A Budget That Works For All Americans
Funding Levels that Keep Essential Programs and Work for the Public
Every fiscal year, Congress must pass a budget as well as a series of funding bills (also called appropriations) bills to keep in place the crucial services and safeguards that protect American families and communities. We consistently face the issue of conservatives proposing extreme budget cuts that will further rig the system billionaires and big corporations.
Since passage of the 2011 Budget Control Act and subsequent cuts required by “sequestration,” decreases in government spending levels have been equally split between spending for military defense and for “non-defense” spending (all other social programs.) These required spending caps have forced austerity measures on already cash-strapped government agencies meaning vital social programs have been cut over the years. In addition, the current funding levels are not sufficient to ensure adequate consumer protections are in place. Worse, recent proposed budget proposals would force further cuts for the purpose of providing tax cuts to the wealthy and profitable corporations.
The deep and painful funding cuts that are proposed to the agencies that protect our health and safety, our workplaces and wallets, as well as our environment and our economy, are intended to pay for huge tax giveaways for their biggest donors. Members of Congress should not support a budget that would shut down critical public services and protections. Public Citizen and our partners in the Hands Off campaign firmly oppose these changes.
No Ideological Poison Pill Riders
Beyond cutting essential monies needed to keep our government functioning and providing the basic services we depend on, conservatives are also threatening to attach hundreds of harmful policy riders to the budget that would repeal essential public protections — our system of safeguards designed to prevent tragedies that can spell disaster for individuals, families, businesses and communities.
Specifically, some of the proposed ideological riders would roll back Wall Street reforms, gut clean air and clean water protections, undo needed campaign finance regulations, attack women’s health care and fundamental civil rights, and more
Public Citizen has joined with hundreds of organizations to form the Clean Budget Coalition. Together, we’re calling on Congress and the White House to pass a clean budget with no ideological riders that funds and protects thriving families and communities.
More resources on the Clean Budget Coalition
- Press statement: Senate Vote-a-Rama Sets the Table for Corporate Handouts, October 18, 2017
- Press statement: House Budget Resolution Is a Corporate Giveaway on Two Fronts, October 4, 2017
- Media Alert: Public Citizen’s Leading Experts on Regulation Can Push Back on Trump’s Deregulation Speech, September 27, 2017
- Press statement: Congress Must Pass a Clean Continuing Resolution and Final Budget Package in December, September 6, 2017
- Letter: 192 Groups Call On US House to Reject Appropriations Riders, September 5, 2017
- Press statement: Public Citizen Experts Available to Comment on Congressional Battles Starting Next Week, August 31, 2017
- Press statement: Policy Rider Blocking Mueller Investigation Must Be Removed From Budget Legislation, August 29, 2017
- Blog: Holding the Budget Hostage is a Threat to Public Health, August 25, 2017
- Letter: No Ideological Riders in the Minibus, July 27, 2017
- Press statement: House Budget Proposal Is a Giveaway to Millionaires, Billionaires and Corporations at the Expense of Main Street Americans, July 18, 2017
- Letter: 173 Groups Call for a Clean FY 2018 Budget, July 5, 2017
- Press statement: The Mulvaney Doctrine: Sacrifice Only the Most Vulnerable on the Altar of Deficit Reduction, May 25, 2017
- Blog: D.C. Budget Battle: Mulvaney vs Mulvaney, May 25, 2017
- Report: Mulvaney the Selective Deficit Hawk, May 25, 2017
- Press statement: Trump Budget Would Slash Public Protections and Programs, Threatening Basic Standards of Living, May 22, 2017
- Press statement: A Washington Miracle: Bipartisan Rhetoric on No Poison Pill Riders; a CR Still to Come?, April 27, 2017
- Press statement: Misappropriated by Mick Mulvaney, March 16, 2017
- Press statement: Trump’s Initial Budget Offering Would Emaciate Public Services and Protections, February 28th, 2017
- Press statement: Will Mulvaney Drop His Anti-Government Extremism at OMB?, February 16, 2017
- Press statement: Mulvaney Is Too Extreme to Direct OMB, January 13, 2017
- Letter: 260 Groups Oppose Ideological Riders, Call for Clean Budget This Year, November 4, 2016
- Press statement: Rider That Keeps Corporate Political Spending Secret Must Be Cut From December Funding Package for 2017, September 28, 2016
- Letter: Securities and Exchange Commission Rider Letter, September 26, 2016
- Letter: Public Citizen Letter to House Financial Services and General Government on Riders in FY2017, June 29, 2016
- Letter: Reform Groups Letter Opposing Campaign Finance Riders in House FSGG Appropriations Bill, June 22, 2016
- Blog: Ten Reasons Why Poison Pill Riders Don’t Belong in the Budget, May 9, 2016
- Blog: The Case Against a Balanced Budget Constitutional Convention, April 22, 2016
- Letter: Clean Budget Coalition Opposes FY 2017 Appropriations Riders, February 8, 2016
- Press statement: Special Favors for Dark Money and Big Oil, and WTO-Ordered Gutting of Meat Labels, Should Be Removed from the Omnibus Spending Bill, December 16, 2015
- Media Alert: Lawmakers Should Reject Ryan’s Poison Pill Riders, December 2, 2015
- Blog: Keep the toxic bitters out of the budget cocktail, November 4, 2015
- Blog: Next Week in Corporate Congress: Despite Budget Deal, Public Still Jeopardized, October 30, 2015
- Blog: Next Week in Corporate Congress: Budget Battles Continue, September 18, 2015
- Letter: CSS Opposes Anti-Regulatory FY 2016 Appropriations Riders, July 7, 2015
- Blog: Public Citizen Endorses the People’s Budget, Urges Passage, March 25, 2015
- Blog: Next Week, Corporate Congress Holds Budget ‘Vote-o-Rama’, March 20, 2015
- Blog: Obama budget falls short, includes giveaway to corporate tax evaders, omits Wall Street tax, February 2, 2015