This resolution of disapproval of the Congressional Review Act nullifies the Department of the Interior's Stream Protection Rule. With an annual estimated cost of $81 million, according to the Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, the Stream Protection Rule is another blow to the coal industry, which was a favorite target of the Obama administration. The National Mining Association estimates that rule will lead to billions of dollars in lost revenues to state and local governments, as well as the loss of between 113,000 and 280,000 jobs.

This resolution of disapproval of the Congressional Review Act nullifies the Securities and Exchange Commission's Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers rule. Promulgated under the authority of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or Dodd-Frank, this rule requires resource extraction issuers to include in annual reports the payment of any entity controlled by the regulated business to foreign governments or the United States government "for the purpose of the commercial development of oil, natural gas, or minerals." The Securities and Exchange Commission projects initial compliance costs between $239 million and $700 million and annual compliance costs between $96 million and $591 million.

An orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Price, who has a lifetime 89 percent score with FreedomWorks, would bring a unique perspective to the Department of Health and Human Services that is desperately needed at a time when America's health care system is facing significant challenges. The Department of Health and Human Services was one of the federal agencies primarily responsible for the implementation of ObamaCare. HHS promulgated or approved rules developed by agencies it oversees, including rules that led to millions of health insurance policy cancellations and so-called “essential benefits” that have increased the cost of health insurance premiums for Americans. While the details of an ObamaCare replacement supported by the House and Senate Republican conferences are yet to be developed and introduced in legislative text, Dr. Price is the ideal individual to lead this effort in the Trump administration.

The Office of Management and Budget is the largest office working in the Executive Office of the President of the United States. As OMB director, Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) would play a large role in preparing President Trump’s Budget, as well as evaluating the degree to which agency programs, policies, and procedures follow the president’s policies. With Rep. Mulvaney’s history of serious concern and constructive activity toward reining in Washington’s overspending, this nominee deserves our support to take Washington by the horns and fight for responsible spending levels at the federal level.

The EPA has become the most notorious offender in the unconstitutional fourth branch of government that we know as the regulatory state. It has promulgated rules and regulations, such as the Clean Power Plan, aimed at destroying an entire industry, hurting workers and their families. Under Scott Pruitt's leadership at the EPA, Americans will have safe air and water and protection from government overreach through rules and regulations. Pruitt is a staunch believer in federalism and Article I of the Constitution, which charges the legislative branch with the power to make laws, not executive-level regulatory agencies.

This resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act nullifies a the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's relating to the Federal Acquisition Regulation. This regulation requires federal contractors to disclose decisions on the reporting of violations of federal labor laws and creates paycheck transparency protections for employees of federal contractors. The rule is expected to cost employers $458.3 million in the first year, $413.7 million in the second year, and between $398.5 million and $400 million annually thereafter.

This resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act, which gives Congress authority to effectively nullify regulations submitted for review by federal agencies within 60 legislative days, would cancel the Department of Education’s Accountability and State Plans Rule. The Department of Education’s Accountability and State Plans Rule implements part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and leaves open a loophole that federal bureaucrats could exploit to force Common Core on states that haven't implemented the standards. Education officials from several states and local jurisdictions strongly opposed the rule when it was being crafted.

he resolution would prevent the FCC from implementing rules that dictate the way broadband Internet service providers handle their customers’ personal information. S.J.Res. 34 passed the Senate last week by a vote of 50 to 48. Although consumer data privacy is of significant concern to every American, the proper parties should address the issue. In this area, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has historically held authority on the establishment and enforcement of general online privacy rules. Since the FCC can only regulate a portion of the Internet sphere – service providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T – other Internet companies, namely websites like Facebook and Google, would escape any stringent data privacy rules enacted by the FCC. Creating more regulation in an uneven fashion would not only benefit certain companies in the industry by creating a clear advantage in digital advertising, it would also fail to achieve any consumer data protection purpose. In order to provide Americans with more robust and clearly defined protective measures, it is important to allow Congress and the FTC to set the rules in this sphere. Enabling other agencies to further restrict only a certain portion of an industry burdens privacy, progress, and business. It is important to move away from the Obama-era, regulatory induced system we have seen grow over the last eight years.

Our activist community drove more than 1.7 million messages to the Senate urging Members to preserve this important seat on the High Court for someone who respects the rule of law and a textual interpretation of the Constitution. With the nomination of Judge Gorsuch, we now have the opportunity to follow through by solidifying the conservative bloc on the Supreme Court. As explained by SCOTUSBlog, “some of the parallels” between Justice Scalia and Judge Gorsuch “can be downright eerie.” Indeed, Judge Gorsuch has the same originalist and textualist approach to the Constitution and narrow application of criminal laws against defendants and support for mens rea, or criminal intent, requirements in federal law in common. The key difference between Justice Scalia and Judge Gorsuch is that Judge Gorsuch has written critically of the Supreme Court’s 1984 "Chevron deference," which requires federal courts to defer to regulatory agencies’ interpretations of “silent or ambiguous” statutes. The Chevron deference has allowed federal bureaucrats to enact law without judicial review, undermining the separation of powers in the Constitution.

The process for the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which funds the federal government for the remainder of FY 2017, could not have been worse. This massive, nearly 1,700-page spending measure was negotiated behind closed doors between congressional leadership from both chambers and appropriators. With a Republican-controlled Congress and a Republican president, this spending bill reflects Obama-era spending levels. The bill annualizes base discretionary spending for FY 2017 at $1.07 trillion. This spending level blows through the spending caps established by the Budget Control Act of 2011 by $30 billion. The bill spends an additional $106 billion for overseas contingency operations, disaster relief, and other spending, which isn’t counted toward the spending caps. In total, the bill authorizes more than $1.175 trillion in annualized discretionary spending for FY 2017. The bill also falls short of promoting conservative priorities. While the bill does renew the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program and does not include funding for ObamaCare’s cost-sharing subsidies, it allocates nearly $296 million to bail out Puerto Rico’s Medicaid program, preserves current spending levels for the Environmental Protection Agency, increases spending for the National Institutes of Health and the National Endowment for the Arts, and provides a bailout for a private sector labor union.

This vote was on the motion to proceed to consideration of H.J.Res. 36, which would have canceled the Bureau of Land Management’s Methane Rule. With annual compliance costs between $114 million and $279 million, the so-called “venting and flaring” rule purports to reduce waste from “reduce the waste of natural gas from mineral leases administered” by the Bureau of Land Management. In reality, the purpose of the rule is to discourage oil and gas production on land overseen by the agency. The Bureau of Land Management estimates annual compliance costs between $114 million and $279 million.

The current authorization expires in December, which means that Congress must reauthorize it by the end of the year. S. 1287 bill would eliminate the need for reauthorization, granting indefinite authority for a program that collects information on, potentially, millions of Americans. Section 702 allows the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to collect electronic communications by non-citizens of interest to the federal government. Officially, the program is not supposed to target U.S. citizens, but intelligence agencies cast a wide net and often the communications of Americans can be swept up by the surveillance as well. Given the sweeping powers in Section 702 and the potential for misuse, this program should require congressional oversight, which can be used to assess both terrorism and privacy concerns. Granting this surveillance authority indefinitely, as S. 1297 does, limits even further Congress’s ability to oversee this program.

This vote simply allows the Senate to begin debate on the House-passed version of H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act.

This amendment is virtually identical to the 2015 ObamaCare repeal bill – the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, H.R. 3762. This bill passed the Senate by a vote of 52 to 47, with only two unsurprising Republican defections. For more than seven years, Republicans successfully campaigned on ObamaCare repeal. They made floor speeches in support of repeal, and they voted to pass a repeal bill less than two years ago. Grassroots conservative activists are not going to accept excuses if Republicans fail to pass a bill that they have passed once before. The ObamaCare Repeal Reconciliation Act would repeal much of ObamaCare – including the tax and cost sharing subsidies, Medicaid expansion, and the taxes that came with the law – with a two-year delay to pass a replacement. This delay provides more than ample time to reach an agreement on a replacement bill or package. President Donald Trump has indicated that he will sign a 2015-style ObamaCare bill into law. Senate Republicans should do as they did in December 2015 and pass a bill that delivers on their frequent promises to repeal ObamaCare.

