KEY VOTE: “NO” ON THE HOUSE AMENDMENT TO THE “BANKRUPTING AMERICANS ACT”, S. 610

Congress will soon be voting on the House Amendment to the Protecting Medicare & American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act (S. 610). This bill bails out Democrats from their self-inflicted fiscal mess by waiving PAYGO rules to avoid cuts to Medicare that spending in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) will otherwise trigger. It also changes Senate rules to allow Democrats to pass a debt ceiling increase — a step towards the destruction of the filibuster.

Democrats chose to put funding for their liberal policy wishlist in the American Rescue Plan over funding for Medicare with the hope that Republicans would bail them out and backfill the Medicare hole. They should be forced to own this decision and Republicans should resist any temptation to come to their aid by voting to waive PAYGO rules.

Additionally, Heritage Action has consistently maintained the position that Democrats should have to go it alone on a debt ceiling increase. Unless Democrats give up the pursuit of their reckless tax and spending spree and pursue fiscal sanity, they must use reconciliation to raise the debt ceiling on their own. This bill doesn’t even bother to provide a dollar amount for an increase or a time limit for a suspension—essentially affording Democrats a blank check to continue their reckless spending spree on liberal priorities like their Build Back Broke Act. Even more egregious is that this procedural tactic serves as a filibuster carve out, ultimately weakening the potency of the filibuster in the long run, despite the fact that a procedural avenue for raising the debt ceiling with a simple majority—namely, reconciliation—already exists.

At a time when our nation is experiencing record-setting inflation brought on by the Biden Administration’s reckless stewardship of American tax dollars, Republicans should not enable Democrats to continue down this path. Should Democrats want to continue their irresponsible preference for massive deficit spending and socialist priorities, they should be forced to do it on their own.