Ousted Liz Cheney Granted Earmarks Worth over $5M for Pet Projects in Omnibus Bill

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who lost her GOP primary in August by nearly 40 points, was granted earmarks worth over $5 million in the $1.7 trillion, 4,155-page omnibus bill.

If the bill passes Congress in the next few days, Cheney will have spent $5,031,000 of taxpayers’ funds on pet projects in Wyoming. The specific earmarks are:

• Natrona County, Casper, Wyoming, for Facilities and Equipment ($1,500,000)
• City of Gillette, Wyoming, for Senator Mike Enzi Memorial Overpass Replacement Project ($3,000,000)
• Food Bank of Wyoming for Food Bank of Wyoming Truck Equipment ($531,000)

Cheney famously lost her GOP primary to Rep.-elect Harriet Hageman (R-WY) by a massive margin after she allied herself with Democrats on the partisan January 6 Committee.

In addition to funding Cheney’s pet projects, the bill increases the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) budget “to further support prosecutions related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and domestic terrorism cases,” the House Appropriations Committee’s summary revealed Tuesday. The package increases the DOJ’s budget by $212.1 million.

In total, the omnibus bill budgets $773 billion in domestic spending with $5 billion worth of earmarks and $45 billion for Ukraine’s border defense. The White House only requested $37 billion for defending Ukraine’s border, far less than Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Democrats have budgeted in the bill.

On Tuesday, 14 House Republicans, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), vowed to tank any priorities of GOP senators who vote for the 4,155 page omnibus bill, which was negotiated with Democrats before a new Republican majority could take control of the House.