As pressure builds on Congress to keep the government funded this fall, progressive groups called on lawmakers and President Obama to oppose “inappropriate and ideological” proposals tacked on to must-pass legislation.
The groups–which included Public Citizen, the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, the National Organization for Women, and 174 others–warned in a letter sent Thursday that Republican-dominated congressional committees have already marked up budgetary legislation containing policy riders that would hinder key regulatory agencies.
“These inappropriate riders are being inserted to advance the priorities of special interest donors and supporters,” the groups said. “They have become the ‘new earmarks,’ but they are actually far worse than the old earmarks, because they have vastly greater reach and consequence for the American people.”
Earmarks are amendments to legislation used to direct federal funds to specific projects—often ones located in the proposing lawmaker’s constituency. The House banned their use in 2011 when Republicans took control of the body after the Tea Party midterm landslide.
Included among the policy riders currently being considered, the letter pointed out, are efforts to restrict the activities of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The policy rider that has been most hotly debated is one that would ban federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The fundamentalist proposal gained momentum after a ginned-up controversy involving the reproductive health organization’s sale of fetal tissue for medical research.
The Washington Post spoke to a number of experts who described the Planned Parenthood issue as one that will likely cause severe dysfunction in the nation’s capital over the next few weeks.
“In America, you can’t legally bet on political outcomes (at least not yet),” The Post’s Amber Phillips wrote. “But if you could, we’d advise you to put some money on the government shutting down on Oct. 1.”
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Wednesday, according to The Hill, that he would not “rule out targeting Planned Parenthood through a continuing resolution” – a short-term funding bill.
The government is set to run out of money on Sept. 30. Due to a visit by Pope Francis and the debate over the Iran nuclear deal, Congress only has “about 10 days in session before the funding deadline,” the paper noted.
Read the groups’ letter to President Obama and Members of Congress here.
