “Funding for our mental health initiative [at Texas A&M University] is important. But it made no sense to support legislation filled with woke programs and pork barrel spending when America is nearly $35 trillion in debt.”
Summary: The Freedom Caucus presents itself as the antithesis of government spending, but its own members couldn’t resist partaking in this year’s pork barrel.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
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