Trump-signed shutdown bill sends $4M to children's hospitals under federal probe for transgender care

In passing the $1.2 trillion megabill to end the government shutdown Tuesday, lawmakers sent $4 million in funding to two children's hospitals under investigation by President Donald Trump's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for their track record of providing transgender healthcare to minors.

The allocations to Seattle Children’s Hospital in Washington state and the Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago can be found in the $1.2 trillion package that funds several agencies, including HHS, that Trump signed into law Tuesday, ending the latest partial government shutdown.

The hospitals are among several the administration has put under a spotlight with HHS probes in Trump's bid to halt "chemical and surgical mutilation" against minors.

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The $4 million in congressionally directed spending, Capitol Hill jargon for earmarks, was requested by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured $3 million for Seattle Children's Hospital, which did not respond to a request for comment on how the funding might be used.

Murray told Fox News Digital the funding was meant "to provide a safe and comfortable space for kids in crisis, kids who may seriously harm themselves or take their own life."

"It has nothing to do with President Trump’s hateful crusade against transgender children," Murray said. "It’s disgusting to see a witch hunt against funding for a project that enjoys broad support from across the community — all Americans, regardless of political affiliation, understand that we need more investments to tackle the mental health crisis in this country."

The remaining $1 million is slated for Lurie Children's Hospital, which paused its transgender care for minors amid the Trump administration's ongoing investigation.

Durbin's office told Fox News Digital, "Senator Durbin is proud to have secured $1 million for the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago to support the expansion of the new hospital-based violence recovery program, serving pediatric victims of violence with trauma-informed mental health and recovery services.

"We are fortunate to have the expertise of the professionals at Lurie Children’s applied to the complex challenges that too many children in Chicago are exposed to from community violence, child abuse, and mental health needs."

When asked for Trump's reaction to the $4 million in earmarks to the hospitals, White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital, "The American people gave President Trump a resounding mandate to restore common sense in America, and the Trump administration is exploring other tools to crack down on child mutilation procedures."

Earmark spending — pork barrel spending as it's often known — has long been a heated debate on Capitol Hill. The practice was banned for roughly a decade but reinstated a handful of years ago, with limits.

The earmarks for the hospitals are among several that fiscal hawks like Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, blasted from the Senate floor last week.

"They do a lot, including spending on woke, wasteful and unjustified spending: puberty blockers for kids," Lee said as he listed his opposition to a number of earmarks in the bill.

"We don’t need this; we don’t want this. It’s unacceptable. It must end."

Some Senate Republicans have for years railed against earmarks, going so far as to permanently ban them within their own conference in 2019. Still, that ban does not encompass the entire Senate, and, ultimately, is more of an honor system among individual members.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, who oversees the process of putting together spending bills before they hit the floor, argued that earmarks, known as congressionally directed spending (CDS), are mostly requests made by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle tailor-made for a lawmakers' state.

"Members of Congress understand the needs of our constituents far better than any well-intentioned federal employee located here in Washington," Collins said on the Senate floor. "The CDS projects provide funding for states, communities and nonprofit organizations. The process is completely open and transparent."

Seattle Children’s Hospital and Lurie Children’s Hospital have both drawn scrutiny from health officials as the Trump administration has taken a more critical stance against sex-change procedures and their effects on children.

After announcing that HHS would bar hospitals from performing sex-reassignment procedures on children, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. targeted Seattle Children’s Hospital’s access to Medicare and Medicaid programs.

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"Under my leadership, and answering President Trump’s call to action, the federal government will do everything in its power to stop unsafe, irreversible practices that put our children at risk," Kennedy said in a press release in December.

A number of states, including Washington, have sued the Trump administration for its decision, arguing that HHS lacked the power to "substantively alter the standards of care and effectively ban, by fiat, an entire category of healthcare."

Despite the ongoing litigation, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) opened a probe into Seattle Children's activities in December.

The Lurie Children’s Hospital scaled back its transgender services in response to pressure from HHS earlier this year but has still come under recent scrutiny from the department.

HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart announced in a post on X last month that he had referred Lurie Children’s Hospital to OIG alongside four other hospitals for failing to protect "children from sex-rejecting procedures."

In response, Lurie Children's Hospital said it had paused its transgender care services for those under 18, according to statements made to local news outlets.

As listed on the earmarks, the $3 million in funding for Seattle Children’s Hospital would go toward "facilities and equipment to construct a behavioral health stabilization unit."

The $1 million in funding for Lurie Children’s would go toward "health and trauma services for pediatric patients."

Neither hospital responded to a request for comment for more information on how that funding might be used or about their relationships with HHS.