(Corine Gatti, Headline USA) Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, compared Republican members of Congress to “terrorists” at a Tuesday committee hearing.
During the meeting on Fiscal Year 2024 funding for the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., the committee chairman, proposed an amendment to remove earmarks for three LGBT community centers, the Daily Caller reported.
DeLauro, the previous committee chair, fumed at the committee’s decision to challenge a Democrat project. The 32-year House veteran argued that, in the past, committees had always allowed each party to pursue their own projects.
She detailed several community projects supporting the LGBT community that she claimed were at risk of being dismissed due to a partisan amendment.
“Is there no limit on how low you will go to break the faith and trust on which this committee is supposed to operate?” said the purple-haired lawmaker.
“All to placate the whims of some who, I might add, and looking historically, do not ever vote for appropriations bills,” she continued. “You are negotiating with terrorists.”
Republicans aimed to have her words stricken from the record.
Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., pushed back against some of the Democrat’s criticisms, noting that the centers provided counseling services for “hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries.”
Republicans have regularly raised issues with the controversial transgender procedures, questioning their safety and propriety, particularly when it comes to underage children.
“So, the question is, should taxpayers pay for this? The answer is no,” Zinke said.
“Appropriation also should be appropriate,” he continued. “This has nothing to do with discrimination over a class of citizens or people or race; it has to do with an ideology and whether or not the taxpayers should have to pay for it.”