The amendment offered by Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would increase the debt limit and fund the federal government through December 8 without any spending or regulatory reforms.

Chairman Pai has served on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) since May 2012. Chairman Pai should not only be confirmed for his record of eloquently championing sensible regulation grounded by market principles, but because he also serves as an example of what the American people deserve from officials in Washington. Pai’s efforts, particularly on the debate surrounding Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, demonstrate his commitment to policies that work rather than policies that simply grow the power of government and relevance of his position as a regulator.

The Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act amends federal law that currently prohibits the production and prescription of potentially lifesaving drugs that have already cleared the initial phase of the FDA’s approval process to allow certain patients with a terminal illness or a life-threatening condition access to these drugs. It also provides protection for manufacturers and prescribers from liability.

This amendment, sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), would reduce discretionary spending by $43 billion.

This amendment, sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), would create reconciliation instructions to repeal and replace ObamaCare, providing a path to follow through on more than seven years of promises after the Senate's failure this year.

It has been more than 30 years since Congress passed fundamental tax reform. Since that time, the tax code has become riddled with carve-outs that benefit politically connected special interests. Today, there are more than 74,000 pages in the tax code. According to the Tax Foundation, Americans spent 8.9 billion hours and $409 billion on tax compliance in 2016. Congress has a generational opportunity to reform the tax code by consolidating and lowering tax rates, broadening the tax base, and promoting job creation and international competitiveness for American businesses. This will make the tax code fairer and simplify the filing process, allowing the vast majority of Americans to file their taxes on a postcard. There is no doubt that 2017 has been a frustrating year for conservatives. Failure on fundamental tax reform is not an option. Passage of the FY 2018 budget resolution is the first step in this process. This is a step that the Senate must take.

No one disagrees with the need for assistance for areas recently impacted by disasters. Nevertheless, the concern with the Additional Supplement Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act is that Congress is spending $36.5 billion without any spending offsets. Sadly, some, like Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), are demanding more money, attempting to extort additional funds by blocking a conservative nominee. Currently, the national debt is $20.4 trillion. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the projected budget deficit for FY 2017 and FY 2018 is $804 billion and $855 billion, respectively. Congress is only a few years away from the $1+ trillion deficits that Republicans frequently and rightly criticized under President Barack Obama. Long-term budget projections are even more ominous. Unfortunately, Congress continues to kick the can down the road, avoiding difficult decisions.

This resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) would cancel the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) arbitration rule. The final rule was published on Regulations.gov on July 19. While the CRA isn’t a panacea, it does provide a means for Congress to act as a check on out-of-control federal agencies. The CFPB’s arbitration rule is, in reality, a giveaway to trial lawyers. The rule ostensibly bans contractual arbitration clauses related to consumer financial products offered by banks and other financial sector firms. This severely limits consumers’ ability to enter into arbitration during disputes. Arbitration is an easier and quicker process for consumers to resolve issues, but lawyers don’t make much money from this process. The rule, however, will encourage trial lawyers to pursue more class-action lawsuits, which take longer and result in smaller payouts to consumers. But class-action lawsuits do bring in big dollars for trial lawyers. Class-action lawsuits can take two to five years to resolve, and the average payment is $32.35 per individual. These class-action suits, for which trial lawyers are paid an average of roughly $1 million, also drive up costs to consumers. By comparison, arbitration typically takes two to five months, with an average payment of thousands of dollars. It’s clear which process truly protects consumers.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act lowers individual rates for the vast majority of taxpayers. In addition, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act nearly doubles the standard deduction, meaning Americans keep more of their hard-earned money, and doubles the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000. This bill also provides relief by doubling the exemption amount from the unfair death tax. Pass-through business owners, who file their taxes on their individual tax return, will be able to take a 20 percent deduction. This lowers the tax burden currently faced by pass-through businesses, which, according to the Tax Foundation, employ 70 million people, and promotes fairness. America’s business community will also see added growth as a result of the policy changes in this bill. The corporate tax rate will be lowered substantially from 35 percent to 21 percent, making American businesses more globally competitive and allowing them the resources they need to innovate and create jobs. It also eliminates confusion and complexity so job creators can focus on building their company and hiring working Americans. This bill also repeals the harmful ObamaCare individual mandate, a coercive tax on Americans. It’s estimated that 80 percent of households subject to this tax earn less than $50,000 per year. This is an unnecessary hardship being placed on working Americans. The federal government should not punish individuals who cannot afford ObamaCare’s costly health insurance plans or decide it is not the best course for them.

The Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act amends federal law that currently prohibits the production and prescription of potentially lifesaving drugs that have already cleared the initial phase of the FDA’s approval process to allow certain patients with a terminal illness or a life-threatening condition access to these drugs. It also provides protection for manufacturers and prescribers from liability.

This amendment, S.Amdt. 4685, offered by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), to the Senate version of the Commerce, Justice, Science spending bill would greatly expand the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) surveillance powers, giving the agency the ability to collect sensitive, personal information about American citizens’ online activities. The Fourth Amendment is an important protection against government intrusions into our lives, and we should be wary of any legislation that threatens such a fundamental right. The amendment would allow the FBI to collect Electronic Communications Transactional Records (ECTRs) which includes information about web browsing history, the to/from lines of emails, and location information from IP addresses with only an administrative subpoena, also known as a National Security Letter. In addition to not requiring a warrant, national security letters also include a gag order, so companies cannot even inform their customers that their data is being turned over to federal law enforcement officials.

This resolution, S.J. Res. 28, offered by Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) would roll back an unnecessary, expensive, and duplicative federal regulation on catfish at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The resolution would save taxpayers $14.4 million. Federal regulations like this one are part of the regulatory state that burdens individuals and the economy with complex and expensive rules.

To modify the authority of the President of the United States to declare national monuments.

To require campaign finance disclosures for certain persons benefiting from fossil fuel activities.

To make appropriations to address the heroin and opioid drug abuse epidemic for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016

John B. King, of New York, to be Secretary of Education

To provide for the establishment of free market enterprise zones in order to help facilitate the creation of new jobs, entrepreneurial opportunities, enhances and renewed educational opportunities, and increased community involvement in bankrupt or economically distressed areas.

To nullify a Department of Labor rule published on April 8, 2016, relating to the definition of the term "fiduciary" and the conflict of interest rule with respect to retirement investment advice.

To reauthorize and amend the National Sea Grant College Program Act, and for other purposes

H.R. 2 is a bill to permanently prevent a scheduled cut in payments to doctors under Medicare, as well as to reauthorize S-CHIP - the federal health insurance program for children. Aside from numerous other policy issues, this bill also adds over $140 billion to the deficit over ten years. This amendment by Senator Mike Lee would invoke the statutory pay-as-you-go requirement so that Congress would be forced to find savings to erase the deficits created by this bill.

This amendment, by Senator Flake, would strike the extension of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program from the bill to create fast-track trade authority. TAA is an ineffective and duplicative program that gives financial assistance to workers and companies that have been negatively affected by free trade. TAA has been shown to be ineffective and even harmful to those it is supposed to benefit, and should be allowed to expire.

This amendment by Senator Lee would allow parents to opt their children out of having to take federally mandated standardized tests, while ensuring that schools are not penalized for these students not being tested.

This amendment by Senator Cruz would prohibit the Department of Education from forcing states to adhere to any federal testing standards, allowing states to determine their own assessment plans for public schools.

The Export-Import Bank is an 80-year-old corporate welfare program that ought to be allowed to expire. That Republican leaders prioritize Ex-Im instead of conservative priorities confirms that they fail to address the expansion...

This amendment by Senator Ron Wyden would address one of the most glaring issues with the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), by requiring that companies sharing cyber threat data with the government first scrub non-essential personally identifiable information (PII) from the reports first. Without this amendment, CISA creates a perverse incentive for companies to be less careful about the sharing of their customers' personal data - which would be shared in real times across many government agencies, including the NSA.

