President Trump has taken bold action to stop the federal government from funding woke programs at the expense of hard-working American families. From studies using transgender hormone drugs on mice to DEI musicals in Ireland, this Administration has made it a priority to stop wasteful and woke spending. However, Congress appears poised to use earmarks to fund the very activities the American people sent President Trump back to the White House to end.
What is an earmark?
Generally, an earmark is a special provision inserted into legislation that directs funds to a specific recipient, oftentimes circumventing formula, merit-based or competitive funds allocation processes. In other words, instead of simply setting funding levels for an existing or new federal program, earmarks are explicitly directed to a specific recipient.
In 2011, House Republicans passed a temporary ban on earmarks, which was renewed annually until Democrats ended the ban in 2021. That same year, Senate Republicans approved a work-around GOP conference rules by permitting “congressionally directed spending.”
In the past, earmarks were a notoriously corruption-prone process that funded parochial interests and greased the skids for wasteful spending. But now, the Left is attempting to use them as a tool to advance its radical policy agenda.
Earmarks in the Senate FY26 Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill
Many earmarks in the Senate’s FY 2026 appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS) would seem at home on a left-wing wish list. In fact, the Senate Labor-HHS bill contains several earmarks for institutions that promote abortion, gender ideology, and DEI.
Millions for Hospitals that Still Perform Sex-Rejecting Surgeries on Minors
President Trump has taken significant action to stop the American healthcare system from performing sex-rejecting procedures on minors. Thanks to his executive orders, several major children’s hospitals like Denver Health, Seattle Children’s, and Children’s National in DC have ceased performing sex-rejecting procedures on minors. However, several hospitals and clinics slated to receive hefty earmarks are continuing to perform sex-rejecting procedures on minors.
- Senator Alex Padilla requested a $2 million earmark for Rady’s Children’s Hospital in San Diego for “pediatric mental health services.” This hospital has conducted sex-rejecting procedures on at least 136 patients.
- Senator Cory Booker requested a $968,000 earmark for Cooperman Barnabas Health, which won the 2024 Human Rights Campaign healthcare equality leader award.
- Senator Jeanne Shaheen requested a $460,000 earmark for Elliot Health System. Elliot Health performs “gender affirming top surgery.”
- Senator Tina Smith requested a $3 million earmark for Hennepin Health for new equipment. Hennepin Health runs a pediatric gender and sexual health clinic.
- Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse requested a $200,000 earmark for Rhode Island Hospital, which performs “transmasculine surgeries.”
Congress should protect children, not fund irreversible harm to their bodies.
$1.6 million for a Healthcare System that Provides Sex-Rejecting Hormones for Children in Maine
Senator Susan Collins has proposed a $1,599,000 earmark for labor and delivery equipment at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center. Northern Light Health operates a “pediatric gender clinic” that provides sex-rejecting hormones for “gender diverse and transgender children” in Bangor, Maine. Because of the fungible nature of money, government funding for one program frees up resources to fund other activities. Congress should not fund an organization that performs chemical castration of children.
$1.9 Million for a University that Provides 2SLGBTQIA+ Scholarships
Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper requested a $1,940,000 earmark for Western Colorado University for a nursing education program, which includes coverage of financial aid. This university offers a 2SLGBTQIA+ Scholarship to “provide financial support to undergraduate and graduate students who identify as part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community—or as strong allies.” The “2S” refers to “two-spirit” individuals, a made-up term created by Canadian activists in 1990 to describe gender identities “that had been misrepresented or erased by colonial language.”
$4 Million for a Late Term Abortion Center
Senator Chris Coons has requested an earmark of over $4 million for Christiana Care Health to build a new urgent care facility. What he didn’t disclose is that Christiana Care performs abortions until 23 weeks of gestation, after a baby’s heart begins to beat and he or she can feel pain. Earmarks like this are an easy way to send direct funding to abortion facilities, an end run around the Hyde Amendment that prohibits annual appropriations from funding abortions.
$900,000 for a New Hampshire Health System that Performs Abortions
Senator Jeanne Shaheen requested a $900,000 earmark for Dartmouth Health to construct a perinatal substance use stabilization unit. While perinatal health is an extremely underfunded and underdeveloped field of medicine, especially when the baby is born to a mother struggling with substance abuse, these funds would attempt to circumvent the Hyde Amendment’s prohibition against taxpayer dollars funding abortions.
While this earmark would construct a lifesaving perinatal unit in one wing of the hospital, another wing at Dartmouth Health can continue to “have pregnancies removed by doctors in the clinic.” Dartmouth Health performs abortion through 24 weeks, and “removing a pregnancy” is quite the euphemism for late-term abortion. Planned Parenthood played shell games for years by receiving millions in dollars for non-abortion services, which freed up other resources that allowed the organization to become the nation's largest abortion provider. Congress should not allow other entities to do the same.
$275,000 for an Organization that Promotes Race-Based Hiring in Healthcare
Senator John Fetterman requested a $275,000 earmark for Once Upon a Preemie. While helping mothers avoid premature births is a worthy cause, the organization also advocates for critical race theory. Their policy priorities page includes support for implicit bias training to root out racism in the healthcare system and specifically calls for race-based hiring quotas.
$500,000 for an Organization that Trains Social Justice Warriors
Senator John Fetterman has also requested a $500,000 earmark for an organization named Trying Together. This organization provides workforce training and early childhood education through the lens of “justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion,” with the goal of equipping caregivers to undo the deep roots of “systemic racism.” Congress should reject organizations that promote critical race theory – not fund them.
Conclusion
Through earmarks, Congress could allow millions in federal funds to go to hospitals that perform late-term abortions, clinics that perform sex-rejecting procedures on minors, non-profits that promote DEI, and university systems that do all three. Only a few short years into the earmark revival, and it’s easy to remember why a decade ago, congressional Republicans ditched them entirely. A Republican Congress should not allow the appropriations process to fund a Left-wing agenda.