Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) voted against a $1.2 trillion 5-bill minibus to reopen the government after a nearly four-day partial shutdown. Boebert said the minibus included $1.3 billion for “child transgender surgeries.”

The minibus package, which also included a continuing resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) until February 13, narrowly passed the U.S. House in a 217-214 vote. Trump signed it into law on February 3.

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However, in an X social media post posted that same day, Boebert wrote that the package included “$1.3 BILLION in earmarks funding woke facilities that provide late-term abortions & child transgender surgeries.”

I voted NO on the 5-bill minibus. Republicans have the trifecta and we should fund DHS at Trump levels for strong border security—not continue the Biden-Schumer budget.

The bill also includes $1.3 BILLION in earmarks funding woke facilities that provide late-term abortions &…

— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) February 3, 2026

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It’s not entirely clear which earmarks Boebert is referring to. However, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-NC) claimed that the package included “$3 million to Denver Health & Hospital Authority to provide transgender surgeries… and more than $3 million to Hennepin Healthcare to operate a kids’ gender clinic.”

In a January 22 House floor speech, Rep. Norman told his congressional colleagues, “I don’t know whether you realize it or not, but we’re $39 trillion in debt and counting,” and then claimed that the minibus package provides $1.5 million for an eastern Maine healthcare system that operates a pediatric gender clinic, funding for the The Ann and Robert H. Lurie Foundation’s children’s hospital of Chicago which provides transgender health care, and funding for the Temple University Hospital of Pennsylvania which provides gender-affirming care for trans adults.

Norman sought to introduce an amendment to remove all earmarks from the bills funding the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services, but his amendment was reportedly voted down.

Despite Boebert and Norman’s claims, it’s possible that the minibus merely contains federal funding for these hospitals in general rather than for their trans programs specifically. While many hospitals nationwide, including Denver Health, have stopped providing gender-affirming care to youth (amid the federal government’s pledge to prosecute and end funding for organizations that provide such care), other hospitals, like Hennepin Healthcare, have continued to offer it.

Heritage Action for America — the sister organization of the massively influential right-wing think tank, The Heritage Foundation — criticized Republicans who voted for the package, accusing them of “direct[ing] taxpayer funds to entities engaged in practices that most GOP voters find abhorrent.”

The partial government shutdown occurred over Democrats’ opposition to funding for the Department of Homeland Security amid the numerous illegal and lethal actions taken by federal immigration agents. The congressional funding feud is likely to resume as the DHS’ funding nears its end on February 13.

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