This bill was the vehicle for the budget agreement that will spend $80 billion beyond the Budget Control Act caps over two years, along with $16 billion in new defense spending that doesn't count towards the caps. The supposed offsets to this spending are mostly either gimmicks or long-term, while the new deficit spending is immediate. The bill also suspends the debt ceiling through March of 2017, effectively giving the government a blank check for that period.

This resolution invokes the Congressional Act to disapprove of the recent EPA rule that greatly increases emissions restrictions on existing coal-fired power plants. This tremendously destructive regulation would greatly increase energy costs in the many states which rely heavily upon coal-fired power plants for their electricity. These cost increases damage overall economic growth, and in particular lower the standard of living of lower-income earners.

This resolution invokes the Congressional Act to disapprove of the recent EPA rule that greatly increases emissions restrictions on any future coal-fired power plants. This rule tightens emissions standards to the point where it will likely not be economically feasible to build new coal-fired electric plants, crippling one of the most abundant and cost-effective sources of energy in America.

This amendment by Senator Sherrod Brown would make permanent the 100 percent federal match rate for Medicaid enrollees under the ObamaCare expansion of that program. This would completely remove the incentive for states to resist expanding Medicaid because it would be largely free for them. This increase in permanent federal entitlement spending would be paid for by a tax increase on higher income earners.

This bill uses the budget reconciliation process to repeal all of the parts of ObamaCare that have a budgetary impact, which would eliminate nearly all of ObamaCare's core functions. Among the programs repealed are the Medicaid expansion, the insurance premium subsidies, the insurance mandates, several grant programs, and all of the new taxes. Because of the reconciliation procedure, this bill only requires 50 votes to pass.

This bill would renew federal highway funding to states for a period of five years. However, it does not solve the structural deficit within the Highway Trust Fund, doesn't eliminate the wasteful spending that takes away from funding roads, and doesn't offset that spending in any real way. Furthermore, this bill contains a reauthorization of the expired Export-Import Bank, in order to prevent having a standalone vote on renewing such a direct corporate welfare fund.

This omnibus appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2016 funds former Speaker Boehner's budget-busting deal to the tune of $50 billion above the budget caps for 2016. It contains several very troubling legislative riders a well, including more funding for the IMF, and a massive new cybersecurity information sharing program that violates consumers' privacy and due process. It also fails to include most of the amendments from the appropriations process that would have defunded key, harmful federal regulations.

This final version of the Farm Bill, reconciled between the House and Senate, actually undoes some of the already modest reforms to crop insurance and food stamps that were previously in the bill. This five-year reauthorization of the Farm Bill will spend nearly a trillion dollars over ten years, and remains loaded with corporate welfare and special carve-outs for well-connected agricultural corporations.

This bill suspends the debt limit until March 15th of 2015, allowing the president to potentially run up as much debt as he pleases during that time period. The debt is already projected to increase by about $1 trillion over that period, to over $18 trillion. Meanwhile, this debt ceiling suspension contains no reforms to curb spending whatsoever.

This amendment replaced an unrelated bill with a bill to extend federal unemployment insurance benefits by a further six months, starting retroactively in January 2014. Federal unemployment assistance was meant to be temporary, as states already have their own safety nets for the unemployed. Extending this program is an unnecessary cost to taxpayers, and creates perverse incentives than can cause job-seekers more difficulty in finding work.

This bipartisan energy bill further subsidizes state projects to make buildings more energy efficient, among various green subsidies. Many of the provisions of this bill are duplicative, and all would be better handled by states themselves. The projects and the accompanying regulations are theoretically voluntary, but with 'incentives' and studies aimed at coercing states to accept them.

David Jeremiah Barron is a troubling judicial nominee due to his explicit advocacy of judicial activism. He was also the White House legal counsel who approved the extralegal killing of a non-combatant American citizen in Yemen - an unprecedented violation of Constitutional rights to due process and trial.

This was the crucial vote for the nomination of Sylvia Burwell to replace the retiring Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). During her tenure as Chair of the Office of Management and Budget, Burwell oversaw the Obama Administration's attempts to make the partial government shutdown of 2013 as visibly inconvenient as possible, including famously shutting WWII veterans out of their own (open-air) memorial. Thus, it appears unlikely that Burwell would be willing to change the opaque and uncooperative practices of HHS, which is overseeing the implementation of ObamaCare.

This bill would allow students to refinance their private loans into a lower-interest government loan. To pay for this, the bill also contains the so-called "Buffett Tax", a new alternative minimum tax rate that would greatly increase tax rates for higher-income individuals and small businesses.

This amendment by Sen. Mike Lee would stop the cycle of mismanagement and bankruptcy in the Highway Trust Fund by devolving that funding directly to the states over a period of 5 years. Cutting out the federal middleman for highway infrastructure projects will allow states to more accurately address their own needs, and at a lower cost than under the current system.

This bill bails out the nearly depleted Highway Trust Fund through May of 2015, using revenue gimmicks to supposedly offset most of the cost. The Highway Trust Fund desperately needs reform instead of merely continuing to receive periodic taxpayer bailouts.

This constitutional amendment would allow the government broad power to legally define what constitutes political speech for the purposes of regulating expenditures on behalf of candidates. This means that anything from books, movies, billboards, or any other funded public expression that is deemed "political" could be regulated and potentially limited. Effectively, this amendment would place constitutional limits on free speech, stripping away many First Amendment freedoms.

This bill purports to ban unequal pay on account of gender. But by making unequal pay illegal, it exposes employers to expensive and time-consuming frivolous lawsuits for any perceived inequality. The "wage gap" that this policy is supposed to address has been shown by repeated studies to be diminishing on its own, and is in fact non-existent in most industries.

This trillion-plus dollar spending bill was crafted behind closed doors and was packed with dozens of policy riders that Congress never had a chance to vote on individually. It continues to fund the federal government fully, with zero reforms to the government's out-of-control spending.

This amendment, sponsored by Senator Mike Lee (UT), would offset the cost of the emergency spending in the Disaster Relief Act over time by making a .49% across-the board cut to discretionary spending. Such a minor spending cut in order to offset a large amount of deficit spending should be an easy call given the current $16.4 trillion national debt.

This bill is an "emergency" appropriations bill that contains $50.1 billion in spending that is supposed to aid those affected by Hurricane Sandy. In reality, however, most of the spending will not provide acute disaster relief, and much of it is not even scheduled to be spent until 2014 or later. Thus, the bill functions more like a stimulus than true disaster relief and its spending should be appropriated through the budget process instead of as emergency spending that adds to the federal deficit.

This amendment would require that, upon reaching the debt limit, the Treasury would prioritize military pay, Social Security obligations, and payments of interest on the national debt. This would prevent the executive branch from making the claim that reaching the debt ceiling would prevent Social Security checks from being sent, since the government incurs enough revenue to meet these obligations without borrowing.

This bill raises the statutory limit on the public debt (the "debt ceiling") by whatever amount is necessary to reach May 19th, 2013. Although the bill theoretically contains a "no budget, no pay" provision conditional upon the Senate passing a budget resolution, in reality the provision has no teeth. FreedomWorks insists that further increases in the debt ceiling by accompanied by proportional decreases in federal spending in order to address the ever-increasing federal debt, which at the time of this bill stood at $16.4 trillion. Instead, this bill amounts to a "clean" debt ceiling hike, accompanied by the unenforceable promise of spending reforms at a later date.

This amendment would effectively defund ObamaCare by tying its funding to economic growth reaching historical average levels. Defunding ObamaCare would reduce ten-year spending by over $1 trillion and would go a long way towards reducing our government's massive annual deficits.

This is the amended version of the bill containing the Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year. The bill still funds ObamaCare, and continues to institutionalize current levels of deficit spending. In addition, the House and Senate each added several departmental appropriation bills into the C.R., bypassing regular order and the amendment process that ought to accompany each of these spending bills individually.

