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