The Honorable Tom Price
United States House of Representatives
424 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Jim Jordan
United States House of Representatives
515 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representatives Price and Jordan:
On behalf of the 362,000 members of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I write to offer our support for the Republican Study Committee’s FY 2011 continuing resolution (CR), which would provide a fiscally sound blueprint to close out this year’s appropriations process.
The new fiscal year begins in a little over one week and we have yet to see any of the twelve FY 2011 appropriations bills signed into law. Currently, the government has no legislatively approved funding with which to operate beyond this month. Your proposal would enact a full-year continuing resolution, thereby obviating an expensive short-term CR and omnibus bill at a later date. Furthermore, your legislation delivers lasting budget restraint by returning discretionary spending to FY 2008 levels (saving $99 billion) and prohibiting “emergency” appropriations. For too long, Congress has abused the supplemental spending process to heap piles of spending onto the backs of overburdened taxpayers and we commend you for rejecting this deceptive practice.
Congressional earmarks pave the way for government expansion while also serving to further undermine Americans’ deteriorating trust in the leaders who serve them. We are therefore pleased to see that your CR would implement a full-year earmark moratorium to combat the pork-laden politics that continue to burden our legislative process. Finally, we applaud your efforts in seeking to defund the so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by preventing resources from being used to carry out its provisions and subsidize forthcoming lawsuit challenges. While we would like to see a push for full repeal, defunding the health care law would help spare taxpayers from mammoth tax hikes, mounds of restrictive regulations, and a multitude of hidden mandates and fees.
We thank you for introducing common-sense solutions in a year when Congressional spending priorities have been reckless and misguided. Your commitment to fiscal responsibility is evident and we wholeheartedly endorse your legislation.
Roll call votes on the Republican Study Committee continuing resolution will be significantly weighted in our annual Rating of Congress.
Sincerely,
Jordan Forbes
Federal Government Affairs Manager