From the Daily Caller: Dozens of Republicans joined all voting Democrats on Wednesday evening to reject a GOP-led effort to eliminate federal funding for a nonprofit organization accused of bias against conservatives.
Lawmakers voted 127 to 291 to strip $315 billion in funding for the State Department’s democracy promotion programs, including the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), out of a government funding package, falling well short of a majority. Republican Arizona Rep. Eli Crane, who offered the amendment, argued that although NED has the ostensible goal of promoting democracy, the organization has repeatedly promoted “anti-American objectives” and undermined freedom of speech.
The vote split House Republicans with 127 GOP lawmakers — mostly members belonging to the conference’s conservative flank — supporting the amendment and 81 joining Democrats in voting “no.”
The Daily Caller further explained why conservatives want NED defunded:
In 2020, the NED financially supported the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a United Kingdom-based anti-free speech outfit, which designated a spate of conservative news outlets as among the “riskiest” news sources for disinformation. GDI then sent this list to major advertisers in an attempt to bleed the sites of ad revenue.
However, despite NED’s efforts to undermine freedom of speech and help silence conservative news, 81 Republicans still refused to defund the organization.
In a post on X, Rep. Crane wrote, “Tonight, the Uniparty rejected my amendment to defund NED. 81 ‘republicans’ voted with democrats to fund this rogue organization that fuels global censorship and domestic propaganda. To see how your representative voted, visit: https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202627.”
Billionaire Elon Musk, who has pushed for NED to be defunded, appeared to voice his disgust, as he simply wrote, “Yup.”
Yup
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 15, 2026
General Mike Flynn reacted to the news, and said President Trump should veto the entire bill.
The GOP is awful.
Thank you @RepEliCrane for standing up to this monstrosity called NED!@realDonaldTrump should VETO the entire bill! https://t.co/sC9bsoBaeI
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) January 14, 2026
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) slammed the rogue Republicans.
“Uniparty Republicans—including the 81 who just voted with Democrats to keep sending your hard-earned money to the far-left NED—are making a mockery of the voters who elected them. Pick a horse—and ride it. If you’d rather ride a donkey, you’re probably in the wrong party,” Lee declared.
Uniparty Republicans—including the 81 who just voted with Democrats to keep sending your hard-earned money to the far-left NED—are making a mockery of the voters who elected them
Pick a horse—and ride it
If you’d rather ride a donkey, you’re probably in the wrong party https://t.co/iMf5hVHSKD pic.twitter.com/xIJ9PscVCS
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) January 15, 2026
CLICK HERE to see how they voted, or see the full list below of the 81 Republicans who rejected the bid to strip the $315 million funding from NED:
- Aderholt (AL)
- Alford (MO)
- Bacon (NE)
- Baird (IN)
- Baumgartner (WA)
- Bentz (OR)
- Bice (OK)
- Bilirakis (FL)
- Bresnahan (PA)
- Buchanan (FL)
- Calvert (CA)
- Carey (OH)
- Carter (TX)
- Ciscomani (AZ)
- Cole (OK)
- Crawford (AR)
- Diaz-Balart (FL)
- Edwards (NC)
- Ellzey (TX)
- Estes (KS)
- Evans (CO)
- Feenstra (IA)
- Fitzpatrick (PA)
- Flood (NE)
- Franklin, Scott (FL)
- Garbarino (NY)
- Gimenez (FL)
- Goldman (TX)
- Guthrie (KY)
- Haridopolos (FL)
- Hill (AR)
- Hinson (IA)
- Huizenga (MI)
- Hurd (CO)
- Issa (CA)
- Johnson (SD)
- Joyce (OH)
- Kean (NJ)
- Kelly (PA)
- Kiggans (VA)
- Kiley (CA)
- Kim (CA)
- LaHood (IL)
- LaLota (NY)
- Latta (OH)
- Lawler (NY)
- Lucas (OK)
- Mackenzie (PA)
- Malliotakis (NY)
- Maloy (UT)
- Mast (FL)
- McCaul (TX)
- Meuser (PA)
- Molenaar (MI)
- Moore (UT)
- Moran (TX)
- Newhouse (WA)
- Nunn (IA)
- Obernolte (CA)
- Pfluger (TX)
- Rogers (AL)
- Rogers (KY)
- Rutherford (FL)
- Salazar (FL)
- Simpson (ID)
- Smith (NE)
- Smucker (PA)
- Stefanik (NY)
- Strong (AL)
- Taylor (OH)
- Tenney (NY)
- Turner (OH)
- Valadao (CA)
- Wagner (MO)
- Walberg (MI)
- Webster (FL)
- Westerman (AR)
- Wilson (SC)
- Wittman (VA)
- Womack (AR)
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who voted in support of defunding NED, also called for President Trump to veto the bill.
127 of us voted AYE to defund the leftist-neocon National Endowment for Democracy. Hundreds of millions of your dollars spent on foreign interference!
NO = fund NED
AYE = defund NEDPOTUS should veto the underlying bill.
Linked roll call of Ayes/Noes: https://t.co/RGpo7ks6pd https://t.co/TgFXwcWEJb pic.twitter.com/wENB7AhKn3
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) January 14, 2026
NED directly funded pressure attacks on advertisers to get advertisers to defund populist news sites. Here, NED’s contractor Global Disinformation Index bragged to NED they caused a $70M ($100M Canadian) drop in ad revenue to news sites, and changed US advertiser trade policies pic.twitter.com/VJtsuMaGhs
— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) January 14, 2026
The head of NED, Damon Wilson, makes $469,808 in that role. NED is funded by the US State Department, whose head makes $250,600 a year. Why does the NED head make almost twice the salary of the Secretary of State? pic.twitter.com/j7sRU2XwNW
— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) January 14, 2026
Here is NED’s Dean Jackson, who spearheaded its censorship projects during Trump 1, effectively bragging that NED moved into the censorship / disinformation space in 2017 because Trump won the 2016 election with help from “Russian disinfo” on social media, which NED had to stop. pic.twitter.com/pcJ4WmOddy
— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) January 14, 2026
81 Republicans just voted to fund NED. So did every single Democrat. If Republicans voted in block like Democrats, NED would be defunded now. But the blocker, as I’ve said so many times, is not Democrats. If it was, all these things could be fixed. It’s the Blob side of the GOP. https://t.co/QWnAbRon2f pic.twitter.com/udxf0cNYKd
— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) January 14, 2026
READ MORE from the Daily Caller.
Follow us on X (Formerly Twitter.)
The DML News App: www.X.com/DMLNewsApp
The Dennis Michael Lynch Podcast archive is available below, with the most recent on top. Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the show by downloading The DML News App or go to Apple Podcasts.