This budget amendment was a proxy vote for the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would allow states to band together to collect taxes on internet sales from citizens of other states. This type of internet sales tax scheme violates the physical presence standard of tax collection and would place an undue compliance burden upon online retailers.

This amendment would make federal education dollars under No Child Left Behind portable so that lower-income parents could use that money towards sending their child to another school. This would be a good first step towards offering parents true choice in their children's education.

This amendment to the Senate's budget resolution would call for the outright elimination of the estate tax (better known as the "death tax"). The death tax is absolutely unjust because it taxes assets that have already been taxed before, and it punishes those who have saved their money over a lifetime to pass on to the next generation. This tax is particularly devastating to small businesses and family farms.

This is Senator Rand Paul's budget plan, which would balance in five years, eliminate four Cabinet departments, replace the current tax code with a flat tax, and fundamentally reform all major entitlement programs.

This amendment would prevent taxpayer resources from being used to automatically deduct union dues from the paychecks of unionized federal employees. Federal workers, most of whom have never had the opportunity to vote on whether or not they wish to be unionized, ought to be able to decide if they wish to pay dues to their unions. Much of the collected dues are used for union political activities, which a given employee may or may not agree with.

This is the Senate Democrats' budget plan, which raises taxes by nearly $1 trillion while using budget gimmicks to claim $1.8 trillion in spending cuts. In reality, the budget never achieves balance and actually increases spending in the first year, while failing to address the primary drivers of government spending - entitlements - at all.

This bill allows states to collect taxes on internet sales from businesses in other states. This violates the physical presence standard that has governed tax collection since our founding, and raises constitutional issues about businesses being forced to bear the expense of complying with tax collection for states in which they have no representation.

The so-called "Farm Bill" is actually a combination of agricultural policy and welfare, with food stamps accounting for 80 percent of the bill's nearly trillion dollars in projected spending. Aside from failing to contain the multitude of faults within the rapidly-expanding food welfare programs, the agricultural portion of the bill is an amalgam of direct corporate welfare for insurance companies and farm corporations and special carve-outs and price supports for the specific industries with the best lobbyists.

This bill would fund the Departments of Transportation and Housing & Urban Development (and related agencies) for Fiscal Year 2014. Besides doing nothing to reform the large amount of wasteful spending contained in both departments to begin with, this bill actually increases spending for the departments to pre-sequestration levels. This is part of the broader Democratic strategy to eliminate the only real spending cuts that have been achieved since 2010.

Senator Mike Lee solicited signers on a letter to Senator Harry Reid, which declared that the signers would not vote for any appropriations bill, including a Continuing Resolution (CR), that contained further funding for ObamaCare's implementation or enforcement. The letter put senators on the record committing to actually defunding ObamaCare using a must-pass bill (the CR), rather than just taking another symbolic vote on an amendment that the Democrats could easily defeat.

This is the crucial vote to end debate on the Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government while ending funding for ObamaCare. Voting for cloture would allow Senate Democrats to resume funding ObamaCare with a straight party-line vote, meaning that a 'yea' vote here is a vote to fund ObamaCare, with the law's first starting date just days away.

H.R. 2775 was used as the vehicle for the Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government. This bill funds the government fully (including ObamaCare) through January 15th of 2014, suspends the debt ceiling until February of 2014, and obliges both chambers of Congress to go to conference on a full-year budget. In other words, this CR allows for more uncontrolled spending and debt, with no reforms to either, does nothing to address ObamaCare, and potentially promises more future spending if a budget agreement is reached.

This is the final vote of a complicated Senate parliamentary procedure often referred to as the "Nuclear Option", used the allow the Senate's rules to be changed using only a simple majority vote. Majority Leader Harry Reid used this procedure to allow all executive nominations (except Supreme Court nominees) to pass without a cloture vote, meaning that he only needs 51 votes instead of 60. This is a massive blow to the rights of the minority party in the Senate, and sets a dangerous precedent of tyrannical majority rule in a Senate that has traditionally prized the rights of every Senator and party to have their full say.

This is the vote to end debate on the budget deal negotiated by Congressman Paul Ryan and Senator Patty Murray. The deal breaks the budget caps established in 2011 by $63 billion over two years, while claiming to contain a net deficit reduction over ten years by raising fees and making other minor cuts. With no guarantee that future congresses will obey the scheduled spending cuts, this bill delivers increases in both spending and taxes in exchange for no meaningful reforms. Voting for cloture allowed the bill to be passed by a simple majority vote.

The bill would reform the way that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) calculates the baseline spending assumptions that are the basis for all of its projections of future spending. The legislation would remove the assumption from CBO calculations that spending will increase each year in proportion to inflation, which makes Congress’ new spending each year look like less than it is. The Baseline Reform Act would make the federal budget process more honest and transparent.

FreedomWorks opposes this bill. It would allow the Department of Commerce to continue issuing countervailing duty (CVD) on imports from China, Vietnam and other countries deemed non-market economies (NMEs). H.R. 4105 would hurt U.S. consumers and importers while further escalating a trade war with China. Like other taxes, the cost of tariffs, including “countervailing duties” are only paid by consumers.

The amendment would replace Paul Ryan's budget proposal, which does not balance until after 2040, with the Republican Study Committee's alternative proposal, which would balance in five years. The RSC's budget also simplifies the tax code, reforms Medicare and Social Security, and caps federal spending at just below 2008 levels. The RSC budget is the kind of aggressive but workable reform we need in order to get America back on the path to fiscal sustainability.

This bill would keep student loan rates at 3.4 percent instead of allowing them to rise to their 2007 level of 6.8 percent. Artificially keeping student loan rates low not only costs taxpayers billions of dollars, it also distorts markets by encouraging students to take loans that they otherwise may not have been able to afford, which in turn encourages colleges to charge more for tuition.

This amendment would eliminate the Economic Development Administration (EDA), which is an obsolete program whose grants are being used by many Members of Congress to essentially create earmarks. Eliminating this useless program would also save over $500 million per year.

This amendment would cut Commerce, Science & Justice Appropriations across the board by 1%, for an annual savings of $511 million.

This amendment would reduce spending for each of the agencies funded by this bill by 12.2%, exempting certain key organizations such as the U.S. Marshals and the FBI. This would save $2.7 billion in FY 2014 and apply that money towards reducing the budget deficit.

FreedomWorks opposes reauthorizing the Export-Import bank because it is essentially a corporate welfare program that hands out trade subsidies to politically connected companies. The government could better improve exports by reducing regulations and corporate taxation, which would render American manufacturing more competitive with the rest of the world.

This amendment would eliminate the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program, which directly subsidizes green energy companies. This program is pure corporate welfare, with the government picking winners and losers in the energy sector, and eliminating it would save taxpayers $1.45 billion annually.

This amendment would eliminate much of the Department of Fossil Energy, another federal agency which uses taxpayer dollars to subsidize green energy research. This would save nearly half a billion dollars in 2013, and return more research and development to the private sector where it belongs.

This amendment would cut nearly 10% from the Energy and Water Appropriations bill, for an annual savings of $3.1 billion. This cut would comply with the Republican Study Committee's budget, which aims to balance the federal budget in five years.

This motion by Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) would instruct the House conferees to insist upon capping highway spending at the amount taken in by the gas tax. The gas tax was intended to be the sole revenue source for the Highway Trust Fund, but the federal government has routinely outspent their revenue supply in the past decades, requiring periodic bailouts of the Trust Fund.

This bill provides funding for the Departments of Transportation and Housing & Urban Development. It increases funding for such unnecessary programs as Amtrak, the Essential Air Service, and community development block grants. The bill fails to make any real cuts to spending, in spite of the country's massive deficits.

FreedomWorks opposes this bill because it reauthorizes federal highway spending at a level that far exceeds its revenue from the gas tax. This bill also includes an amendment which continues the artificial lowering of student loan rates, a practice which encourages students to incur debt that they cannot afford to pay back.

