Millions for Gender, Equity, Climate Projects Included in the Omnibus Bill

The U.S. Capitol in Washington on Capitol Hill on Aug. 6, 2022. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)

While the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package that the Senate passed Thursday has been heralded by some Democrats and Republicans as a victory, others have begun sounding the alarm over what exactly is included in the 4,155-page bill.

In a series of tweets Thursday, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) slammed the bill’s inclusion of funding for “woke pet projects.”

“The omnibus bill will funnel MILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to LGBT groups peddling radical gender ideology—many of those [dollars] will go to orgs that target YOUTH,” Roy wrote in one tweet.

Included among the bill’s earmarks are $856,000 for the facilities and equipment at a New York LGBT Center; $105,000 for an LBTQ youth mentoring program at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh; $1.2 million for “centers to support LGBT students” in California’s San Diego Community College District; $500,000 for Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth, Inc.; and $750,000 for In Our Own Voices, Inc., a New York-based organization that seeks to “strengthen the voices” of LGBT people of color and help them combat “oppression and marginalization.”

The bill also includes extensive funding for climate and equity initiatives, including Hawaii’s Zero Emission Bus Program, Sacramento’s “Neighborhood Equity Initiative,” a “community-driven air quality and environmental justice assessment” at the University of Illinois, and numerous climate and social justice programs at other universities.

Meanwhile, Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) expressed alarm over the appropriation of $575 million for “family planning/reproductive health” in areas where population growth “threatens biodiversity or endangered species.”

“Malthusianism is a disturbing, anti-human ideology that should have ZERO place in any federal program,” Bishop noted Tuesday in a tweet.

A Party Divided

The sweeping package—which includes $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs, $858 billion in defense funding, and $44.9 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies—has been touted as a legislative win by both Democrats and Republicans.

While discussing the bill on Dec. 14, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) noted, “nobody is going to get everything they want, but the final product will include wins everyone can get behind.”

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—who stated that same day that Republicans “were not going to lavish extra-liberal spending” on non-defense programs—has celebrated the bill’s increase in defense spending as a victory for the GOP.

“President Biden wanted to cut defense spending and grow liberal domestic spending in real dollars,” McConnell noted in a Dec. 19 statement. “But Congress is rejecting the Biden Administration’s vision and doing the exact opposite. This bill will grow defense spending and cut non-defense, non-veterans spending after inflation.”

However, McConnell’s fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul, also of Kentucky, has decried the bill’s proposed $1.1 trillion increase in the national debt as its own form of national security threat.

“Which threatens the country more?” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) asked at a Tuesday press conference. “Are we at risk for being invaded by a foreign power if we don’t put $45 billion into the military? Or are we more at risk by adding to a $31 trillion debt? I think the greatest risk to our national security is our debt.”

Further describing the bill as an “abomination,” Paul added that the American people were “sick and tired” of Congress’ wasteful spending.

Meanwhile, Roy and more than 30 other House Republicans sent a letter to their Senate counterparts earlier this week warning that they would block the legislative priorities of any Republican senator who voted for the bill.

“[W]e are obliged to inform you that if any omnibus passes in the remaining days of this Congress, we will oppose and whip opposition to any legislative priority of those senators who vote for this bill—including the Republican leader,” they wrote Monday.

Although he did not sign the letter, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) also supported the move, stating, “[W]hen I’m Speaker, their bills will be dead on arrival in the House if this nearly $2 [trillion] monstrosity is allowed to move forward over our objections and the will of the American people.”

Nonetheless, 18 Republican senators joined with Democrats Thursday to pass the bill in a 68–29 vote.

With the Senate’s approval, the bill will now advance to the House, where it is expected to pass, before moving to the president’s desk for signing.

To avoid a partial government shutdown, the bill must be signed by Dec. 23.

The Epoch Times has reached out to McConnell for comment.