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Senate Republicans Criticize Earmarks and Rushed Omnibus Process, Warn of Leadership Consequences
Summary
Republican senators at a Lehi event criticized the fiscal package’s roughly 6,000 earmarks (about $12.7 billion), decried a sealed amendment process and said the issue could shape GOP leadership choices; they proposed budget-process reforms and signaled possible objections before funding deadlines.
Unidentified Speaker opened the event in Lehi by framing the discussion around the nation’s growing debt and asserting that the Congress has "not do[ne] budgets anymore," identifying earmarks as a central symptom of a broken appropriations process.
Senator Rick Scott said the spending bill contains "over 6,000 earmarks" and called the roughly $12 billion in earmarks wasteful, citing examples such as small local projects and cultural grants that he said should not be federal priorities. "This time, it's over 6,000 earmarks," Scott said, adding that the process allows items to be inserted without a meaningful amendment opportunity.
Senator Mike Lee traced the origins of the current problem to the…
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