<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">A museum in Connecticut was planning to build out its planetarium and observatory. Boys &amp; Girls Clubs in Tennessee and Texas were set to expand their mentorship programs. A college in Georgia wanted to turn part of its library into a business incubator, and at least two dozen airports across the United States were on track to renovate their terminals and runways.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Those projects and scores of others that had been in line to receive federal funding this year saw that money evaporate this week when Republicans rallied around a stopgap government funding extension to avert a shutdown at midnight tonight. The measure, which passed the House on Tuesday and awaits a vote in the Senate, largely keeps government spending at current levels.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">That means it doesn’t include earmarks requested by members of Congress for individual projects in their districts and states. Taken together, the projects totaled about $13 billion, according to congressional aides, a drop in the bucket when it comes to federal spending.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Their omission is yet another way in which Congress has given up its power of the purse — in this case, its members’ ability to direct federal money to projects that help their constituents — at the start of President Trump’s second term.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Lawmakers in both parties lamented the demise of the earmarks, which leaves a host of community improvements and programs in the lurch.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“I’m sorry everybody didn’t get their projects,” Representative Tom Cole, the Oklahoma Republican who chairs the Appropriations Committee, told his colleagues in the House chamber on Tuesday.</p><div class="css-1336jj"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171quhb"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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