Last week, Congress passed a “continuing resolution” — or a one-week extension of government funding. That CR expired at 11:59 pm last night so Congress issued another short-term CR to allow time for continued negotiations.
Congressional leaders are working through the weekend on a spending deal—a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill that would run through the end of the fiscal year (October 2021).
Generally, omnibus bills are bad news. They make it easy to fit a lot of bad things into a large bill. For instance, current negotiations reportedly include a surprise medical billing proposal. Heritage Action Vice President Garrett Bess explains why that is an issue:
“...An omnibus bill or COVID package is not the place for a surprise billing proposal. While surprise billing is a serious issue that impacts the health and finances of millions of Americans, it should be handled separately to allow a full and transparent debate. Congress should be targeting funding toward the health impact of COVID, reopening American society, and helping Americans get back to work, not passing unrelated policies."
While the bill is far from perfect, Heritage Action has successfully fought against wastefully giving hundreds of billions in bailout money to state governments. Many of you might recall helping put together this video earlier in the year to oppose state bailouts.
Washington has noticed and it's likely that bailouts won't be in the final deal reached (but that’s not a given). This week, The New York Times gave you credit for stopping state bailouts.
But the work is not over!
Conservatives should not wait for a spending bill to be introduced before contacting their members of Congress. Once a bill is introduced, the deal is done, and it becomes a lot harder to change the outcome.
Call your Senator and Congressman and ask them to:
- OPPOSE reauthorizing the extra $300/week in federal unemployment benefits. This rewards governors who have taken unscientific approaches to fighting the pandemic and shut down their states.
- SUPPORT liability protections for businesses. We should protect businesses that took reasonable precautions and opened during the pandemic from frivolous lawsuits.
- LEAVE surprise billing out of any omnibus or COVID relief bill. It should be handled separately.
As always, thank you for fighting for this country. Here is to a brighter and more prosperous 2021!
Jessica and the Heritage Action team
P.S. – Keep scrolling for a reminder of all we accomplished together in 2020: