Get Your Ideology Out of Federal Budget, 178 Groups Say to Congress
Published on
Thursday, September 10, 2015
by
Common Dreams
Get Your Ideology Out of Federal Budget, 178 Groups Say to Congress
'With hundreds of outrageous policy riders, the 2016 appropriations bills
look more like a Christmas wish list for big business than a serious federal
budget,' says Public Citizen
by
Deirdre Fulton, staff writer
"The lengthy list of policy riders included in pending appropriations bills
represents Washington at its worst," said Robert Weissman, president of
Public Citizen. "Stealthy, out-of-order maneuvers are used to force through
unpopular legislative provisions, imposing enormous harm on the American
public to benefit corporate donors." (Photo: Speaker John Boehner/flickr/cc)
Citing a lengthy list of "wildly inappropriate" provisions that have been
attached to pending U.S. budget proposals, a coalition of 178 groups
representing tens of millions of Americans is calling on President Barack
Obama and Congress to oppose any federal appropriations bills that include
"ideological" policy riders.
In a letter (pdf) sent Thursday to Obama and members of Congress, the
organizations charge lawmakers with inserting controversial and unpopular
measures-ones with "little or no connection to funding the government"-into
must-pass legislation in order "to serve the narrow interests of particular
industries at the expense of public health, safety, workers' rights,
financial security, science, and the environment."
The missive, which is signed by a wide range of groups including Greenpeace,
NAACP, National Organization for Women, Public Citizen, and United
Steelworkers, describes such riders as "the new earmarks," but notes they
are even worse in that "they have vastly greater reach and consequence for
the American people."
Many people are aware that the GOP is considering attaching a rider
defunding Planned Parenthood to a government spending bill, despite the fact
that the public opposes and Obama would veto such a measure.
But there are many more examples, including proposals that would:
. Prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from updating
important air quality standards for ozone and roll back a recently finalized
rule that protects clean water;
. Roll back strong net neutrality rules and prevent the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) from enforcing rules that ensure internet
openness and affordability;
. Stop the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from requiring
publicly traded companies to disclose their political spending;
. Roll back financial regulations in areas ranging from protections
against irresponsible mortgage lending to limits on excessive borrowing by
large banks, to undermining the effectiveness of the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (CFPB); and
. Eliminate any funding for the Title X Family Planning Program,
cutting the preventive care-including family planning services, well-woman
exams, lifesaving cancer screenings, birth control, and testing and
treatments for sexually transmitted infections-that nearly 4.6 million
people currently rely on.
"With hundreds of outrageous policy riders, the 2016 appropriations bills
look more like a Christmas wish list for big business than a serious federal
budget," said Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch
division. "These riders are designed to do one thing: hijack the budget
process to roll back basic protections for Main Street."
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Get Your Ideology Out of Federal Budget, 178 Groups Say to Congress
Published on
Thursday, September 10, 2015
by
Common Dreams
Get Your Ideology Out of Federal Budget, 178 Groups Say to Congress
'With hundreds of outrageous policy riders, the 2016 appropriations bills
look more like a Christmas wish list for big business than a serious federal
budget,' says Public Citizen
by
Deirdre Fulton, staff writer
. 5 Comments
.
. "The lengthy list of policy riders included in pending
appropriations bills represents Washington at its worst," said Robert
Weissman, president of Public Citizen. "Stealthy, out-of-order maneuvers are
used to force through unpopular legislative provisions, imposing enormous
harm on the American public to benefit corporate donors." (Photo: Speaker
John Boehner/flickr/cc)
. Citing a lengthy list of "wildly inappropriate" provisions that have
been attached to pending U.S. budget proposals, a coalition of 178 groups
representing tens of millions of Americans is calling on President Barack
Obama and Congress to oppose any federal appropriations bills that include
"ideological" policy riders.
. In a letter (pdf) sent Thursday to Obama and members of Congress,
the organizations charge lawmakers with inserting controversial and
unpopular measures-ones with "little or no connection to funding the
government"-into must-pass legislation in order "to serve the narrow
interests of particular industries at the expense of public health, safety,
workers' rights, financial security, science, and the environment."
. The missive, which is signed by a wide range of groups including
Greenpeace, NAACP, National Organization for Women, Public Citizen, and
United Steelworkers, describes such riders as "the new earmarks," but notes
they are even worse in that "they have vastly greater reach and consequence
for the American people."
. Many people are aware that the GOP is considering attaching a rider
defunding Planned Parenthood to a government spending bill, despite the fact
that the public opposes and Obama would veto such a measure.
But there are many more examples, including proposals that would:
. Prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from updating
important air quality standards for ozone and roll back a recently finalized
rule that protects clean water;
. Roll back strong net neutrality rules and prevent the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) from enforcing rules that ensure internet
openness and affordability;
. Stop the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from requiring
publicly traded companies to disclose their political spending;
. Roll back financial regulations in areas ranging from protections
against irresponsible mortgage lending to limits on excessive borrowing by
large banks, to undermining the effectiveness of the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (CFPB); and
. Eliminate any funding for the Title X Family Planning Program,
cutting the preventive care-including family planning services, well-woman
exams, lifesaving cancer screenings, birth control, and testing and
treatments for sexually transmitted infections-that nearly 4.6 million
people currently rely on.
"With hundreds of outrageous policy riders, the 2016 appropriations bills
look more like a Christmas wish list for big business than a serious federal
budget," said Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch
division. "These riders are designed to do one thing: hijack the budget
process to roll back basic protections for Main Street."
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
