America250 has received nearly $80 million from Congress since fiscal 2019, including $15 million in each of the past four years, according to the group’s latest annual report, and the Republican budget reconciliation law known as the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” allocated $150 million for the semiquincentennial. Only $25 million of that reconciliation total has gone to the congressional commission so far, according to published reports.
A dozen Senate Democrats led by Adam B. Schiff of California wrote to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum earlier this month demanding a full accounting of how the reconciliation funds are being spent, and two watchdog groups, Public Citizen and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, have called for investigations.