Ms. Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense issued the following statement to Members of Congress:

“Dear Member of Congress,

Taxpayers for Common Sense urges you to oppose the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. This 650-page behemoth has only been available since midnight and is packed with extraneous provisions that will cost taxpayers dearly. In order to avoid a government shutdown, we urge you to adopt a short term continuing resolution to fund the government into next week. The additional time should be used to draft a fiscally responsible budget agreement that offsets additional spending above the caps agreed to under the Budget Control Act of 2011.

In addition, the supplemental disaster assistance contains billions of dollars more than the House previously approved, and tens of billions more than the Trump Administration requested. Instead of a large lump sum of disaster spending, the funds should be appropriated over time and scrutinized.

The bill also contains more than $16 billion worth of tax extenders. These special interest tax breaks frequently catch a ride on “must pass” legislation like the 2008 bailout, the 2010 tax legislation, and the 2013 fiscal cliff deal, effectively avoiding scrutiny. If these provisions were important, they should have been incorporated into the code in the recent tax law. Not to mention, some egregious provisions like huge tax credits for the nuclear and clean coal industries were tacked on to the usual list of extenders.

The legislation also includes an agriculture bailout for cotton and dairy farmers that will lead to increased costs in the next farm bill. This irresponsible provision should simply be eliminated.

Again, Taxpayers for Common Sense urges you to oppose this smorgasbord of waste – that will cost roughly $320 billion according to the CBO – and work toward a responsible budget package that doesn’t add to the nation’s $20 trillion debt.”

— Ryan Alexander, president