Despite some tweaks to the original text produced by the House Select Committee on Intelligence, the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act continues to represent an assault on the Fourth Amendment. The Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of our constitutional republic, and crucial to defending the civil liberties of all American citizens. FISA has caused damage to the Fourth Amendment for years, and now is a critical time to support genuine reform, such as the USA RIGHTS Act. The revised version of the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act remains the exact opposite of reform, and it is worse than current law. The bill would continue the backdoor search, with an utterly meaningless “warrant requirement.” The caveats proposed to this purported “warrant requirement” are an end-run around the Fourth Amendment. The bill provides a path for the National Security Agency (NSA) to restart the practice of “abouts” collection. This means if a U.S. person mentions a potential surveillance target in a communication, the NSA can collect it, regardless of whether or not the U.S. person was communicating with anyone associated with the target.

This vote is for cloture on the Bipartisan Budget Act. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) had offered an amendment to restore the original spending caps under the Budget Control Act. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) "filled the tree," refusing to allow amendments. A vote for cloture is essentially a vote not to allow amendments.

The Schumer-McConnell spending deal, the Bipartisan Budget Act, is the worst-case scenario for fiscal conservatives under a Democratic president and Democrat-controlled Congress, but it is happening under a Republican president and Republican Congress. This is reckless spending, and a massive tax hike on future generations, made under the guise of “bipartisan negotiations.” This is deceitful, aggressive overspending by those elected to protect taxpayers. Leaving Americans with higher budget deficits likely over $1 trillion, and a national debt that will balloon to over $21 trillion, is no way to govern, and its weight falls squarely on the shoulders of taxpayers. This deal makes clear that Republicans only care about deficits and out-of-control federal spending under a Democratic president. With a Republican president and Republican control of the House and Senate, there is no other conclusion that one can possibly draw.

Russ Vought's nomination had been stalled by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who sought to leverage his obstruction of the nomination in exchange for more emergency supplemental funding for his home state. Vought's credentials to serve in this important post, which handles budget and regulatory policy for the White House, were never in question. Democrats opposed Vought's nomination over issues that have nothing to do with his ability to serve as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act would provide targeted relief in the banking industry from onerous regulatory overreach into the financial sector created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly known as “Dodd-Frank.” Initially passed in response to the recession of 2008, Dodd-Frank created a series of reforms that were supposed to address the issues in the financial sector that had supposedly caused the recession, but instead created a climate of overregulation, authorized the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) with little to no oversight, and gave the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) the authority to label financial firms as too big to fail.

The Federal Reserve Transparency Act instructs the Comptroller General of the United States, who serves as the director of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to complete an audit of the Federal Reserve within 12 months of its enactment. A report of the findings of the audit would be required within 90 days of its completion. The bill would require the Federal Reserve to provide information to the GAO, currently excluded from audits under 31 USC 714(b), including discussions between the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, as well as transactions with foreign banks. Should Leader McConnell bring this bill to the floor, FreedomWorks will substitute the cosponsor key vote for the roll call vote.

The CREATES Act would grant relief in court for generic and biosimilar competitors seeking FDA approval. This would clear the pathway for new drugs to enter the market, drastically reducing prices through increased competition. The cost savings stemming from this legislation could reach between 15 percent and 50 percent of current prices for impacted drugs. Should Leader McConnell bring this bill to the floor, FreedomWorks will substitute the cosponsor key vote for the roll call vote. Should Leader McConnell bring this bill to the floor, FreedomWorks will substitute the cosponsor key vote for the roll call vote.

The REINS Act would require congressional approval for economically significant rules promulgated by federal regulatory agencies. Under the REINS Act, the House and Senate would have to vote on a proposed rule and the president would have to sign it before enforcement of the rule can begin. The bill would give Congress 70 days to pass a resolution to approve a rule. If a resolution is not passed, the rule cannot take effect. Should Leader McConnell bring this bill to the floor, FreedomWorks will substitute the cosponsor key vote for the roll call vote.

The Earmark Elimination Act would make permanent the temporary moratorium on congressional earmarks put into effect in 2010 by creating a point of order against any provision within a bill that matches the definition of an earmark, and when raised would be stricken absent a two-thirds majority to override. Should Leader McConnell bring this bill to the floor, FreedomWorks will substitute the cosponsor key vote for the roll call vote.

