Dear Members of House of Representatives:

At the end of last year, radical progressives utilized the appropriations process to fund President Biden’s woke and weaponized bureaucracy, secure pork-barrel spending for former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s friends, and authorize policies which have fueled inflation and crippled our economy.

It also set a dangerous precedent: for the first-time in American history, a lame-duck majority was able to tie the hands of an incoming Congress and lock-in a bloated budget. Thankfully, the American people rebuked President Biden and handed over power to Republicans in the People’s House.

Now that the appropriations season has arrived, the Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC), the nation’s original conservative grassroots organization, and our supporters around the country will be paying close attention to the budget process. When making the pitch to the American people to entrust Republicans with the House, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (CPAC Conservative Rating 84%) put together the Commitment to America, which contained principles for how Republicans would govern differently than the Democrat’s and deliver common-sense conservative policies. Republicans in both chambers must band together and use their leverage in the upcoming budget to augment that commitment and, aim to advance the following provisions:

An Economy That’s Strong

• Fight Inflation and Lower the Cost of Living

  • Congresswoman Pelosi’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget sets the United States on an unsustainable debt-fueled path for wasteful government spending. With the current trajectory of the deficit, interest costs on US national debt along will exceed all other spending programs by 2053. CPAC is opposed to any ‘clean’ Continuing Resolution (CR) that maintains the Pelosi budget or fails to reduce the bureaucracy to pre-COVID levels.

• Make America Energy Independent and Reduce Gas Prices

  • The Biden administration’s assault on American energy is leading to inflation, as high costs at the pump increase the cost of everything in the supply chain leading to more expensive groceries for American families. Congress must ensure provisions of the House-passed “Lower Energy Costs Act” are included in the budget, and that the Biden administration’s most crippling executive orders and regulations that harm the production of American energy are defunded.

A Nation That’s Safe

• Secure the Border and Combat Illegal Immigration

  • The Biden administration’s disastrous border policies are fueling a surge of deadly fentanyl and human trafficking across the southern border. Congress must ensure common-sense provisions of the House-passed “Secure the Border Act of 2023” are included in the appropriations package.

• Reduce Crime and Protect Public Safety

  • Biden’s Department of Justice is more focused on prosecuting those deemed enemies of the woke state than making communities safe from drugs and violent crime. The political prosecutions of President Trump and public servants working for him, the use of SWAT teams to arrest peaceful pro-life protestors, and the failure to investigate vandalism of churches and pro-life pregnancy centers, and the lack of action on growing threats to Supreme Court Justices, not to mention the Hunter Biden fiasco, all smack political interference in the federal criminal justice system. The political leadership at DOJ threatens the fabric of our Country’s belief in blind justice. Congress needs to utilize the budget to conduct oversight of these rogue political appointees, ensure that Inspectors General have sufficient access and resources to fully investigate these matters, and restrict funding of agencies that engage in political prosecutions.

  • At minimum, funding for a new, billion-dollar+ headquarters complex for the Federal Bureau of Investigation should be frozen and those assigned to headquarters should be sent to the field to fight crime.

• Defend America’s National Security

  • Instead of working to protect our national interests, the Pentagon is being used as a tool for social engineering. DEI programs, critical race theory, use of appropriated money to fund abortions, weaken our national security. Congress must use the budget to stop the woke agenda and instead ensure all defense spending is dedicated to the military’s core mission of national security instead of advancing the woke agenda.

A Future That’s Built on Freedom

• Make Sure Every Student Can Succeed and. Give Parents a Voice

  • Prohibit the implementation of President Biden’s changes to Title IX, which would penalize schools which do not allow biological men into girls’ sports and intimate spaces.

• Confront Big Tech and Demand Fairness

  • Big government colluded with the biggest tech companies to interfere in our elections and ban speech it disfavored. Congress must ensure no funding can be used by the Government to censor the legal speech of its citizens.

A Government That’s Accountable

• Restore the People’s Voice

  • The appropriations package must confront the ongoing election interference and lawfare against President Donald J. Trump by including the following provision: “Any jurisdiction that prosecutes any major presidential candidate on or before November 5, 2024 loses all federal funding.”

• Hold Washington Accountable

  • Just one-third of Americans support the now unconstitutional practice of using race as a factor in college admissions. However, our federal government continues to institute “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) mandates throughout all facets of government. Congress must mandate reporting of all DEI spending by government agencies and by organizations that receive federal grant funding.

Lastly, the American people deserve to know where their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent. Last year, conservatives were let down even by some Senate Republicans who put their own interests about that of the voters, and refused to let the people know where they stand on the issues, allowing only omnibuses to see the floor for recorded roll call votes. We can on House and Senate leaders to provide an open and transparent budget process with roll call votes a last-minute omnibus. Our sister organization, the CPAC Foundation’s Center for Legislative Accountability (Ratings) will be closely following the process and ensure that our grassroots understand how their legislators vote on these critical issues.

Sincerely,

Matt Schlapp

CPAC Chairman