Congress is back in Washington with a mere 12 legislative days to meet a number of deadlines before the end of the fiscal year on September 30th.
With multiple deadlines looming and the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, pressure is on Congress to take swift action. This month presents Congress with several opportunities to show it can effectively govern while producing conservative results.
Debt Limit
Our nation’s debt limit is one of the deadlines approaching at the end of the month. Over the weekend, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin asked Congress to attach emergency funding for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts to a debt ceiling increase. This is the wrong course of action, but it appears the United States Senate is preparing to do just that.
Any increase in the debt limit should be paired with meaningful reforms that begin addressing the structural nature of America’s annual deficits and ballooning national debt. Hurricane Harvey aid should remain separate from any debt ceiling increase. Tying a debt ceiling increase to much-needed emergency disaster relief -- like the $7.8 billion that passed the House this afternoon -- is simply exploiting people that lost their homes and enabling Washington’s spending binge to continue as usual.
Ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
With the Trump administration’s recent decision to end DACA in six months, there’s a sudden desire by many to address DACA and potentially other elements of our nation’s broken immigration system.
Former President Obama illegally created the DACA program through executive action in 2012. Bypassing Congress -- the branch of government that is actually responsible for passing immigration law -- was unconstitutional. Congress can now work with the executive branch to address our broken immigration system, secure our borders, and pass policy that best serves 320 million Americans, not just particular groups or political agendas.
In addition to the debt ceiling, Hurricane Harvey, and DACA, there’s several key issues to watch this month as Congress is in session. Congress must resist calls to simply bail out Obamacare and it must keep moving forward on comprehensive tax reform. At Heritage Action we’ll be working alongside you to urge lawmakers pass fiscally responsible legislation and enact conservative reforms.
Thanks for all that you do. Now, let’s get to work holding Congress accountable!
Dan Holler
Vice President
Heritage Action for America
