Buried in the newly passed $1.2 trillion federal spending package are millions of dollars for woke causes, including groups that host drag shows and provide teens seeking to change their sex with gender-affirming hormones and underwear.
Conservatives flagged a bevy of earmarks for pet congressional causes in the 1,012-page minibus that cleared the Senate on Saturday, such as $400,000 for Garden State Equality in New Jersey, which promotes “FREE gender-affirming garments.”
They include chest binders, used to flatten female chests, and gaffs, designed to “help minimize the appearance of a crotch bulge.” The earmark was requested by Sens. Cory A. Booker and Robert Menendez, New Jersey Democrats.
“It’s not crazy to say that the federal government should not be subsidizing trans clothing for minors,” Rep. Ralph Norman, South Carolina Republican, posted on X.
Advancing American Freedom, a conservative group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, ticked off a list of the package’s “good, bad, and ugly,” the last of which included $400,000 for Briarpatch Youth Services earmarked by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin Democrat.
The organization’s Teens Like Us LGBTQIA2s+ program offers counseling and “gender-affirming clothing,” according to an Advancing American Freedom screen grab, and emphasizes that youths “do NOT need parent/guardian permission to join.”
“Democrats are trying to push a $400K earmark for an organization giving confused 13-year-olds binding and tucking clothing without parental permission,” the group said in a statement. “The federal government should NOT be subsidizing trans clothing for MINORS!”
Democrats are trying to push a $400K earmark for an organization giving confused thirteen-year olds binding and tucking clothing without parental permission.
— Advancing American Freedom (@AmericanFreedom) March 21, 2024
The federal government should NOT be subsidizing trans clothing for MINORS! pic.twitter.com/0YxNpNoAXE
After the Republican Party of Wisconsin accused Ms. Baldwin of choosing “Woke over Wisconsin Parents,” her spokesman Eli Rosen said the funding would be used for counseling and not the Teens Like Us activities.
“Senator Baldwin is proud to deliver resources for Wisconsin to help kids experiencing homelessness get the care they need and land on their feet,” Mr. Rosen told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Conservatives also highlighted $350,000 for the NAACP in Connecticut, $740,000 to “increase diversity in state contracting” in Maryland and $2 million for La Clinica, an Oregon clinic that provides “gender-affirming hormone therapy for adults and adolescents.”
Among other earmarks, $845,000 was for Envision: You of Denver, an LGBTQ mental health organization that has hosted drag shows and advocated for the removal of Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, a critic of gay student rights, and $740,000 for Entre Hermanos in Seattle.
“$740,000 for a Latino LGBT organization in Seattle. When I clicked on their webpage, I got invited to a drag brunch in April!” said Mr. Norman.
$400,000 earmark for the Garden State Equality Education Fund…aka supporting ELEMENTARY CHILDREN changing genders.
— Heritage Action (@Heritage_Action) March 21, 2024
This is where Congress is sending your tax dollars.https://t.co/hYLNXsV3aA pic.twitter.com/Mq0US37bEo
Other flagged earmarks included $200 million for the U.S. Agency for International Development Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund and $32.5 million for the United Nations Population Fund, which denies accusations of promoting an “extremist abortion agenda.”
Mr. Norman noted in his “Earmarks are Evil” thread on X that the Rhode Island group AS220 received $870,000 for an Emerging Artist Fellowship Program despite its advocacy for defunding police and “other atrocious woke demands.”
Republicans also blasted the $850,000 earmarked for LGBTQ senior housing in Massachusetts, which is building the “first LGBTQ-affirming affordable senior housing development in New England.”
“Why would your tax dollars go to this??” asked the House Freedom Caucus.
Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Democrats, earmarked $1.8 million for Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, which performs surgical abortions up to 22 weeks into pregnancy. Abortion is legal in Rhode Island until fetal viability, or 22 to 24 weeks.
Mr. Reed said the funding would go to the midwifery unit and praised the facility as a “gem of a hospital and a state and national leader when it comes to maternity care.”
“You’d have to be either really cynical or deeply misinformed to attack this type of federal investment to help birthing mothers,” he told The Boston Globe.
The six-bill minibus package, which funds the federal government through Sept. 30, was passed by the House on Friday and the Senate two hours after a partial government shutdown took effect.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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