This bill would fully repeal the unaffordable and unpopular health care law popularly known as "ObamaCare". ObamaCare fails to either protect patients or make health care more affordable, and must be repealed and replaced with free-market, patient-centered reforms to bring competition into the industry and drive down costs for all consumers.

This amendment selectively cuts $1.07 billion from the Department of Defense's Appropriations, exempting military pay and benefits from any cuts. As the DoD accounts for over 40% of total discretionary spending, targeted cuts in defense spending will be necessary in order to ever balance the budget.

This bill would require the Comptroller of the United States to conduct a comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve, in order to determine where this powerful and notoriously opaque private agency has been allocating the U.S. money supply. Transparency in the Federal Reserve is an essential first step to reestablishing a sound monetary policy.

This bill would prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from promulgating upcoming regulations that would devastate the coal industry and make it nearly impossible for many companies to develop new mines. Attacking coal development will massively increase the cost of energy over a large portion of the country, further straining resources in the midst of a weak economy.

This bill is the vehicle for the deal brokered by Senator McConnell and Vice President Biden to avert the "fiscal cliff". While it extends the 2001, 2003 and 2009 tax cuts and credits for most Americans, it allows them to expire on those earning over $450,000 per year. The bill also contains a $30 billion extension of unemployment benefits, and reauthorizes the 2008 Farm Bill for nine months. H.R. 8 allows the payroll tax holiday to expire, effectively raising taxes on 77% of taxpayers, yet extends dozens of tax credits and deductions that amount to corporate welfare for special interests. It also fails to extend the Bush-era tax cuts to all Americans, thus raising taxes at a time when economic growth is desperately needed.

This amendment would save taxpayers $450 million by cutting the development of the superfluous second engine for the F-35 fighter jet. The military already has one functioning engine for the F-35, and this second design is a wasteful payoff to defense contractors. Even the military says that this program is not necessary.

This bill would cut the EPA's science and technology budget by $64 million. EPA programs were given massive increases in funding in 2010, and were clearly over-funded. Many of these programs are redundant and wasteful, funding scientific studies that should be left to academia and the private sector.

This amendment would save taxpayers $100 million by reducing the Child & Family Services entitlement, a program which contains a great deal of fraud and wasted spending.

This amendment prohibits the use of funds to pay any employee, officer, contractor, or grantee of any department or agency to implement the provisions of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act also known as "ObamaCare."

This amendment would prevent any funds from H.R. 1 from being allocated to the implementation of the job-killing and unconstitutional bill popularly known as ObamaCare.

This amendment specifically disallows any funds from H.R. 1 from being used to pay the salary of any employee working to implement ObamaCare.

This bill prevents the IRS from being allowed to enforce the penalty under ObamaCare for failing to enroll in a health insurance plan. Basically, this would make the unconstitutional individual mandate in ObamaCare powerless, as there would be no consequences for failing to comply with it.

This Republican Study Committee amendment would reduce discretionary spending back to 2008 levels, which would amount to $18.6 billion in cuts in 2011 alone.

This amendment would reduce all non-defense discretionary spending to 2006 levels, saving taxpayers billions of dollars in 2011 alone. This is by far the boldest of the spending cuts offered to the 2011 appropriations bill.

This bill would prevent any projects in the 2011 budget from being required to comply with Davis-Bacon wage requirements. Davis-Bacon is a leftover from the New Deal era which costs taxpayers billions of dollars each year because it requires government contractors to pay "local prevailing wages" for every project, which usually leads to expensive union labor receiving the contracts.

This omnibus appropriations bill for 2011 includes the largest single discretionary spending cut in history, cutting $106 billion from various programs and departments. While this is only a fraction of the cuts needed to rein in the government’s spending, it is a very good first step in the right direction.

This bill eliminates the 1099 reporting mandate from Obamacare. Due to a provision hidden in the 2,400 page health care law passed last March, businesses will be required to submit an IRS form 1099 for all goods and services purchased over $600 starting in 2012. This is a paperwork nightmare that will significantly hurt small businesses and cost an abundance of jobs, and must be repealed.

The bill would eliminate the inefficient FHA Refinance Program, saving taxpayers $8 billion. This program, one of the T.A.R.P bailout programs, refinances underwater loans to the FHA, which by the government’s own admission transfers the risk on these bad investments to the taxpayer. This program should never have been created, as it is a clear violation of free market principles.

The bill would end the Department of Housing & Urban Development’s Emergency Homeowners Relief Program, saving taxpayers $1 billion. The program provides high-loss mortgage loan subsidies to people who are very unlikely to be able to pay back the money, which merely delays the inevitable foreclosures and wastes taxpayers’ dollars.

This bill contains a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government. Because the Senate has refused to pass a budget for three years, the government has been funded through these CR’s, continuing our unsustainable levels of deficit spending without even the transparency of the open budget process.

This bill would reauthorize the Washington, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which provided school vouchers to allow parents in failing school districts to send their children to higher-quality schools of their choice. Congress ended this program in 2009 despite its overwhelming success.

This bill, the “Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011”, would stop Obama's cap and trade scheme by completely stripping the EPA of its ability to use the 'Clean Air Act' to regulate greenhouse gases. This is important legislation that would take serious steps towards addressing high energy costs and ensuring America's energy security.

H.J. Res 37 would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from imposing net neutrality regulations on Internet providers. These job-killing regulations would involve new government controls on the Internet that would have significant implications for investing in innovation and broadband deployment.

This substitute amendment would replace Paul Ryan's budget with the Republican Study Committee's alternative proposal, which would actually balance the federal budget in about a decade. Ryan's budget, while a step in the right direction, would not balance the budget until at least 2040 – far too slowly given the massive size of our nation’s debt.

This bill is Congressman Paul Ryan’s budget proposal for FY 2012. It would balance the federal budget by 2040 without raising taxes, and would cut $6.2 trillion over the next decade compared to President Obama’s budget. The plan reduces government spending to below 20 percent of GDP and block grants Medicaid to the states.

The bill would repeal mandatory funding provided to states in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) to establish American Health Benefit Exchanges. The Obama administration is already using this unlimited slush fund to seduce states into collaborating in the implementation of ObamaCare and has hinted at tapping it to bail out exploding state Medicaid budgets. H.R. 1213 would strike the unlimited direct appropriation and rescind any unobligated funds.

The bill would amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to facilitate the production of American energy resources from the Gulf of Mexico. The Obama administration has delayed or canceled offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. The bill would jumpstart offshore oil drilling by implementing a 30-day deadline in which the secretary of the U.S. Interior Department would have to make a decision on the Gulf of Mexico drilling permit applications.

The amendment to Homeland Security appropriations would cut funding to that department by 10% across the board. This would save over $3.5 billion from current funding levels.

This amendment to the “megabus” appropriations bill would reduce funding for the Economic Research Service by $43 million; reduce funding for the National Agriculture Statistical Service by $85 million; reduce funding for the Agriculture research service by $650 million; zero out the Food for Peace program and to apply the savings towards reducing the budget deficit.

This amendment to the “megabus” appropriations bill would reduce Food for Peace Title II Grants by $940 million and apply the savings towards reducing the budget deficit.

This amendment to the Energy & Water appropriations bill would cut spending by an additional $3.04 billion – nearly 10% - and apply that total to reducing the budget deficit.

This is the “Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011”, which would cut total spending for FY2012 by $111 billion, cap total federal spending, and require the passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that includes a super-majority requirement to raise taxes and a limit on spending before the debt limit can be raised.

This amendment to the Department of Interior appropriations would reduce spending in that department by over $3 billion and apply that money to reducing the budget deficit.

This weak bill, the “Budget Control Act of 2011”, allows President Obama to raise the debt ceiling to over $16 trillion, in exchange for undetermined spending cuts to be decided by a "Super-Committee" picked from both parties. This committee is unlikely to be able to agree to any real spending cuts, and is allowed to use tax increases to create the necessary deficit reductions.

