Dear Member of Congress:
On behalf of the 362,000 members of theNational Taxpayers Union (NTU), I urge you to support legislative efforts to eliminatecostly hidden mandates contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable CareAct (PPACA).
Recently, the Congressional ResearchService uncovered tens of billions in advanced appropriations in PPACA. Bycreating mandatory programs which remain on the books automatically, year afteryear, PPACA makes if far more difficult for future Presidents and to controlspending. At a time when our deficit has reached a historic high of $1.65trillion we cannot afford any covert attempts to put spending on autopilot andout of the purview of the annual appropriations process. This outrageous powergrab not only weakens Congressional oversight, but could also undermine a keyelement of the policymaking process: the ability of citizens, working withcurrent lawmakers, to adapt previously passed laws to new fiscal and politicalrealities.
To solvethese problems we urge you to support each of the following five bills:
- H.R. 1213: Strike the unlimited funds given to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide grants to states in order to set up healthcare exchanges;
- H.R. 1214: Repeal mandatory funding for the construction of school based health centers ;
- H.R. 1215: Convert the direct appropriation to the Personal Responsibility Education Program into an authorization to be determined through the normal appropriations process;
- H.R. 1216: Allow grants given to new primary care residency programs in teaching hospitals to be studied and funded through the appropriations process in order to eliminate duplicative spending; and
- H.R. 1217: Eliminate the Prevention and Public Health fund allowing the Secretary of HHS to grant additional money to programs above what Congress appropriates.
Rescinding these PPACA provisions isessential to protecting taxpayers’ money from runaway expenditures that havethe potential to elude Congressional oversight. NTU encourages allHouse members to work toward passage of these bills, each of which will be significantlyweighted in our annual Rating of Congress.
Sincerely,
Brandon Greife
Federal Government AffairsManager