Dear Senator Heller and Representative Cooper,

On behalf of more than 1.9 million Americans for Prosperity activists in all 50 states, I commend you for introducing the No Budget, No Pay Act, S. 1981 and H.R. 3643 respectively. Your bill sends Members of Congress a clear message: if you don’t do your job and pass a federal budget on time, you won’t get paid.

For years Congress has failed to meet its statutorily required obligations under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act 1974. The Act doesn’t ask for much: pass a budget blueprint in both the House and the Senate, and then use that blueprint to craft 12 appropriations bills that set Congress’s priorities for spending each fiscal year. The idea was to create an open and transparent budgeting process so that the American people could see exactly how Congress planned to spend their tax dollars. Yet the last time the full process was completed on time was 1994, almost twenty years ago.

When the process breaks down, budget negotiations revert to closed-door conference committee sessions and thousand-page “omnibus” bills rushed through Congress before the American people can really see what’s in them. The result has been the runaway spending growth we’ve seen in Washington, certainly not an example of responsible stewardship of taxpayer money.

Your bills seek to change this troubling trend through incentives: no lawmaker gets paid if Congress hasn’t done its job by passing a budget and all 12 appropriations bills by the start of the fiscal year, October 1. And no lawmaker gets paid retroactively if the process is completed late. This sends a strong message to all 535 Members of Congress: do your job, honestly tackle the challenge of federal budgeting, or you won’t get that paycheck paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

Americans for Prosperity is proud to support the No Budget, No Pay Act, H.R. 3643 and S. 1981. I urge your colleagues to support these important bills, and I look forward to working with you in the future.

Sincerely,

James Valvo
Director of Government Affairs
Americans for Prosperity

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