FEMA earmarks threatened by immigration funding standoff
Source: Roll Call
Posted February 9, 2026 at 12:42pm
The ongoing fight over fiscal 2026 funding for immigration enforcement is threatening millions of dollars in home-state earmarks for disaster preparedness projects. The compromise full-year Homeland Security bill, which was dropped from the $1.2 trillion spending package enacted last week, includes $272.7 million across 203 home-state projects for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the only agency covered by the bill eligible for earmarks.
However, the ongoing fight over the operations of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agencies after two fatal shootings by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis has put these projects in limbo. Traditionally, any extension of funding that could be enacted if there is no agreement on a final bill would not include earmarks. Republicans are floating another full-year extension of Homeland Security funding as a backup plan, although Democrats are likely to oppose that move. Still, the fate of the projects remains uncertain as negotiations pick up ahead of the Feb. 13 deadline for the bill, the last of the 12 fiscal 2026 spending bills that has not been enacted into law.
Key lawmakers have millions of dollars in projects in the bill, with Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Katie Britt, R-Ala., receiving by far the most, at just under $15 million across eight projects. The largest is $4 million for her state’s Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, which will be used for repairs to the Washington Ferry Road in Montgomery. Other large Britt projects include $3.1 million for storm drainage improvements in Sumter County, which is in the western part of the state, and $2.6 million for Birmingham for restoration of the Village Creek floodplain.
There was a tie for the largest project in the bill, at $8.7 million, between Reps. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., and Michael R. Turner, R-Ohio. Despite having only one project each, that is enough for both of them to be tied as the top House earmarker in the bill.
Read more: https://rollcall.com/2026/02/09/fema-earmarks-threatened-by-immigration-funding-standoff/
There was a tie for the largest project in the bill, at $8.7 million, between Reps. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., and Michael R. Turner, R-Ohio. Despite having only one project each, that is enough for both of them to be tied as the top House earmarker in the bill.
Republicans "feeding at the trough" while voting to cut vital services for tens of millions.
That funding "bought their votes".
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