The bill would prohibit the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from ordering any employer to close, relocate or transfer employment under any circumstance. The Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act would help ensure that the government agency does not over step their bounds by dictating decisions made by private sector companies.

This bill, the TRAIN Act, would establish an 11-member committee, chaired by the Department of Commerce, to analyze the impacts of a number of major Environment Protection Agency (EPA) regulations. This bill would push back against the EPA's unconstitutional, outrageous rules and regulations that raise energy prices for consumers, destroy jobs and increase our dependence on foreign sources of energy.

This bill was used as the vehicle for the Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government. Because the Senate has refused to pass a budget for three years, the government has been funded through these CR’s, continuing our unsustainable levels of deficit spending without even the transparency of the open budget process.

This would ratify the pending free trade agreement with Columbia. Freer trade will allow Americans to reap the benefits of competition, which include more choices, better products, and lower prices.

This would ratify the pending free trade agreement with Panama. Freer trade will allow Americans to reap the benefits of competition, which include more choices, better products, and lower prices.

This would ratify the pending free trade agreement with South Korea. Freer trade will allow Americans to reap the benefits of competition, which include more choices, better products, and lower prices.

This bill picks favorites among trading partners and disrupts the price system. The biggest problem is that an amendment to extend Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) at the current, higher post-stimulus levels is attached to the bill.

The bill would help to curtail the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Boiler MACT regulations on boilers and industrial incinerators. Boiler MACT is an unreasonable regulation that would shut down businesses and cost thousands of jobs.

This bill, titled the “REINS Act” would require a vote in Congress on any “major” regulations issued by the executive branch before it could be enforced on the American people. The REINS Act would restore accountability and protect citizens’ rights by giving elected officials a voice in all major regulations issued.

The HIRE Act massively increases federal highway spending and other spending in order to supposedly stimulate the economy, operating under the Keynesian fallacy that a country can spend its way to prosperity. This bill will create few private sector jobs, while burdening our economy with still more deficit spending.

This resolution is the House "Rule" that would allow consideration of the "reconciliation" bill, H.R. 4872. The reconciliation bill would make the recently passed health care legislation even worse by enacting massive tax increases and creating still more new government bureaucracies in order to support it.

This is the vote on the final passage of ObamaCare. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act neither protects patients nor provides affordable care. It would kill jobs, drive up the price of health care, bankrupt the government, and ruin the world's best health care system. The bill also contains an unconstitutional individual mandate, which forces everyone to either purchase health care or pay a penalty, violating our individual liberty.

The reconciliation bill makes the terrible health care legislation recently enacted even worse with more job killing tax hikes, harsher penalties, and new government bureaucracies. This bill also builds a massive new student loan bureaucracy by essentially nationalizing the student loan industry.

This key vote is on the motion to concur in Senate amendments. The reconciliation bill makes the terrible health care legislation recently enacted even worse with more job killing tax hikes, harsher penalties, and new government bureaucracies. The reconciliation bill also builds a massive new student loan bureaucracy by nationalizing the student loan industry.

The American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 contains several tax hikes that impose significant costs on businesses and threaten job creation. One undesirable tax increase included in the bill is the elimination of the punitive damages tax deduction. Another added tax increase is a new tax on carried interest.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act would impose new mandates, fees, and regulations on the nation's financial services sector and create a permanent $150 billion Wall Street bailout fund. Although it claims to prevent another financial meltdown like that of 2008, this bill actually institutionalizes the very financial practices and moral hazard that led to the crisi in the first place. It also creates a massive new regulatory apparatus with several agencies, such as the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), that have sweeping new powers but are generally unaccountable to Congress and the American public.

The Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010 would extend unemployment benefits to November 30th for the long-term jobless. It would not boost job growth and it would add to our skyrocketing national debt.

This would make emergency supplemental appropriations for disaster relief and summer jobs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes. This bill would add to our national debt.

This bill would further tax and impose harmful regulations on oil and gas producers and removes the legal liability cap for offshore operators.

This bill in its present form would authorize over $26 billion for an "education jobs fund", and would extend continue increased funding for the "Federal Medical Assistance Percentages" for Medicaid. The "pay-for" for this bill is a $9.6 billion tax increase, and even with the tax hike the bill would still add billions to our the nation's deficit spending.

The Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010 would allocate $30 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to a new fund for financial institutions with less than $10 billion in assets. The legislation would also create a new $2 billion federal program to encourage states to develop initiatives to increase access to capital for small businesses.

This bill is the vehicle for reauthorizing the Bush 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which were set to expire at the end of 2010. However, the bill would allow the tax cuts to expire for the wealthiest tiers of income earners - a bad policy at any time, but even worse at a time when the economy is recovering from a recession. The bill would also reinstate the death tax. Soaking the rich will not fund our excessive government spending, and will further harm a precariously shaky economy.

H.R. 3082 would fund the government for the next ten months at current 2010 levels. With Congress failing to pass any of the required 12 annual appropriation bills, leaders have opted to put forth a massive $1.1 trillion continuing resolution that includes a number of costly provisions.

This spending bill would double authorized funding levels for scientific research agencies within ten years. Research and development are best left to the academy and the marketplace, instead of allowing the government to potentially use taxpayer dollars to favor research that suits a political agenda.

The FDA Food "Safety" Modernization Act would grant the federal government unprecedented control over our diets while not making our food any safer. The bill imposes new regulations upon farmers and other food producers and also requires the government to hire a troop thousands of new bureaucrats to enforce the new rules. They will be funded by "such sums as may be necessary." Besides wasting taxpayer dollars directly, the cost of producers complying with these new regulations will simply be passed onto consumers in the form of higher prices. Outbreaks of food-borne illnesses have decreased dramatically in frequency in recent decades, and there is simply no need for such an intrusive and expensive new set of regulations on food safety.

H.R. 3082 would fund the government for the next ten months at current 2010 levels. With Congress failing to pass any of the required 12 annual appropriation bills, leaders have opted to put forth a massive $1.1 trillion continuing resolution that includes a number of costly provisions.

This bill would amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to permit discrimination claims against employers well outside of the current statute of 180 days. This presents a radical departure from current anti-discrimination laws. Doing away with any practical statute of limitations, which has been considered a just practice in courts for centuries, opens the flood gates to a river of frivolous lawsuits.

The $700 billion in Wall Street bailout funds authorized by TARP was a bad policy in its own right, and the actual use of those funds has been even more troubling. The "TARP Reform and Accountability Act" fails to adequately protect these taxpayer funds or safeguard how they are being used. This motion to recommit would have stopped the unused $350 billion in TARP funding from being spent at all, and would have forced the Treasury Department to submit a repayment plan for those bailout funds which have already been spent.

This legislation calls for spending an additional $33 billion over the next five years to expand coverage under the S-CHIP program. At a time when our nation is facing record-breaking deficits in the trillions of dollars, expanding autopilot spending programs should not be on the agenda.

This bill would create $787 billion in new government spending on projects designed to stimulate an economic recovery. It is neither the government's role, nor is it within its ability, to spend the economy into prosperity. This stimulus package merely spends a fortune in taxpayers' hard-earned money to give away to whatever special interests are best able to claim that they can "create jobs".

This bill to fund the federal government contains a whopping 80 percent spending increase and is packed with earmarks and sweeping policy changes. Altogether, this omnibus bill increases government spending at more than double the rate of inflation and almost triple the rate of median growth in household incomes. With budget deficits already running at record highs, this bill just accelerates Washington's already out-of-control spending.

This legislation allows bankruptcy judges to modify home mortgages - including reducing principal - rather than leaving those business decisions in the hands of the banks and lenders who own the homes. The act modifies the Hope for Homeowners program by removing the taxpayer protections in place, making it easier for those who took mortgages they could not afford to receive a taxpayer-funded bailout.

This amendment sought to remove all Davis-Bacon prevailing wage provisions from the 2009 water resources bill. Davis-Bacon is a leftover from the New Deal era which costs taxpayers billions of dollars each year because it requires government contractors to pay "local prevailing wages" for every project, which really means letting expensive union labor receive the contracts regardless of other competition.

