Budget Reconciliation Bill: Reckless Spending and Misguided Priorities

Dear Representative:

On September 25, the House Budget Committee approved H.R. 5376, a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill that recklessly spends taxpayers’ money on priorities that are destructive to our national economy and ideologically radical. While we expect bicameral negotiations to lower the short-term spending number, the bill will lock in massive new spending for the long-term and advance a socialist policy agenda. We urge you to oppose this ill-advised legislation.

Low-income Americans are feeling the pinch of higher prices fueled by inflation, whether at the gas pump, in their utility bills or at the grocery store. The massive new spending and giveaways in H.R. 5376 will make inflation worse, erode personal savings, and create more government dependency.

At a time when employers are seeking to fill millions of open positions, including in the supply chain, this bill inexplicably continues welfare benefits without work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents. 

In August, we marked the 25th anniversary of President Clinton signing bipartisan welfare reform legislation. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (P.L. 104-193) required most welfare recipients to work and limited the amount of welfare people could receive. It provided a pathway out of government dependency — toward employment and independence. 

Following passage of this landmark legislation, child poverty fell, dependency shrunk, and millions of Americans moved from welfare to the dignity of work. This reconciliation bill will take us in the opposite direction, setting a path that is destructive to our national culture and economic well-being. It will bring back and dramatically expand the failed welfare policies of the 1990’s that then-Senator Biden opposed.

H.R. 5376 wrongly blocks the ability of many faith-based providers to participate in the childcare system and seeks to increase federal control over pre-K education. It circumvents the Hyde Amendment, mandating taxpayer-funded abortions. It also exacerbates an EITC marriage penalty.

This budget bill will encourage higher levels of illegal immigration, creating greater health and safety hazards at the same time Americans are facing onerous new health care mandates.

Proponents of this legislation have been clear that they fundamentally want to change our country forever. This bill abandons fiscal and personal responsibility; undermines protections for life, religious liberty and educational freedom; and threatens public health and safety. It should be opposed, as should any ‘lite’ version with the same fundamental flaws.

Sincerely,

Star Parker, President

Marty Dannenfelser, Director of Governmental Relations