The Republicans’ major FBI cut came from removing one senator’s earmark

When Republicans won the majority in the House of Representatives, some of their most conservative members vowed to use their power to cut the budgets of the federal agencies they claimed were weaponized against them—chief among them the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

So when Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled the package of six government spending bills he negotiated with Democrats and that is on track to clean out Congress on Friday, he touted the “deep cuts” — 6 percent — that Republicans are making. had secured the agency’s budget.

But the story of the FBI cuts is less about how Republicans in the House of Representatives used their slim majority to destroy the budget of an agency they claim has gone rogue. Instead, it’s a remarkable story of how a single powerful senator used budgetary tricks to direct hundreds of millions of dollars to a single project in his state, only to watch members of his own party cut the money after his retirement.

Of the $654 million that lawmakers agreed to cut from the FBI’s operating budget this year, $622 million came from eliminating what was essentially an old goal: money to build the agency’s campus in Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. years ago by Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the legendary pork barrel veteran who retired in 2022 at the age of 88.

The actual reduction in the FBI’s operating budget—primarily for personnel and operations—was roughly $32 million, or 0.3 percent.

Ultraconservative Republicans like Representative Chip Roy of Texas, who voted against the spending package this week and derided it as full of budgetary tricks, pointed to the cancellation of Mr. Shelby’s pet project as a prime example of how little his party could actually have done. economize. .

Grumbling about the cuts to the FBI this week in the House of Representatives, Mr. Roy said, “What they don’t want to tell you is that 95 percent of those cuts eliminate an earmark from Richard Shelby, because Richard Shelby is no longer here to defend the government. his favorite project in Alabama.”

For years, Mr. Shelby used his position on the Appropriations Committee to single-handedly transform the landscape of his home state, directing billions of federal dollars to create and expand university buildings and research programs, airports and seaports, and military and space facilities.

One of his most prioritized projects was the two FBI campuses at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, which he led over the course of ten years more than 3 billion dollars to build up the 1,100 hectares of land the agency has secured there for cyber threat intelligence and training facilities.

The FBI said to expect more than 4,000 jobs to come to Huntsville over the next eight to 10 years.

Normally, such pet projects are funded through earmarks — a practice that allows lawmakers to direct federal funds for specific projects to their states and districts. These projects are listed in a separate list, which clearly indicates how much federal money goes to a specific project, and which legislator requested it.

Instead, Mr. Shelby included the money for the campus in the text of the spending bill, in an apparent effort to ensure that it would be available even after he left Congress. For years, the Biden administration has requested about $61 million for the FBI’s construction budget. Instead, at the senator’s insistence, Congress gave them $632 million one year, and $652 million the next.

In each case, the laws specified that the additional funding was to be used to address the FBI’s “highest priorities outside the immediate National Capital Region,” meaning Washington, DC.

Although this was not stated in the legislation, it was clear that this meant only one place: Huntsville, Ala.

“Increasing the FBI’s presence in Huntsville has been a priority of mine for some time,” Mr. Shelby said in a 2022 announcement touting the additional funding. “And I am proud to have helped make this happen.”