Their budget taxes too much, spends too much, and borrows too much. And, potentially worst of all, it would open the door for socialized medicine and a massive energy tax to be enacted later this year without substantial debate through the reconciliation process.

The bill includes a $100 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout. The bill contains funding for other projects that should not be used as a vehicle to ram IMF funding through Congress. Using this method to get the IMF funding passed is dirty Washington politics and law makers should reject it.

This legislation marks a radical increase in power for the Food and Drug Administration over the tobacco industry, and another attempt by a parental government to make citizens' health choices for them.

The bill includes a $100 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout. The bill contains funding for other projects that should not be used as a vehicle to ram IMF funding through Congress. Using this method to get the IMF funding passed is dirty Washington politics and law makers should reject it.

The Waxman-Markey energy bill calls for a “cap-and-trade” system for the regulation of greenhouse gases, and is, in essence, a massive tax on all energy use. The resulting spike in energy costs would devastate the economy across the board, and would particularly harm lower-income individuals, who would have even less money to spend on steadily rising electric and heating bills.

This bill introduces federal control of employee compensation to a degree that is both constitutionally questionable and has no place in a market economy. Perhaps most startling about this bill is that the new mandates it establishes on the private sector are so broad and ill-defined that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is unable to determine just how much these rules will cost the economy, making it impossible to conduct a cost-benefit analysis.

The bill would essentially provide an endless line of credit to college students, as well as greatly increasing the amount given out through Pell Grants. Guaranteeing students access to free, easy loans on grants will encourage them to take on more debt that they cannot afford, while colleges will continue to raise their tuition to match the flow of government money. This bill further expands the massive student loan debt bubble, which - like the housing bubble before it - will eventually burst.

(Note: this was the original version of ObamaCare, later passed as H.R. 3590.) This comprehensive government takeover of health care saddles hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes upon the American people. The bill contains an unconstitutional individual mandate forcing people to buy health insurance simply because they exist. Instead of making health care more affordable, this bill's mandates and regulations will massively increase the cost of everyone's health insurance and reduce the quality of care over time.

This bill contains the "doc fix" that Congress passes annually in order to keep Medicare payments to doctors from sharply decreasing. While the doc fix may be necessary in order to keep doctors from opting out of seeing Medicare patients, this bill would cost $200 billion over ten years, with no spending reforms to offset its huge expense. Separating this bill from the main comprehensive health care reform bill is thus a fundamentally dishonest attempt to hide the true costs of the massive health care takeover being discussed in Congress, and to kick the problem of Medicare reform down the road yet again.

While this bill claims to enact "permanent estate tax relief", the legislation puts in place a permanent 45 percent tax on estates over $3.5 million. A 45 percent tax is a dramatic tax increase over the zero percent death tax that will be in place in 2010, when death is scheduled to no longer be a taxable event.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, or so-called “minibus” would combine six of the seven remaining appropriations bills to fund nine Cabinet departments to the tune of $447 billion and $600 billion in funding for Medicare and Medicaid for a total of $1.1 trillion; a 13% increase over FY 2009 and a 25% increase over FY 2008.

This motion to recommit would have amended the Dodd-Frank bill to fully repeal the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and to reduce the national debt limit by an amount corresponding to the hundreds of billions that would be saved by TARP's repeal.

The "Dodd-Frank" bill not only fails in its stated goal of reining in the risky lending that led to the current fiscal crisis, it actually institutionalizes the practice of bailing out banks deemed to be "too big to fail". By telling Wall Street banks that irresponsible lending will be rewarded by government bailouts, this bill almost guarantees another financial bubble and collapse in the future.

This bill would increase regulations on energy and subsidize renewable energy. This would raise the cost of energy production, causing home energy bills and the price of gas at the pump to rise.

This motion, by Speaker Pelosi, would kill the Columbia Free Trade Agreement. Free trade encourages both imports and exports between countries, and creates wealth and jobs on both sides of the agreement.

The bill, which provides $15 billion in loans and grants to states and cities to buy foreclosed properties, is a prime example of out-of-control government spending that would do little to address the underlying problems in the housing sector.

This amendment would impose a so-called "Patriot Tax" on upper income brackets. Raising taxes upon these high income brackets does great harm to the small business owners who are the engine for growth in America's economy.

This is the budget resolution for fiscal year 2009 that will skyrocket the national debt.

The bill, a shallow attempt to rein in gas prices, is eerily reminiscent of the very policies that led to shortages and gas lines in the 1970s and early 1980s. It would over-regulate energy prices and prevent free market allocation.

This spending bill would raise taxes and increase the national debt.

This bill's real purpose, while purporting to protect wildlife and natural scenery, is to prevent the installation of an efficient and environmentally beneficial natural gas terminal. This bill only hinders energy production and economic progress.

This bill creates more government interference in energy markets, essentially imposing a "use it or lose it" rule upon oil lands. This rule would make it nearly impossible for many oil-rich areas to be developed, which merely harms consumers and prevents the creation of jobs.

This is the final vote on the bill that provided a massive (up to $300 billion) bailout to the "Government Sponsored Entities" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These two GSEs were in danger of bankruptcy because of their irresponsibly loose lending practices, and they should have been allowed to go bankrupt instead of putting taxpayers on the hook for their misbehavior. In addition, the bill contains an $800 billion increase in the debt ceiling.

The House bill includes language that allows the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to impose new "user fees" to cover the costs of its expanded regulatory program. The user fee would no longer be a "fee for service' that covers the agency’s costs—it would be a new tax.

H.R. 6604 is a premature action by Congress to pin the current energy problem on commodities future traders rather than address the real problem of supply. The consequences of the legislation are greater intervention in markets and an expansion of government into the reach of private contracts.

This bill is a vehicle for the massive government bank bailout, including the Troubled Assets Relief Program (T.A.R.P.). Bailing out banks that have made bad investments distorts the free market by creating a 'moral hazard'. If banks know that the government will bail them out of their bad decisions just because they are "too big to fail", they have no incentive to make wise investment decisions. FreedomWorks has double-weighted votes against this bill.

This bill would provide a $700 billion bailout for the financial industry. FreedomWorks strongly opposes this bill because it rewards those institutions which caused the financial collapse in the first place by making reckless loans. Bailing them out creates the moral hazard that these banks and lenders will recognize that they can continue to make risky loans without fear of consequences as long as they are "too big to fail".

This legislation would provide $14 billion in taxpayer loans to eligible U.S. automakers. Like T.A.R.P., this bailout would create moral hazard for the failing car companies. This bill picks winners and losers, while the market should be allowed to adjust to changes.

This is the "Card Check Bill," which will make it easier for unions to unionize workers in the private sector. It will eliminate most of the secrecy in union balloting, allowing union intimidation of workers.

This bill would amend the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 to force shareholder review of executive compensation, which would open the door for increased federal intrusion into the private sector. Although transparency in executive compensation is necessary, many shareholders already have this privilege under their company’s bylaws.

This legislation would make it a federal crime to sell crude oil, gas, natural gas or petroleum at a price that is “unconscionably excessive” or “takes unfair advantage” of unordinary market conditions. This legislation mandates severe fines for any violations including market manipulation, false price reporting and unconscionable prices.

This $607 million spending bill will end up costing $152 million in 2008 thus exceeding the president’s budget by more than $10 million. In addition, it would spend $7 million more than the current levels and more than $2.3 million more than the Senate version. In addition to exceeding the budget, this bill is also loaded with pork projects and represents the out of control spending going on in Congress.

Funded by a $0.45 increase in the federal cigarette excise tax and a nearly 200% raise in taxes on cigars, the SCHIP reauthorization proposal calls for up to $50 billion in new funds for the program, dwarfing the President’s current request of $5 billion over 5 years. In addition to greatly expanding a program that was originally designed to be a limited contribution to State health services, this bill would be a giant step toward government controlled health care.

