Vermont’s congressional delegation was split over a long-delayed, $1.2 trillion spending package signed by President Joe Biden over the weekend to fund many federal agencies and services — and to avert a partial government shutdown.
Explaining their opposition to the package, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., cited a measure within it that halts funding for the United Nations agency distributing most of the basic humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
The slate of appropriations bills also includes more than $3 billion in U.S. military aid to the Israeli government, something that Sanders said he did not want passed, either.
“This will only intensify the already horrific situation in Gaza,” Sanders said in a written statement, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “should not receive another penny from U.S. taxpayers.”
In her own statement explaining her no vote Friday, Balint said she was also concerned about the amount of funding the package directed to U.S military operations.
“I’ll always support a strong defense system for our country and a fully funded National Guard,” she said. “But it’s unconscionable to vote to give the military nearly a trillion dollars when working families in this country can barely make ends meet.”
Unlike his colleagues in the delegation, U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., voted for the spending package early Saturday morning. In his statement, he also criticized elements of it, including slashing funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. But he lauded the bill’s “compromise,” saying that he and other Democrats secured “solid wins for families across America, while avoiding far-right Republicans’ attempts to cut spending.”
Biden’s signature comes two weeks after lawmakers approved an initial set of 2024 federal spending bills totalling $460 billion. In that first package, which all three members of Vermont’s congressional delegation supported, the trio also drew down $75 million in congressionally directed spending, often known as “earmarks.”
The latest spending package includes about $28 million in additional earmarks to fund 20 other projects, secured by Sanders and Welch, according to press releases from their offices. The previous package funded 63 local projects.
In the latest round, Sanders secured $3 million for Community Health Centers of Burlington to improve its facilities and equipment, as well as $2.5 million for facilities and equipment at the Northern Tier Center for Health’s campus in Richford.
He also secured about $2 million for a collaboration between the University of Vermont and community schools in the state, as well as $1.9 million to expand a Vermont Agency of Education program focused on global leadership.
Welch’s latest haul includes $5.9 million for the Vermont State Colleges System to expand an oral health sciences program at Vermont State University’s Williston campus, as well as $1.7 million for Cathedral Square — an affordable housing developer — to provide mental health services to certain Medicare recipients statewide.
Welch’s haul also includes $996,000 for Vermont Healthcare Information Technology Education Center in Williston to support 60 apprentices on their way to becoming employees in the University of Vermont Medical Center system, as well as $740,000 to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board for flood recovery, climate resilience and other work at 100-plus farms and forests across the state.
Balint secured no additional funding in the second of the two spending packages, a spokesperson said. Balint signed onto the maximum number of projects allowed for each member of the U.S. House — 15 — in the initial set of spending bills, officials said last week.
Other major projects in the latest spending haul include:
- Sanders, Welch: $2 million for Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington to create a training program for family medicine physicians who specialize in rural primary care.
- Sanders: $1.5 million for an expansion at Lamoille Health Partners’ main campus
- Welch: $695,000 for Sterling College in Craftsbury to develop a “workforce readiness” curriculum that engages students with the surrounding community
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the amount of money earmarked for local projects in Vermont.
