September 27, 2021

U.S. Senate  
Washington, D.C. 20510  

Dear Senator,  

                You will soon be considering H.R. 5305, the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act, which includes the continuing resolution (CR) for fiscal year 2022 to providing funding for the federal government until December 3, 2021, and a suspension of the statutory federal debt limit through December 2022. On behalf of more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to oppose H.R. 5305 and insist on holding separate votes on the CR and the provision to extend or suspend the debt limit.  

            Once again, Congress has failed to pass the 12 required appropriations bills before the end of the fiscal year.  The House of Representatives has passed nine appropriations bills, but the Senate has yet to debate or vote on any appropriations bills.  In addition to failing to pass the appropriations bills on time, the government is on the brink of exceeding the debt limit and possibly defaulting on its fiscal obligations.  Government spending has grown out of control and raising the debt limit must be tied to budget reforms like spending caps or similar restrictions on continued growth to prevent the debt from growing even larger.  You and your colleagues can find $4 trillion in savings over five years in Citizens Against Government Waste’s annual Prime Cuts report.

            Tying the CR to an extension of the debt limit places the economy in an untenable position.  Therefore, I urge you to insist on separate votes when considering a CR and the extension or suspension of debt limit.  All votes related to the CR and the debt limit may be among those considered for CCAGW’s 2021 Congressional Ratings.  

Sincerely, 
Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW 

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