Republicans grumble about Democrat Jon Ossoff’s spending wins in Congress

Everything on Capitol Hill is about the next campaign, so it’s no surprise that U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is taking flak from Republicans in Congress in advance of his 2026 reelection bid.

But the criticism this week from GOP senators focused on one goal for members of Congress — bringing home the bacon for their voters.

“Why does (Ossoff) receive $108m in earmarks for his reelection campaign in the latest appropriations package?” tweeted U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., demanding to know why Republicans have included Ossoff’s local funding plans in a series of government funding bills.

So far, Ossoff’s funding wins have been mainly about improvements to Georgia military bases, which might seem awkward for a Republican to criticize.

In the bill that ended the 43-day government shutdown, Congress also approved funding for military construction. Ossoff and fellow U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, also a Georgia Democrat, won approval for five different projects in the state, totaling nearly $44 million.

These plans don’t exactly scream pork-barrel spending:

• $11.4 million to fund a “corrosion control facility” for Georgia Air National Guard transport planes.
• $3.7 million for work on an F-35A simulator at Moody Air Force Base.
• $17.5 million for a security operations facility at Moody.
• $8 million to design a maintenance hangar at Hunter Army Airfield.
• $3.2 million for a new main gate at Dobbins Air Reserve Base.

There are many other earmarks for Georgia in the House-Senate spending pipeline for 2026, but it’s not clear if those will actually get approved.

In the Senate, three Republicans have blocked work on a package of government funding bills, angered in part by the thousands of local projects sought by members of both parties.

For Ossoff and Warnock, those include everything from $2 million to build a pedestrian bridge for the Beltline trail over I-20 to $1.2 million for streetscape work on Peachtree Street in Atlanta.

“Earmarks are bad,” fumed U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who is irked that his own party is allowing them in both the House and Senate. “Why the enthusiasm for them now — and for helping vulnerable Democrats win elections with them?”

It’s not just Democrats. Over in the House, one of Ossoff’s possible challengers, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, is pressing for $5 million to expand I-16 near Savannah. He’s one of many Republicans seeking home state earmarks.