WASHINGTON – Today, Heritage Action, a conservative grassroots organization with two million grassroots activists, released a statement from Executive Director Jessica Anderson calling on Republican congressional leadership to reject any continuing resolution which advances progressive priorities, including a short-term continuing resolution setting up a lame-duck funding fight. Instead, conservatives in Congress must call for a continuing resolution into the first quarter of 2023.
First, conservatives in Congress must unite against any short-term funding proposals which would give outgoing Democratic leadership power to push their progressive priorities whether in the funding debate over the next few weeks or in a lame-duck session of Congress. Their progressive agenda includes Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s efforts to divide conservatives before the November elections by attaching a radical redefinition of marriage that would threaten the religious liberty and tax-exempt status of faith-based schools, adoption agencies, and charities.
Second, conservatives in Congress should push for a transparent funding process in the new Congress. Closed-door negotiations lead to bad policy that does not reflect the will of the American people. Funding the government is one of the most important responsibilities of Congress and must be done by representatives who are accountable to the taxpayers and their values.
Additionally, President Biden’s main funding requests include even more spending on COVID, new spending on monkeypox, natural disaster funding while the disaster account has more than enough money, and an additional $11.7 billion in new funding for Ukraine, on top of the over $50 billion already provided. These funding requests ignore the concerns of the American people, and President Biden refuses to answer basic questions regarding fiscal responsibility and appropriateness of his funding requests. Further, U.S. support for Ukraine deserves an open and honest debate without liberal congressional leadership using funding for the U.S. government as a vehicle for Washington’s priorities.
Our message to Republican leadership in Congress is simple: we want a new conservative Congress to draft the next appropriations bills in an open and transparent way while responsibly advancing good policies.