WASHINGTON — Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is delaying a vote on a government spending package over objections to certain policy provisions that he says were included without his approval despite being under his jurisdiction.
Lee, along with two other Republican senators, have placed holds on a package to approve the full-year spending bills for a slew of government agencies such as the Pentagon and other federal offices. The Utah Republican pointed to provisions in the bill that would fund the Interior Department but includes authorizations he says are “not supposed to be there.”
“It’s not supposed to be there without me as the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee clearing it,” Lee told the Deseret News in an interview. “And I just became aware of it. So I’m trying to get back out of there what doesn’t belong.”
It’s not clear which specific provisions Lee wants to remove from the bill, but he characterized it as “authorizing text,” referring to language that dictates how allocated spending can be used.
Lee huddled with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., as well as Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., for more than hour during a closed-door party lunch on Wednesday to discuss the holds. The trio met with the top Senate Republican again that evening.
Lee told the Deseret News the talks are ongoing to find a solution, noting he has other concerns beyond the Interior authorizing language.
The Utah senator is objecting to roughly $5.5 billion in earmarks that are attached to the spending package, referring to requests from lawmakers to go toward specific projects or organizations in their home states. Lee has long been against earmark requests, arguing they dedicate millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to go toward “liberal pet projects and special interest priorities.”
Lee argued that the Senate Republican Conference as a whole is against earmarks — pointing to the 10-year moratorium the party enacted in 2010, which later expired in 2021 — and shouldn’t include those provisions when they hold control of federal government.
Although talks are ongoing, Lee said Thune was receptive to some demands — despite the top Senate Republican ruling the earmark request out as a nonstarter.
“The Appropriations Committee has done a lot of work already, and it’s hard to unwind that,” Thune told reporters after the meeting Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, the Republican trio is also pushing for consideration of Johnson’s Shutdown Fairness Act, which would ensure federal employees who work during a government shutdown are paid without delay. That bill was initially introduced during the record-long shutdown in October when thousands of government employees did not receive their paychecks despite working full time.
Lee said the senators are continuing their push to pass that proposal, although it’s not clear if it will receive a vote.