September 14, 2017

Open Letter to the U.S. Senate:

Oppose Efforts to Retreat on Spending Restraint

 On behalf of the undersigned organizations, representing millions of Americans, we strongly urge all Senators to oppose Senator Cotton’s amendments #456, #826, and #1007 to H.R. 2810, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018.

This short-sighted amendment would eliminate the 2011 Budget Control Act’s (BCA) sequester mechanism for discretionary spending, rendering the spending caps unenforceable and reneging on Congress’ promise to deliver $1 trillion in deficit reduction by 2021.

Though an imperfect legislative solution to our growing fiscal woes, the BCA has nonetheless been an essential check on the congressional impulse to overspend. The BCA has generated significant savings for taxpayers, established a lower budget baseline, and forced much-needed waste reduction and prioritization of programmatic needs across federal agencies.

The annual Defense authorization act is an improper vehicle to unwind the BCA. Any discussion of repealing or changing the caps ought to be done in the context of other significant reforms that would generate real savings for taxpayers – both now AND in the future.

As the BCA has successfully demonstrated, even modest spending reductions now will positively affect our fiscal outlook for years to come, particularly on the mandatory spending side of the ledger. Repealing the BCA in the absence of a comprehensive plan to restrain our out-of-control spending, coincidentally within days of our national debt reaching new record-highs, would represent yet another failure of Congress to exercise the fiscal restraint that our economy urgently requires.

Sincerely,

Brandon Arnold
Executive Vice President
National Taxpayers Union

Wm. Brent Gardner
Chief Government Affairs Officer
Americans for Prosperity

Norm Singleton
President
Campaign for Liberty

Andrew F. Quinlan
President
Center for Freedom & Prosperity

Jonathan Bydlak
President
Coalition to Reduce Spending

Dan Caldwell
Director of Policy
Concerned Veterans for America

Tom Schatz
President
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste

Richard A. Viguerie
Chairman
ConservativeHQ

Edward King
President
Defense Priorities Initiative

Nathan Nascimento
Vice President of Policy
Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce

 Adam Brandon
President
FreedomWorks

David Barnes                                           
Policy Director                                   
Generation Opportunity

Heather R. Higgins
President and CEO
Independent Women's Voice

Jorge Lima
Executive Director
The Libre Initiative

Steve Ellis
Vice President
Taxpayers for Common Sense

David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance

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