This bill would authorize over $43 billion over 3 years to fund at least 40 new federal programs for various agencies including the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Science and Technology, and the Departments of Commerce, Education and Energy. The size and scope of the funding that emerged from the conference report drastically exceeds the original House version where $23 billion was allocated for 20 new programs. It not only represents the reckless spending that has come to characterize Congress, but also is a drastic and irresponsible expansion of the size of government.

This amendment to the “New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act” would create a mandate requiring the use of renewable portfolio standard for generating electricity starting in 2010 with the goal of forcing electric utilities to produce 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. Energy providers who did not comply would be penalized by being forced to purchase renewable energy from other generators in the form of utility credits or pay the difference to the federal government.

The bill would hit our energy suppliers with billions of dollars in new taxes. New taxes on oil and its providers will only lead to increased cost of production which will be passed onto consumers in the form of higher prices on gas, natural gas and electric utilities. Even though alternative energy holds promise for the future, federal mandates and taxes will not make the technology viable any faster. All that this bill will do is increase taxes and the price of fuel for the consumer.

This legislation calls for spending $33 billion over the next five years to expand coverage of the S-CHIP program. S-CHIP would be a massive increase in health care entitlements, and only exacerbates the underlying problem of increasing health care costs and reliance upon third-party payers in health care. It will also cost tens of billions of dollars at a time when the government is already incurring massive, unsustainable deficits. The bill, as passed, would vastly expand government controlled health care coverage to cover individuals up to 300% above the poverty line.

This legislation would add layers of bureaucracy to a situation already bogged down in government regulations and mismanagement. Not only does the act duplicate the efforts of the existing HUD department, at the same time the trust would compete with HUD for already limited funds. Whereas the government needs to be streamlining and modernizing a department, H.R. 2895 creates an increasingly complex web of uncertain funding and extraneous administration, making this act, in essence, the appendix of the housing conundrum.

This bill calls for $50 billion in new funding for the program that far exceeds the $5 billion requested by the President. In addition to greatly expanding a program that was originally designed to be a limited contribution to State health services, this bill would be a giant step toward government controlled health care.

This bill would provide a process for the reorganization of a Native Hawaiian governing body and reaffirm the “special political and legal relationship between the United States” and the governing body. According to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the 2000 case of Rice v. Cayetano, any preferential treatment that the native Hawaiian population enjoys runs contrary to the 15th Amendment’s protection against racial discrimination.

This bill calls for $50 billion in new funding for the program that far exceeds the $5 billion requested by the President. In addition to greatly expanding a program that was originally designed to be a limited contribution to State health services, this bill would be a giant step toward government controlled health care.

This bill would permanently ban taxation of the Internet, which would encourage the free dissemination of technology and information. If the Internet were allowed to be taxed, then it could also be regulated. This would result not only in an additional tax on consumers, businesses, and schools, but also could open the door to censorship.

This water projects bill is bloated with over 900 special-interest earmarks, which far exceeds the $4.9 billion requested by the Army Corps of Engineers. The bill does not set any priorities and would result in funding for truly essential projects, like protections in Louisiana against future hurricanes, being drowned out in a sea of pork.

This amendment would reduce tariffs for 80% of U.S. consumer and industrial exports to Peru and would phase out the remaining tariffs over the next ten years. Free trade not only drives the efficiency of the global economy, but is also essential to the freedom of American citizens to buy and sell legal goods without government interference.

While providing tax relief for some, this bill contains a tax increase on carried interest and private equity, expatriates, and deferred compensation. Additionally, H.R. 3996 would delay another tax cut for 8 years, which essentially amounts to a tax increase.

This bill imposes unnecessary regulations and exposes lenders to increased liability, which will have the net effect of making mortgage loans harder to get for many Americans. Although mortgage reform is necessary, H.R. 3915 fails to set clear guidelines for lending companies and opens the door for lawsuit abuse.

This bill contains more than 8,000 earmarks for special-interest projects. In addition to the large amount of earmarks, the bill also contains several budget gimmicks designed to hide the addition $14 billion in unnecessary Congressional spending.

This amendment prohibits any of the funds made available in the Act from being used to fund dairy education in Iowa. There is no reason that taxpayers should be forced to subsidize dairy education.

An amendment to prohibit use of funds in the bill for the National Grape and Wine Initiative. This project is unnecessary should not require taxpayer funds.

The American Made Energy and Good Jobs Act would privately develop domestic oil reserves. This is a critical step in the long term strategy of reducing American dependence on foreign sources of energy and of developing low-cost energy in this country.

Amendment sought to add a new section to Title VII of the Communication Act of 1934 entitled "Network Neutrality". Network neutrality would hurt Internet innovation.

An amendment to prohibit the use of funds from being used to renovate a city-owned pool in Banning, California. This is an unnecessary overreach of federal spending.

An amendment to prohibit any of the funds in the bill from being used for the Institute for Exploration at Mystic Aquarium in New London, Connecticut. This is an unnecessary program that the federal government should not be involved in.

H.R. 4890 would give the President the authority to isolate unnecessary or wasteful spending provisions in bills that have passed Congress and send these specific line items back to Congress for a timely up-or-down vote. This would allow for greater control over spending.

H.R. 4761 would increase oil exploration in the United States through reducing overbearing regulations.

This legislation moves the United States closer to the goal of creating a region-wide Middle East free trade area by 2013. An agreement with Oman would mark the fifth such nation in the Middle East with open trade ties to the United States. Free trade agreements allow Americans to buy and sell goods in more markets.

This resolution would make it more difficult to pass earmarks, a necessary step in controlling spending.

This would allow greater and fairer access to Federal courts by those who assert Federal property rights claims under the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause. Protecting private property allows for greater economic development.

This is a $295 billion transportation bill which is more than $11 billion larger than the agreed upon allotment for transportation. In addition, it contains literally thousands of wasteful earmarks.

The amendment would reduces spending by 2% compared to last year's level (the Budget Committee calls for a .7% reduction), which is over $5.1 billion more in first-year savings than the Committee's bill. It includes reconciliation instructions reducing the rate of growth of mandatory spending from 6.4% to 6.1%.

This bill would make the repeal of the death tax permanent. The death tax is a massive double tax on business capital vital to increased productivity and job creation.

This resolution would have rejected American membership in the World Trade Organization, threatening international free trade. Free trade is beneficial to the productivity of all nations.

This bill fails to bring the market discipline the postal system needs and acts as yet another taxpayer bailout of the Postal Service. The US Postal Service desperately needs reform, but H.R. 22 is not reform.

This would ratify the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement. Free trade opens the economy to new and cheaper goods.

This is a $295 billion transportation bill which is more than $11 billion larger than the agreed upon allotment for transportation. In addition, it contains literally thousands of wasteful earmarks.

This would grant further Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Hurricane Katrina relief. This spending would add to the national debt.

The bill addresses many of the problems of government overreach in the Endangered Species Act and strengthens the protection of private property rights.

This bill would expedite the construction of new refining capacity in the United States and reduce many burdensome environmental regulations.

This bill prevents frivolous lawsuits against food and soft drink distributors, a step forward in reforming America’s dysfunctional tort system.

This bill would improve attorney accountability and reduce frivolous lawsuits. This would promote a more stable legal environment.

H.R. 1606 would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act to exclude Internet communications from the Act’s definition of “public communication.” The bill is commonly regarded as the “blogger protection” bill since it addresses concerns that bloggers who regularly engage in mass public communications will become subject to federal campaign finance regulations—- especially if they reference a federal candidate 30 days before a primary election or 60 days before a general election. Of course, all restrictions on speech content offend the Constitution, but protecting bloggers will be a good first step.

This bill would curb eminent domain abuse by withholding federal economic development funds from states and localities that engage in eminent domain abuse. Limiting the government's ability to enforce eminent domain will protect private property from government overreach.

This bill would save taxpayers $50 billion over the next five years. This is not an enormous cut but a good first step to long-term debt reduction.

This legislation would extend the pro-growth reductions to capital gains and dividend tax rates that have helped to grow the economy.