Key Vote Alert – “NO” on the Omnibus / Neutral on Tax Extenders

KEY VOTE ALERT

“NO” on the Omnibus (Amdt #1 to HR 2029)

Neutral on the Tax Extenders (Amdt #2 to HR 2029)

The Club for Growth urges all members of Congress to oppose the Omnibus budget deal, while we take no position on the tax extenders package.  Both chambers are expected to vote on these two proposals in the next few days.  The Omnibus vote will be included in the Club for Growth’s 2015 Congressional Scorecard.

Even with House Republican leaders promising procedural reforms, the Omnibus spending bill is still a “business as usual” proposal that justifies Americans’ resentment and distrust of Washington politicians.  At more than 2,000 pages, it is a smorgasbord of spending, complete with goodies for everyone except taxpayers.  Worse, it busts the spending caps enacted by the 2011 Budget Control Act, that did a modest job at restraining the growth in government.

In a lot of ways, the tax extenders deal is similar to the Omnibus.  The Club has opposed short-term reauthorizations of the extenders in the past.  But this current bill has at least one redeeming quality – it makes permanent several provisions that can eventually be used to help make a future tax reform proposal more pro-growth through a broader base and deeper rate reductions.  It should be noted that the fraud protections in the plan are weak, but it’s good that a discussion on this matter has finally been started.  However, with all the special interest giveaways in the plan, we cannot support it.  Therefore, we will be neutral on its consideration.

Our Congressional Scorecard for the 114th Congress provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies and will be distributed to our members and to the public.