Patriot Brief

This wasn’t about $1 million. It was about leverage, optics, and whether Congress is willing to let one politically radioactive earmark sink a must-pass funding bill.

Ilhan Omar’s request for taxpayer funding for a Somali-led organization in her district landed at the worst possible moment. With Minnesota already under a cloud of fraud allegations tied to social service programs, House leadership wasn’t about to risk detonating a $184 billion appropriations package over a single carveout — especially one that had become a lightning rod.

Chairman Tom Cole was blunt: no individual project is worth jeopardizing a shutdown-prevention deal. That’s not an ideological statement — it’s triage. And Republicans like Chip Roy were more than happy to apply pressure, framing the earmark as exactly what voters despise about Washington: localized spending slipped into massive bills to grease political wheels.

What’s notable is that even Democrats quietly acknowledged the reality. Ranking member Rosa DeLauro admitted that when earmarks become a problem, they get pulled. That’s an implicit concession that “community project funding” is just a rebrand — not a reform.

Omar may argue her request served legitimate community needs, but politics isn’t practiced in a vacuum. In a moment defined by scrutiny over misuse of funds, her earmark became expendable. The message from leadership was clear: no sacred cows, especially when the clock is ticking.

From Daily Caller:

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 (CJS) 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 Texas Rep. Chip Roy praised the removal of Omar’s earmark in a Wednesday evening post to X.

“Chalk one up for the good guys. Proud to work the last two days to stop the outrageous Ilhan Omar $1 million Somali earmark. Much more to do,” Roy wrote in his post.

BREAKING: Chalk one up for the good guys. Proud to work the last two days to stop the outrageous Ilhan Omar $1 million Somali earmark. Much more to do. pic.twitter.com/OulVc7zcim

— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) January 7, 2026

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.

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