Despite recently spying on Christians and conservatives, and a selection process blasted by Democrats and Republicans as politically tainted, 70 House Republicans voted against an amendment removing any funding for the FBI's new headquarters in Greenbelt, Maryland from a Justice Department spending bill. The amendment failed on a vote of 145 to 273.
Conservative leaders blasted the vote, noting the once-respected agency is now being used as a political tool against conservatives.
Rick Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government, wrote:
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been a cesspool of political corruption for almost a decade, and 70 House Republicans voted today, along with their Democrat colleagues, to reward them by funding a new massive headquarters in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The same House GOP which set up the Judiciary Committee to investigate the weaponization of government just voted to give the face of the weaponization a new dream castle. The same House GOP which has raised countless dollars and garnered hundreds of thousands of hours of airtime attacking the FBI's knowing pursuit of false Russiagate allegations against President Trump, just voted to fund a palace for their punishment. The same FBI that lied to the FISA Court repeatedly to subpoena Trump campaign officials. The same FBI that spied on congressional staff investigating the FBI. The same FBI that could not recognize Antifa as a terrorist group, but targeted parents attending school board meetings and Latin mass saying Catholic churches gets a new home that will make their Defense Department colleagues green with envy.
“Yep, that is the FBI that seventy Republican House members couldn't wait to give a massive upgrade.
“The House has the power of the purse. It is their major power to control an out-of-control executive branch. And today, 70 House Republicans sent the strongest message possible to the FBI, that they have nothing to fear from any investigations, because no matter what, they will get their money. This is the true story of the swamp, where what members do on obscure votes on Friday afternoons matters far more than what they say on the Sunday news shows and in the evenings on Fox News. What a bunch of frauds.”
Americans are also viewing the FBI with increased skepticism. An August 2022 Rasmussen Reports poll found 53 percent of Americans agreed with the statement “a group of politicized thugs at the top of the FBI who are using the FBI … as Joe Biden‘s personal Gestapo.”
That is a stunning finding, given Nazi comparisons are generally poorly accepted, and the FBI has long enjoyed a high public approval rating.
Some legislators also opposed the selection process itself, which they claim passed over a more qualified site in Virginia – a state that recently elected a Republican governor.
Virginia's Democrat and Republican congressional delegation issued a statement blasting what they called “political interference in the independent, agency-run site selection process for a new FBI headquarters,” adding the “process has been irrevocably undermined and tainted, and this decision must now be reversed.”
The 70 Republicans who voted with the FBI are:
Bacon Nebraska
Barr – Kentucky
Bentz – Oregon
Bice – Oklahoma
Bost – Illinois
Buchanan – Florida
Buck – Colorado
Calvert – California
Carey – Ohio
Carter – Texas
Chavez-DeRemer – Oregon
Cole – Oklahoma
D'Esposito – New York
Diaz-Balart – Florida
Duarte – California
Edwards – North Carolina
Ellzey – Texas
Feenstra – Iowa
Ferguson – Georgia
Fitzpatrick – Pennsylvania
Flood – Nebraska
Garbarino – New York
Gonzales, Tony – Texas
González-Colón – Puerto Rico
Granger – Texas
Graves – Missouri
Guthrie – Kentucky
Hinson Iowa
Joyce – Ohio
Kean – New Jersey
Kelly – Pennsylvania
Kiley – California
Kim – California
Kustoff – Tennessee
LaHood – Illinois
LaLota – New York
Lamborn – Colorado
Lawler – New York
Lee – Florida
Letlow – Louisiana
Lucas – Oklahoma
Luetkemeyer – Missouri
Malliotakis – New York
McCormick – Georgia
McHenry – North Carolina
Meuser – Pennsylvania
Miller – Ohio
Moore – Utah
Moylan – Guam
Murphy – North Carolina
Newhouse – Washington
Nunn – Iowa
Obernolte – California
Rogers – Alabama
Rogers – Kentucky
Salazar – Florida
Scott, Austin – Georgia
Sessions – Texas
Simpson – Idaho
Smith – Missouri
Smith – New Jersey
Smucker – Pennsylvania
Strong – Alabama
Thompson – Pennsylvania
Turner – Ohio
Valadao – California
Van Orden – Wisconsin
Wagner – Missouri
Wenstrup – Ohio
Womack – Arkansas
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
