November 4, 2021

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative,

You will soon be considering H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act.  On behalf of more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to oppose this massive and wasteful spending bill.  

H.R. 5376 calls for up to $1.75 trillion in government spending, although there is no Congressional Budget Office score, and the provisions of the legislation are changing rapidly.  It is possible that you may vote for the bill without knowing how much it will cost until after it has been passed.  Given the $5.7 trillion that has already been approved by Congress since the beginning of the pandemic, of which $1 trillion remains unspent, and not knowing the full cost of H.R. 5376, the fiscally prudent choice would be to vote against the legislation.  Many of the COVID recovery bills included provisions and programs that had nothing to do with the pandemic, and H.R. 5376 contains more of the same.  According to an analysis of the bill’s text, there is $550 billion, or 31 percent, for climate-related programs and $3 billion, or .17 percent, to prepare for future pandemics.  These misplaced priorities are part of the effort to enact a political agenda rather than provide practical solutions to the problems facing the country, including runaway inflation and the record national debt. 

In addition to the wasteful spending, H.R. 5376 greatly expands the size, scope, and power of the federal government by providing $79 billion in new spending for the IRS with the stated goal of hiring 87,000 new IRS agents to help close the tax gap.  The IRS has a long and troubling history of mismanaging confidential taxpayer data and targeting Americans based on their political views, and it is unlikely that the projected revenue of $400 billion will be achieved.  The legislation also includes tax provisions that will harm small businesses and belie President Biden’s claim that it will not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000, particularly the increased taxes on tobacco and related products.  Therefore, it will not “cost nothing,” since the government cannot spend money it does not take from the American people.

H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act, is a massive tax and spending bill that would vastly expand the size and scope of the government and bankrupt future taxpayers and the nation.  For these reasons, I urge you to oppose H.R. 5376.  All votes related to H.R. 5376 may be among those considered for CCAGW’s 2021 Congressional Ratings. 

Sincerely, 
Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW 

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