House Dems’ request for taxpayer-funded pilgrimage to El Salvador rejected

If a pair of performative House Democrats are going to make a pilgrimage to El Salvador to visit reputed MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, they may have to do it on their own dime.

Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) were looking to use taxpayer dollars to fund their Central American grandstanding CODEL but have been shot down by Republican House leaders who rejected their “absurd” requests that would “waste taxpayer dollars.”

The duo, along with other congressional Democrats, are looking to follow in the footsteps of Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who made the trip this week and was rewarded with days of media coverage that boosted his national name recognition. It was the attention that many are clamoring for, especially Frost and Garcia, who are emblematic of the new breed of trash-talking, left-wing activists who have emerged as future leaders.

But if they do go to El Salvador, it won’t be on a taxpayer-funded junket.

If Democrats wish to travel to El Salvador and meet with a foreign illegal MS-13 gang member, they can spend their own money to do so.

I will not approve a single dime of Oversight Committee taxpayer funds for use on the excursion Democrats have requested. pic.twitter.com/ldokDJBTve

— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) April 18, 2025

“If Democrats wish to travel to El Salvador and meet with a foreign illegal MS-13 gang member, they can spend their own money to do so,” said House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) in a Friday post to X. “I will not approve a single dime of Oversight Committee taxpayer funds for use on the excursion Democrats have requested.”

The Kentucky Republican also shared a letter to Frost and Garcia.

“I write in response to your letter of April 15, 2025 requesting that I approve, from the Committee’s budget, official travel for you both to visit the country of El Salvador to meet with a foreign MS-13 gang member whose wife accused him of crimes and who is strongly suspected of human trafficking,” he wrote.

“It is absurd that you both displayed active hostility for over two years toward the Committee’s oversight of the Biden Border Crisis and the consequences of millions of illegal aliens entering the country, yet now, you are seeking travel at Committee expense to meet with foreign gang members,” the letter continued.

“You may be pleased to know that a Democrat Senator, Chris Van Hollen, was photographed just yesterday in El Salvador enjoying margaritas garnished with cherry slices with the foreign gang member your letter references,” Comer wrote. “If you also wish to meet with him, you can spend your own money.”

“But I will not approve a single dime of taxpayer funds for use on the excursion you have requested,” Comer concluded.

The Oversight Committee boss was referring to viral images of the Maryland senator sitting at table with his “constituent” with cherry-topped glasses said to contain the tequila cocktail.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the “death camps” & “torture”, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador! pic.twitter.com/r6VWc6Fjtn

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 18, 2025

Understanding the bad optics, Van Hollen uncorked a conspiracy theory that the drinks were a setup by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.

“Let me just be very clear: Neither of us touched the drinks that were in front of us,” he told reporters who greeted him upon his return to America. “Nobody drank any margaritas or sugar water or whatever it is. But this is the lesson in the lengths that President Bukele will do to deceive people about what’s going on.”

“There is no excuse for Democrats to waste taxpayer dollars visiting and defending a transnational gang member and reported domestic abuser,” House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said in a Thursday statement, referring to allegations from a 2021 court filing that Abrego Garcia is a wife-beater.

“If Democrats care so much about defending this individual, they can use their own personal credit cards—not taxpayers’ money—to virtue-signal to their radical base,” Green added.

Staff Writer

Chris Donaldson is an ordinary American who is concerned about rampant corruption as well as the ongoing attacks on our way of life by those who have contempt for our hard-earned freedoms. A Navy veteran, he has been a frequent contributor to conservative websites and resides in Florida.

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