NTU strongly urges all Members of Congress to vote “NO” on H.R. 1625, the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2018. This spending bill once again violates the modest budget caps Congress agreed to on a bipartisan basis only seven years ago in the Budget Control Act (BCA).
H.R. 1625 implements the new budget deal struck in February, itself a major breach of fiscal responsibility. Relative to the BCA, it increases non-defense spending by more than $62 billion and base defense spending by nearly $80 billion. On top of that, the bill contains $78.1 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account, $12.7 billion of which is for non-defense purposes. For years this account has not be restricted to either overseas or contingency spending, but maintained as a “release valve” for a Pentagon and Congress chafing under the constricts of the BCA. Despite a base budget increase of $73.4 billion over FY17 enacted levels and $23.6 billion over the Department of Defense FY18 request, OCO still remains intact, once again confirming its status as an unnecessary slush fund.
As NTU has warned before, this capitulation of fiscal responsibility threatens the very economic growth taxpayers had hoped to gain with tax reform. Just as troubling, the tortured process by which Congress arrived at this bloated spending bill should signal to everyone that the budget and spending process is irredeemably broken and in need of significant reform.
Roll call votes on the H.R. 1625 will be significantly weighted in our annual Rating of Congress and a “NO” vote will be considered the pro-taxpayer position.
If you have any questions, please contact NTU Director of Federal Affairs Nan Swift at (703) 683-5700