The Honorable John Boehner
Speaker of the House
H-232, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Eric Cantor
House Majority Leader
H-329, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Speaker Boehner and Leader Cantor:

For the first time, the activities of the Obama administration are receiving a sustained public vetting.  Americans’ outrage over Benghazi is amplified by the Internal Revenue Service’s intimidation of conservative grassroots organizations and a cascade of negative headlines.  There is the real sense the Obama administration has been less than forthright with the American people, the press and lawmakers.

Recent events have rightly focused the nation’s attention squarely on the actions of the Obama administration. It is incumbent upon the House of Representatives to conduct oversight hearings on those actions, but it would be imprudent to do anything that shifts the focus from the Obama administration to the ideological differences within the House Republican Conference.

To that end, we urge you to avoid bringing any legislation to the House Floor that could expose or highlight major schisms within the conference.  Legislation such as the Internet sales tax or the FARRM Act which contains nearly $800 billion in food stamp spending, would give the press a reason to shift their attention away from the failures of the Obama administration to write another “circular firing squad” article.

Make no mistake, principled conservatives will still oppose bad policy if it comes to the floor.  Rather than scheduling such legislation for consideration, we urge you to keep the attention focused squarely on the Obama administration.  As the public’s trust in their government continues to erode, it is incumbent upon those of us who support a smaller, less intrusive government to lead.

Sincerely,

Michael A. Needham
Chief Executive Officer
Heritage Action for America

View the letter here.

Washington’s Farm Policy is a nearly trillion dollar tangle of agriculture subsidies, welfare payments and environmental patronage. There is tremendous need for reform. Current subsidy programs are rooted in the 1930s, when prices for crops and livestock bottomed out and farm families were desperate for income. Agriculture today could not be more different. Farmers are pulling in record-high levels of income and carrying record-low levels of debt. Technology has eliminated many of the risks that once plagued farming, and the profitability of crops that go without subsidies demonstrates independent agriculture is viable in the 21st Century. There is no way to justify continuing to give tens of billions of dollars to the farm industry.

Farm Policy: The “Terrible Twelve”

1.  Direct Payments. Taxpayers are lavishing billions of dollars on successful farm enterprises whether or not the farm is actually growing the crops for which they are receiving the subsidies or growing any crop at all. Contact: Diane Katz diane.katz@heritage.org and Fran Smith fbsmith@cei.org

2.  Federal Crop Insurance. In 2012 taxpayers spent more than $14 billion subsidizing agriculture businesses buying crop insurance (and thus subsidizing insurance companies) for everything from almonds to oysters. Contact: Andrew Moylan amoylan@rstreet.org and Josh Sewell josh@taxpayer.net

3.  Shallow Loss Programs.  A new open-ended income program will put taxpayers on the hook for guaranteeing record prices. This shallow loss coverage would cost taxpayers billions of dollars and potentially violate World Trade Organization rules. Contact: Josh Sewell  Josh@taxpayer.net and Andrew Moylan amoylan@rstreet.org

4.  USDA Trade Promotion Programs. Taxpayers spend some $200 million annually to support advertising campaigns that benefit large corporate enterprises and agricultural special interests. Contact: Leslie Paige lpaige@cagw.org

5.  Sugar Program.  A small number of sugar producers receive enormous benefits, while the costs are spread across the U.S. economy, harming consumers, taxpayers, and the sweetener-using industries. Contact: Fran Smith fbsmith@cei.org

6.  Dairy Market Stabilization Plan (DMSP).  The DMSP would impose government controls and regulations on the nation’s milk supply, penalize farmers for exceeding government milk production “quotas,”  artificially inflate the price of dairy products for families and drive the cost of federal food programs higher.  Contact: Leslie Paige lpaige@cagw.org

7.  Target Prices.  Government-set price targets—about 40% higher than the previous farm bill and in many cases higher than record levels seen between 2005 and 2010—would expose taxpayers to billions in payments if crop prices dip slightly.  Contact: Josh Sewell josh@taxpayer.net

8.  Rural Broadband. The Rural Utilities Service Broadband Loan Program is a classic example of waste and market distortion. In addition to the cost, in many areas, the practice of guaranteeing loans serves to undercut existing private-sector investment. Contact: David Williams davidwilliams@protectingtaxpayers.org and James Valvo jvalvo@afphq.org

9.  Mandatory Assessments. Mandatory assessments on farmers to promote commodities cost consumers and skirt constitutional provisions that only Congress has the power to tax. The program also violates basic principles of free speech, forcing some producers to pay to communicate messages against their will. Contact: Diane Katz  Diane.Katz@heritage.org

10.  Cotton Program. Federal subsidies for domestic cotton are so high, they violate international trade rules. To keep Brazil from enacting retaliatory tariffs which would hurt American consumers, taxpayers send a $147.3 million check to the Brazilian Cotton Institute every year. Contact: James Valvo jvalvo@afphq.org

11.  Ethanol. The Feedstock Flexibility Program is the definition of cronyism. With taxpayer dollars, the federal government buys up subsidized surplus sugar and sells it at a loss to ethanol makers.  Contact: Fran Smith fbsmith@cei.org

12.  Biomass. Since 2008, the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) has proven to be a failure. Even though this wasteful, market-distorting program is replete with loopholes and is not currently funded, it would be revived by the draft farm bill. Contact: Josh Sewell Josh@taxpayer.net

 View the full list of signers here.

Washington – Yesterday, Reps. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and Tom Graves (R-GA) introduced the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 1852), which would amend a 1986 law to improve provisions relating to the privacy of electronic communications.  Heritage Action released the following statement from communications director Dan Holler:

“Momentum is growing to protect the individual freedoms we are guaranteed by the Constitution.  By bringing parity to our nation’s communication privacy laws, ECPA reform will also encourage success in America’s technology and cloud computing industries.  We look forward to working with Reps. Yoder and Graves and a growing number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to make certain these commonsense changes become law.”

Washington – Today, Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) introduced the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of 2013 (H.R. 1847), which would amend a 1986 law to improve provisions relating to the privacy of electronic communications.  The bill is identical to the Leahy-Lee bill (S.607), which recently passed the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Heritage Action released the following statement from communications director Dan Holler:

“ECPA reform will bring much needed parity to our nation’s communication privacy laws and will help protect the individual freedoms we are guaranteed by the Constitution.  The reforms will also ensure our laws encourage success in America’s technology and cloud computing industries.  We look forward to working with Rep. Salmon and others to see these commonsense changes become law.”

Heritage Action joins the Conservative Action Project, chaired by former AG Edwin Meese, as well as the CEO’s of over 100 organizations representing all major elements of the conservative movement to oppose the Internet Sales Tax and to call on Congress to reject the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act. 

Washington, D.C. — Current Event: On April 25, the U.S. Senate passed a key procedural vote to consider S. 743–the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act–nearly ensuring passage.  The bill expands the authority of individual states to cover out-of-state retailers, allowing them to force those retailers to collect sales taxes for them.  This is a dangerous extension of state power, violating core principles of federalism. At the same time, it subjects consumers, businesses, and entrepreneurs to thousands of state and local tax regimes. With Senate passage imminent, the House must reject this misguided bill.

Action: 

• House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor should not bring the Senate-passed bill directly to the floor.
• Conservatives should reject any bill that expands the authority of out-of-state governments to regulate businesses with regard to online taxation.