The CBO Show Your Work Act would require the Congressional Budget Office to make the models and data employed to produce its analyses and cost estimates, as well as any details that were used, available to Congress and on the agency’s website. This much-needed transparency will allow interested parties outside of Congress to hold the CBO accountable. Should Leader McConnell bring this bill to the floor, FreedomWorks will substitute the cosponsor key vote for the roll call vote.

Altogether, the bill spends nearly $1.3 trillion in discretionary funds – $700 billion for defense, and $591 billion for non-defense – for fiscal year 2018 alone. These appropriations would bring us back to Obama-era trillion-dollar yearly deficits, and balloon our national debt to nearly $22 trillion. This level of spending for a unified Republican government is unacceptable and breaks the promises of every Republican member who ran on a platform of defending taxpayers, spending responsibly, and reigning in the size of government.

Between his time as an aviator in the United States Navy, his firsthand experience serving as the executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium, and his work in Congress, Bridenstine is extraordinarily qualified for the role of NASA administrator. In this role at NASA, Bridenstine will have the ability to bring much-needed reform to the agency, implementing the same principles of free markets and government efficiency that he tirelessly fought for in Congress. Serving on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Bridenstine became a champion of issues pertaining to air and space exploration.

The passage of this CRA would do nothing to change the prohibition against discrimination in the Equal Credit Opportunity Act that the guidance cites. It would simply roll back the gross regulatory overreach of the CFPB in claiming for itself -- behind closed doors and a screen of smoke -- a power that Congress, in the law that created the CFPB, explicitly banned the CFPB from having. As Sen. Moran said, the CFPB “had to work its magic to find a way to regulate auto dealers.” Good governing is done through accountable and transparent processes, not magic.

S.J.Res. 52 would undo the Restoring Internet Freedom Order and reinstate the Obama administration’s Internet red tape. This will hurt tech companies, as well as consumers. Internet access is becoming vital to commerce, and many Americans still lack connectivity. In order to get service to these most vulnerable parts of the country, we need an Internet free of the meddling hand of government, so it can innovate and expand as it did for so many years before the Obama-era regulations took effect.

S.J.Res. 52 would undo the Restoring Internet Freedom Order and reinstate the Obama administration’s Internet red tape. This will hurt tech companies, as well as consumers. Internet access is becoming vital to commerce, and many Americans still lack connectivity. In order to get service to these most vulnerable parts of the country, we need an Internet free of the meddling hand of government, so it can innovate and expand as it did for so many years before the Obama-era regulations took effect.

Sen. Paul’s resolution would balance the federal budget in five years by assuming the repeal of the 2018 Bipartisan Budget Act and from there cutting total outlays by one penny for every dollar spent, continuing for the next five years. At this point, the budget would be fully balanced and spending would be allowed to grow at one percent thereafter. Doing so would reduce spending by $404.8 billion in fiscal year 2019 and by $13.35 trillion over ten years relative to the baseline under current law.

Sen. Toomey’s amendment would apply the principles of the REINS Act to CFIUS to make sure Congress has a final say on these regulations. This will mean that only regulations that try to address truly predatory behavior will pass, while those that are unnecessary and anti-market will be stopped from taking effect. This was the intent of Congress when it authorized CFIUS and it should not abandon its ability to set policy in this way. Sen. Toomey’s amendment gives Congress this oversight.

Approving this initial $15 billion rescissions request in full -- pulling back funds sitting in useless accounts that can only otherwise be used to spend more in the future -- is a task that conservatives in Congress should wholeheartedly endorse. It is one of few opportunities to exercise any semblance of fiscal discipline. It is only one small step towards actually tackling Washington’s out-of-control spending addiction, but it represents a chance to begin this fight.

The Lee Amendment ensures that if the government wishes to making any such detention, that it have clear authorization to do so. The entire text of the Lee Amendment is consistent with the Constitution and with the prior Supreme Court cases that govern this issue. This amendment is narrow in scope, and will not hinder our counterterrorism efforts. This is merely to strengthen American citizens’ constitutional protections. The motion to table would kill this important provision.

This amendment would add work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. The Senate stripped out this pro-work provision from their version of the Farm Bill. Work requirements are important for helping people rise out of welfare and becoming independent of government assistance. A vote to table the Lee-Cruz Amendment would prevent them from being added back in to the Senate text.

