July 21, 2026
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National Taxpayers Union urges all representatives to vote “NO” on H. Con. Res 113, the budget resolution that contains reconciliation instructions. While there should be robust debate about the size and scope of a third reconciliation bill, at a bare minimum, the House majority should be united by a commitment to offset the entirety of such a package. This resolution, however, fails to include the instructions to do so and would instead saddle American taxpayers with tens of billions of dollars in new debt and borrowing costs.
It’s no secret that America faces an impending fiscal disaster. On the first day of this Congress—January 3, 2025—total public debt stood at $36.2 trillion. It has since grown to $39.4 trillion and counting. Recent data from the Congressional Budget Office shows that the deficit for the current fiscal year stands at $1.4 trillion, which is $35 billion higher than last year’s deficit at this time—driven by a 3% increase in outlays. Net interest alone on the national debt is now higher than military spending and is expected to double to $2.1 trillion by 2036 unless Congress takes action.
Rather than building on the generational wins of the Working Families Tax Cuts reconciliation bill passed last year, it appears that Congress is considering backsliding. Taxpayers deserve better, and yet the budget resolution before the Committee will put us on a glide path to increasing deficits by $135 billion including added interest. This is a policy choice, not an inevitability.
Congress has at its disposal no shortage of options for cutting spending and improving program integrity. According to the Government Accountability Office, the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to waste, fraud, and abuse. The vast majority of waste, fraud, and abuse occurs in a select set of welfare and entitlement programs that are not currently within the instructed committees’ jurisdiction. This includes programs within the jurisdictions of the House Ways and Means Committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Oversight Committee. Fear of opening the door for bad policy decisions down the line is not a responsible way to draft the budget resolution at the current stage and leaves good reforms behind so early in the process.
This Congress has already passed dozens of bills to crack down on the abuse of taxpayer dollars, providing a clear baseline for offsets in this reconciliation bill. The majority must not squander this opportunity to fundamentally reform Washington’s broken budgeting habits—a change the American people are desperately demanding.
Absent significant changes, roll call votes on H. Con. Res. 113 will be included in NTU’s annual rating of Congress and a “NO” vote will be considered the pro-taxpayer position.
If you have any questions, please contact NTU’s Vice President of Federal Affairs Thomas Aiello at Taiello@ntu.org
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