About $675 million earmarked for Texas projects is in limbo as Congress careens toward shutdown

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The Texas congressional delegation has secured about $675 million to pay for community projects across the state in federal spending bills for the next fiscal year. But the funds, informally known as earmarks, are all in jeopardy amid the threat of a government shutdown.

Lawmakers returned to their districts last year empty-handed when Congress left earmarks out of stopgap legislation used to fund the government for the current fiscal year, which ends Tuesday. Now, local governments, universities and nonprofits in the state stand to lose out on millions of dollars for infrastructure improvements, research and more if both parties in Congress are unable to resolve an impasse that has stalled the spending package that includes the earmarks.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit could miss out on the $250,000 secured by Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, to modernize the Ledbetter Light Rail Station. Amarillo could end up without the $1.75 million Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, acquired to help design a new wastewater treatment facility in the city. And the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Houston may lose out on $350,000 sought by Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Richmond, for facility repairs and upgrades that Nehls said could otherwise be used for youth programs.

These Texas projects are just a few of the ones lawmakers are fighting for as they near a government funding deadline.

Most of the funding would be administered through the following agencies:

• Department of Housing and Urban Development: Nearly $230 million would pay for facility renovations, community centers, trail improvements and other infrastructure and community projects.
• Department of Transportation: Texas lawmakers secured about $120 million for projects to bolster public transportation, highways, airports and more.
• Department of Justice: About $80 million would be administered by the Justice Department for local law enforcement agencies and nonprofits.
• Environmental Protection Agency: About $54 million would go toward water treatment projects and efforts to deliver clean drinking water.
• Army Corps of Engineers: Nearly $50 million would pay for construction, operation and maintenance on dams, waterways and ship channels.
• Department of Commerce: Universities and other research institutions in Texas would collectively receive about $42 million through the Commerce Department.

In all, the House’s package of a dozen appropriation bills contains nearly $8 billion in earmarks, with requests for Texas making up about 8% of these funds.

Out of Texas’ 37 representatives in the House, 33 asked for earmark funding, with each requester receiving money for at least one community project. Republican Reps. Pat Fallon of Sherman, Craig Goldman of Fort Worth, Chip Roy of Austin and Keith Self of McKinney were the four who skipped out on earmark requests.

On the Senate side, Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Ted Cruz also abstained from submitting requests for “congressionally directed spending” — the term for earmarks in the upper chamber.

Both senators have previously spoken out against earmarks and advocated to strip them from appropriations bills. Republican lawmakers previously banned the practice after they won control of Congress in 2010, but Democrats revived it in 2021.

Cornyn pushed back against the move, calling earmarks “a playground for quid pro quo” that was adding to the country’s mounting debt.

When earmarks first returned to Congress, most Texas Republicans did not request funding. Roy even led a group of 18 House Republicans in issuing a letter pledging to “take a stand against legislative bribery” by not requesting earmark money.

But in the years since 2021, the majority of Texas Republicans in the House have embraced the practice. About 75% of funds earmarked for Texas in House appropriations bills for the 2026 fiscal year were secured by Republicans, according to an analysis by The Texas Tribune.

The five Texans who are poised to rake in the most earmarked funds are all Republicans:

• Jake Ellzey, R-Waxahachie ($86.7 million for 14 projects)
• John Carter, R-Round Rock ($79.3 million for 13 projects)
• Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio ($42.6 million for 14 projects)
• Brian Babin, R-Woodville ($33.7 million for 10 projects)
• Michael McCaul, R-Austin ($30.6 million for 15 projects)

Ellzey, Carter and Gonzales each serve on the House Appropriations Committee, the powerful panel that oversees federal spending bills.

Ellzey is looking to bring home $50 million to renovate a U.S. Marine Corps facility in Fort Worth — the most expensive earmark for Texas. He’s also poised to secure funds to fix water infrastructure issues in Glenn Heights, a small town at the southern edge of Dallas County, if the spending package makes it through Congress.

“That’s something that they really need,” Ellzey said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. “I’m very proud of the requests that I made.”

Ellzey said he hopes Congress avoids passing what’s known as a continuing resolution — a short-term funding bill to keep the government open — and instead gets it together to approve the dozen appropriations bills that include the local funding.

Other notable earmarks include waterway improvements such as the more than $29 million that Babin and Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Victoria, hope to secure for operations and maintenance work on the Houston, Corpus Christi and Matagorda ship channels, which export massive amounts of crude oil and other energy products.

All 12 Democrats from Texas secured funding for at least one project in the appropriations bill drafts.

Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston, was the state’s top Democratic earmarker, with nearly $19 million largely devoted to economic development projects, flood and drainage improvements and local law enforcement programs. Among the funds she has tentatively secured is a $1 million allotment to develop a “space and planetary science” program at Alief Independent School District in collaboration with Rice University, and more than $3 million to renovate Houston’s Metropolitan Multiservice Center for people with disabilities.

Rep. Julie Johnson, a Democrat from Farmers Branch who is in line to bring more than $15 million back to her district, said she is thrilled about the potential to fund health care and transportation projects in North Texas, but remains worried that the earmarks could become casualties of the budget negotiation deadlock.

“We have a lot of disagreements in this budget right now,” she said. “So all this funding is at risk.”

Disclosure: Rice University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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