House Axes Omar’s $1M Earmark for Restaurant-Based ‘Substance Abuse Clinic’
“The House has now stripped that earmark out of that spending bill. But again, this is how easy money has been flowing to bad actors in Minnesota.”
During a Thursday interview on Fox Business News with Stuart Varney, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said she investigated a $1 million earmark requested by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for a substance abuse clinic in Omar’s district and uncovered what she described as “tons of red flags.”
Ernst said the clinic was “housed in a restaurant” and that the three individuals listed as running the operation all shared the same residential address.
After alerting House leadership to her findings, the earmark was subsequently stripped from the spending bill.
Ernst told Varney:
What I uncovered the other day in one of our spending bills making its way through Congress was a $1 million earmark from Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota — which was an earmark that was supposedly going to a substance abuse clinic, which actually happened to be housed in a restaurant and run by three individuals that share the same residential address, according to their IRS paperwork. Tons of red flags.
So this is what we saw with the fraud involving the daycare centers. Now we see other earmarks coming directly from members of Congress where it seems fraud is being perpetrated as well.
So I raised the issue, and fortunately, the House has now stripped that earmark out of that spending bill. But again, this is how easy money has been flowing to bad actors in Minnesota.
🚨 BREAKING: Republicans just REMOVED a spending provision placed by Somali Rep. Ilhan Omar that would've sent $1 million to a fraudulent "clinic" in Minnesota
The $1M was for a "substance abuse clinic" that happens to be housed in a RESTAURANT run by 3 people with the same… pic.twitter.com/tGAPsfJLnT
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 8, 2026
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), a noted fiscal hawk, posted a page from the list of congressional funding projects on X which identifies both of the state’s Democratic senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, as co-requesters of this earmark. Roy wrote: “Chalk one up for the good guys. Proud to work the last two days to stop the outrageous Ilhan Omar $1 million Somali earmark. Much more to do.”
BREAKING: Chalk one up for the good guys. Proud to work the last two days to stop the outrageous Ilhan Omar $1 million Somali earmark. Much more to do. pic.twitter.com/OulVc7zcim
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) January 7, 2026
While $1 million may seem insignificant in the context of the federal budget, this is often how fraud takes root. Small amounts, repeated and overlooked, can add up to major losses over time. In the stock market, investors refer to this phenomenon as “death by a thousand eighths” — a slow, incremental decline that may seem harmless at first but becomes devastating if allowed to continue.
It’s fortunate that Ernst, who has become a prominent voice for fiscal responsibility in the government, noticed this earmark and questioned its legitimacy. The decision to deny the funding likely came as an unwelcome surprise to Omar.
In fact, given the dramatic increase in Omar’s reported net worth during her time in Congress, closer scrutiny may be warranted. When she arrived in Washington in 2019, Omar reported no assets and total liabilities ranging from negative $25,000 to negative $65,000.
In her most recent financial disclosure, submitted in May 2025, Omar reported a joint net worth with her husband, Tim Mynett, of between $6 million and $30 million.
The Washington Free Beacon was the first media outlet to report on the surge in the couple’s net worth.
Omar has her husband to thank for catapulting her to multimillionaire status in 2024. Mynett’s California-based winery eStCru LLC and venture capital firm Rose Lake Capital both achieved remarkable financial turnarounds in 2024.
[The article details how those turnarounds were achieved.]
In any case, a closer examination of the extent to which Omar has directed federal funds to Somali-owned businesses in her state would be justified. Such a review would presumably fall within the scope of the federal government’s ongoing investigation of Minnesota’s growing welfare fraud scandal.
But Omar is not an outlier — she is a symptom of a broken earmark system. A comprehensive investigation into all congressional earmarks is long overdue. The results would likely shock U.S. taxpayers. The lack of transparency surrounding these deals only reinforces the case for sweeping reform and aggressive oversight of how federal dollars are truly spent.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
“Restaurant Based Substance Abuse Clinic for hungry Somalians”
Ha ha ha. That’s a good one!
How about “Money Based Operation for Vacuuming Taxpayer’s Pockets”
“The $1M was for a “substance abuse clinic” that happens to be housed in a RESTAURANT”
But now what will we do to combat the ballooning scourge of xawaash abuse??
I’ve read elsewhere that the claim is the clinic is on the floor above the restaurant however, the clinic also lists another address so no one knows where it’s located. Considering restaurants were where a bunch of the fraud in Minneapolis passed through it’s just a tad suspicious.
Well, to be fair, some smokable substances sometimes give rise to the munchies.
so Illness Omar again,, is involved in a coverup while innocent ICE agents have to face the wrath of armed with vehicles thuggs
Omar knew of alll this
How about blocking all Congressional pet projects/pork? Just budget $1M per Rep HoR and $2M per Senator and have a single up/down vote of all the pork as the last amendment to the appropriation bill? Require a spreadsheet style presentation for each Rep/Senator’s proposed distribution losing who gets it, what its intended to do, Citizenship status of recipient, all board members and executive/officers listed, whether these folks have any IRS actions, State actions or Federal actions pending or in their history. IOW give the grifters an avenue to bring back some bacon but make it easy for average folks back home and across the Nation to see exactly what’s going on.
If only the story was “House Axes Omar”
I planned to say that!
She lied on her immigration paperwork but Bondi/Patel the ‘worthless duo” have done nothing with the information. She should be deported with haste.
No one else has either. They have a lot of corruption to deal with from decades of abuse, Omar violating immigration law is just one of them. You have noticed the millions of other illegal aliens rolling around, right?
No, she did not. It is literally impossible for her to have done so. You are the one lying here. Maybe you should be deported?
I just want the House to axe Omar.
If her wealth continues this climb, she’s going to reach Pelosi status.
This “four ” letter word for a human being has been a thorn in the side of the US toooooo long! Either deport her or prosecute her. She’s not worth the time wasted keeping her around.
Deporting her is not an option no matter what she has done, unless you can find some flaw in her naturalization. So far there has been no credible allegation of such a flaw, let alone evidence.
Someone recently posted here a claim that she claims to have been included in her father’s naturalization, but that her father never naturalized. If so that would indeed make her an alien, but the person did not post anything in the way of evidence, or even any reason to suspect it. Simply claiming something is true doesn’t make it so.
As for prosecuting her, again, for what? What crime has she committed for which the statute of limitations has not yet run?
So the Friday Night “Death to America” event has moved from Tehran to Minneapolis this week?
By the way
Tucker has come out a true lefty
I wonder if his family is being
Held
Ransom by the muzzies?
His new besties
I hope that who ever is investigating the Minnesota fraud cases also looks at the recipients of Omar’s past earmarks. I’ll bet these will provide some additional fraud leads or funding of terrorists.
Daylight is a powerful disinfectant. Expose this POS!
“Not gonna ax you again…”
It’s apparent why Congress worked so hard to stamp out the Mafia in past decades. It was encroaching on their own rackets.
Crime cartels battling for turf. Nada mas!
Just one big happy fambly innit.
Every single item on that page, plus all of the others should be removed as well. Earmarks are only one reason that the national debt is so enormous.
Really? So who should decide what projects get funded? The bureaucrats?! The constitution gives that job to Congress.
The Somali’s and Omar hit on the ultimate money scheme. Get one of them elected to Congress where they can just send out the cash and if called on it scream raycist and islamophobe until people turn away.
Why oh why is this turban-head still in the country? She’s a pig.
She’s in the country because she’s a naturalized US citizen, which makes this just as much her country as yours. If you have information otherwise, feel free to post it.
Nothing stops the gravy train, the show goes on………