House GOP Targets Nonprofit Funding in Earmarking Process Changes

House Republicans on Thursday changes announced to the annual process in which members request funding for community projects in their home country, after conservatives strongly opposed Democratic-backed funding on issues related to abortion and LGBTQ services earlier this year.

The House Appropriations Committee said Thursday that nonprofits would no longer be eligible for “community project funding in the Economic Development Initiative (EDI) account.”

The change, the committee said, is part of a larger effort aimed at ensuring that “projects are consistent with the community development goals of the federal program.”

Newly appointed Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters earlier this month that members would discuss possible changes to the earmarking process, while also noting that some requests have created “political problems” for people.

“That’s just the reality, and I shouldn’t have a political problem in my district because I voted for a bill that had its earmarks,” he explained at the time, while arguing that it’s an issue that members on both sides of the aisle of the hallway share.

However, Democrats are already speaking out against the changes.

“Deeming nonprofits ineligible for community project funding in the Economic Development Initiative (EDI) bill is a seismic shift, as nearly half of all House-funded EDI projects in 2024 were targeted at nonprofit beneficiaries ,” ranking House Appropriations Committee member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said in a statement. “YMCAs, Boys & Girls Clubs and other groups vital to our communities are now ineligible.”

“The restrictions that House Republicans initiated in the last Congress were misguided. The eligibility changes announced today are even worse,” DeLauro said. “When House Democrats are in control of the next Congress, we will reverse these decisions.”

The news comes after Republicans clashed over the use of grants in two packages approved last month that funded the government through fiscal 2024.