As Congress considers appropriations legislation for fiscal year (FY) 2026, there are several areas of potential conflict. Among these is the difference in how the two chambers handle earmark spending requests.
While the House Appropriations Committee has set prudent guardrails to block the most wasteful and abusive requests from legislators, the Senate Appropriations Committee has instituted no such guardrails. In fact, they have demonstrated a willingness to tolerate and advance questionable projects.
One type of dubious “Congressionally Directed Spending” approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee for FY 2026 is funding for groups whose core purpose is activism on behalf of left-wing crusades.
Although specific projects funded for these groups might seem anodyne in isolation, the choice to funnel tax dollars through highly ideological non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is wholly inappropriate.
There is also an obvious concern about political corruption when elected officials use public resources to curry favor with activist groups, many of whom are “organizers” of local voting constituencies.
Regardless of the final form that FY 2026 appropriations take, the Congress should not approve such earmarks.
This report details just a few examples of earmarks for activist groups included in FY 2026 Senate appropriations bills.
1. Feeding a Left-Wing Slush Fund
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) included a $979,000 earmark for the Fund for the City of New York. The Fund, which has over $100 million in assets and was created by the leftist Ford Foundation, acts as a clearinghouse for ideological causes.
It currently funds dozens of controversial partner organizations, including:
The Immigration Defense Project, which offers legal support and “advocacy” for illegal immigrants and believes American law enforcement is racist.
The American LGBTQ+ Museum, which also received a $3 million earmark in FY 2023 appropriations at the behest of Senators Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
New Pride Agenda, an LGBTQIA activist group.
Earmark Details
Bill: Senate Commerce, Justice & Science
Program: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Operations, Research, and Facilities (ORF)
Recipient: Fund for the City of New York
Project: $979,000 for Freshkills Biological Station
Sponsor: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
2. “Physicians” Group Hates Gas Stoves, Nuclear Weapons, and President Trump
Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) included a $700,000 earmark to the Boston chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR). This organization is focused on environmental activism but branches into activism on behalf of a variety of other ideological causes, as well.
The federal government has access to thousands of NGOs and universities who can conduct environmental research. Senators Markey and Warren clearly prefer to send tax dollars to PSR because (not despite) of its obvious bias.
PSR’s political agenda includes:
Celebrating local bans on gas stoves, then downplaying the scenario of a gas stove ban when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced legislation to protect gas stoves.
Note that local bans on gas stoves are presented neutrally, while attempting to prevent a gas stove ban is “culture war” and “politicization.”
PSR calls for the U.S. to eliminate its nuclear weapons arsenal, reduce defense spending, and redirect the funds towards education, welfare, and environmental programs.
PSR, which considers climate change a health crisis, opposes nuclear energy to the point of calling it as “dirty and unsafe” as fossil fuels.
Finally, PSR co-sponsored the “No Kings” protest rallies against President Trump.
Using earmarked funds for activist groups such as PSR is little more than an in-kind political donation backed by the force of the federal government.
Earmark Details
Bill: Senate Interior & Environment
Program: Environmental Protection Agency, Science & Technology
Recipient: Physicians for Social Responsibility (Boston chapter)
Project: $700,000 for toxic exposure assessment
Sponsors: Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) & Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
3. Big Handout for Corporate-Backed Socialized Housing Activists
Senators Gillibrand and Schumer included a $3 million earmark to the Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC), a Brooklyn-based local activist group, for “community facility enhancements.” The FAC promotes increased welfare spending, economic and environmental regulations to burden private sector construction, and socialized housing.
The FAC participates in “community organizing” and “advocacy” on behalf of left-wing “justice” concepts related to race and environmental concerns in local development. In practice, groups such as the FAC work in cities across the country to stymie private sector development projects, increasing costs and construction times. This is followed by calls for increased spending on socialized housing due to the higher costs from a lack of private housing construction – exacerbated by groups such as the FAC.
The FAC also works for the socialization of housing by seeking to tighten New York’s economically damaging rent control rules and other housing regulations under the guise of “tenant organizing and advocacy.” In 2022, the FAC implied that the COVID pandemic still made it unfair to evict people for not paying rent.
Despite its socialistic policy work, the FAC receives funding from corporations such as Capital One, Citi, Con Edison, HSBC, and M&T Bank, further reducing the justification for a federal handout.
Earmark Details
Bill: Senate Transportation, Housing & Urban Development
Program: Community Development
Recipient: Fifth Avenue Committee, Brooklyn, NY
Project: $3 million for Community Facility Enhancements
Sponsors: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) & Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)
4. Government Support for Group That Thinks Government Exploits Workers
Senators Gillibrand and Schumer included a $5 million earmark to the RiseBoro Community Partnership in Brooklyn for “affordable housing rehabilitation.”
Similar to the FAC, RiseBoro is a community activist group focused on housing policy, linking spending on public housing to racial grievances.
RiseBoro also works with labor unions to demand higher pay for government workers.
Earmark Details
Bill: Senate Transportation, Housing & Urban Development
Program: Community Development
Recipient: RiseBoro Community Partnership, Brooklyn, NY
Project: $5 million for Affordable Housing Rehabilitation
Sponsors: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) & Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)
