ombious bill

The massive spending bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden last month continues a years-long tradition of earmarking significant amounts of money for border security in a number of Middle Eastern countries – just as a fight over how best to secure the U.S. border is still ongoing. The $1.2 trillion package, which includes funding for defense and homeland security among other agencies, includes an appropriation for $380 million that is to remain available until September 2025 to reimburse Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Oman for "enhanced border security." Of that, $150 million is specifically dedicated to Jordan. It’s an inclusion that has been in a number of omnibus budgets in recent years and upset a number of Republicans, who see it as wasteful and coming at a time when some Democrats are wary of spending money on border walls and similar measures at the U.S. southern border. "But you see them running this thing through by dark of night with billions in things that – they're doing border security in foreign countries, and they're impeding border security in our country," Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said in 2022.