00:00House Strips Ilhan Omar's $1.46 million carve-out for Somali-led group
00:05A Minneapolis earmark fight threatens a $184 billion spending package days before January 30th shutdown,
00:14after House Republicans stripped Rep. Ilhan Omar's Generation Hope funding.
00:19The dispute centers on a community grant for a Somali-led addiction recovery center in Minneapolis.
00:24Omar requested $1,460,877 for Generation Hope. The final earmark was $1,031,000.
00:36Founded in 2019, the group serves the East African community, and Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina
00:42Smith backed it. Rep. Chip Roy called earmarks the currency of corruption. Tom Cole warned he
00:49can't afford to have a million-dollar project jeopardize the entire package of bills, and
00:54appropriators removed the item to advance the package. Minnesota's fraud scandals loom, notably
01:00Feeding Our Future and roughly $250 million in alleged stolen federal nutrition funds.
01:07On January 5th, Governor Tim Wald said he would not seek re-election, which observers linked to
01:12oversight pressure. The fallout increased scrutiny of immigrants serving non-profits and questioned
01:18Medicaid and other payments. Federal and state investigations continue statewide.
01:24Senators Joni Ernst and Mike Lee sent a January 2026 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi seeking
01:31a Department of Justice review, citing IRS records listing three directors at the same five-bedroom
01:38Minneapolis home and a Cedar Avenue address above Sagal Restaurant and Coffee.
01:42The 2023 Form 990 showed $51,353 in revenue, $171,045 in expenses, and $119,966 to contractors.
01:59They said these features closely resemble tactics alleged in ongoing federal investigations into
02:05Minnesota non-profit fraud, including the Feeding Our Future case.
02:09And noted Abdirahman Warsom's brother was linked to a 2015 ISIS-related plot, pleaded guilty,
02:17and was released in 2019.
02:19Senator Mike Lee stated stopping these funds is not enough. We should pursue every red flag,
02:25uncover every wrongdoing, and suspend federal eligibility for taxpayer dollars.
02:30Ernst moved to redirect the $1 million to DOJ fraud prevention, and removing the earmark,
02:36let the Corpus Juris Secundum package advance toward a late January vote, with the White House
02:41willing to sign to avoid a shutdown. Earmarks, rebranded as Community Project Funding in 2021,
02:49remain volatile as a narrow House majority weighs oversight demands, reforms, and stricter vetting,
02:54with thousands of allocations in the bill.
Comments