The motion to instruct simply states: “[M]anagers on the part of the Senate at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 5895 be instructed to include language providing a role for Congress in making a determination under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862).” The administration has misused Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act to unilaterally impose tariffs – which are taxes – for purposes unrelated to national security. These tariffs threaten American consumers with higher prices and American businesses with retaliatory tariffs imposed by our trading partners.

This amendment, sponsored by sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) would reduce appropriations in the minibus by 11.39% across the board. This would result in cuts of $17.5 billion and would bring spending in line with the budget caps in place before passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act. Given that we are rapidly approaching a trillion dollar deficit, this is a necessary step to reining in government spending.

This amendment would prohibit funds from being used to carry out the District of Columbia’s recently-passed Health Insurance Requirement Act. The D.C. mandate states that a “taxpayer who fails to pay the District of Columbia shared responsibility payment imposed...shall be subject to all collection, enforcement, and administrative provisions applicable to unpaid taxes or fees, as provided in Chapter 18, Chapter 41, Chapter 42, Chapter 43, and Chapter 44 of this title.” When dissected fully, this includes levying and seizing property, or even imprisoning individuals for choosing not to purchase health insurance.

H.R. 6157 is more of the same profligate spending resulting from a broken budget process and members unwilling to stand up for their campaign promises of shrinking government and reducing spending. The bill appropriates $33 billion more for Defense than the FY 2018 omnibus and $16 billion more for Labor/HHS. It also includes a CR until December 7, setting up votes on a spending package during the lame-duck session that will almost certainly be packed with last-minute giveaways to special interests.

When it comes more broadly to the rampant expansion of the unconstitutional regulatory state, Judge Kavanaugh is perhaps second to none in standing up for the Constitution. According to Kavanaugh, if Congress hasn’t yet opined on a matter of deep economic significance, any regulation relating to that matter should be presumed unconstitutional. He recognizes that lawmaking, under Article I of the Constitution, was delegated to Congress, not unelected executive branch bureaucrats.

When it comes more broadly to the rampant expansion of the unconstitutional regulatory state, Judge Kavanaugh is perhaps second to none in standing up for the Constitution. According to Kavanaugh, if Congress hasn’t yet opined on a matter of deep economic significance, any regulation relating to that matter should be presumed unconstitutional. He recognizes that lawmaking, under Article I of the Constitution, was delegated to Congress, not unelected executive branch bureaucrats.

American taxpayers cannot afford to continue to use billions of dollars to prop up failing agri-businesses. The subsidies programs, as bloated and wasteful as they are now, will increase in cost by over one billion over the next ten years. This is inexcusable given our crushing national debt.

The resolution would simply reclaim Congress’ rightful and required Article I powers by mandating the removal of unauthorized U.S. armed forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Yemen not later than 30 days after the adoption of the resolution, absent a declaration of war or specific authorization for engagement in such activities. In Yemen, the executive branch has very clearly gone a step too far. By providing mid-air refueling, targeting assistance, and intelligence sharing to the Saudi-led coalition in its bombing of the Houthis in Yemen, the U.S. is directly involved in the conflict. In no way connected to al-Qaeda or the Islamic State, U.S. military force against the Houthis remains unauthorized, falling outside of the scope of the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs. A power explicitly delegated to the deliberative bodies of Congress is being actively stripped from them, time and time again, even in an instance where the Department of Defense admits the unauthorized nature of the conflict. The people of the United States deserve to have their government respect the Constitution that protects our rights, and the men and women of our armed forces deserve to have their involvement in foreign conflicts vetted as statutorily and constitutionally mandated. The vote on the Yemen War Powers Resolution is a significant opportunity to affirm these basic principles.

The First Step Act would reform the federal criminal justice system to make our communities safer by reducing crime and focusing limited resources on the most dangerous offenders. By increasing access to and instituting incentives for inmate participation in recidivism reduction programming and by modestly modifying some sentencing laws, the First Step Act would provide much-needed changes to the federal criminal justice system. The bill would reform four areas of sentencing law by reforming 18 U.S.C. 924(c) stacking to clarify that enhancements for second and subsequent offenses are used only on those who are true recidivists, by tailoring 21 U.S.C. 841 to modify mandatory minimum sentence enhancements and those who they may apply to, by applying the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 retroactively, and by expanding the existing federal safety valve for judges sentencing individuals with little to no criminal history.

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.

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.

This vote was to override President Barack Obama's veto of the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, which would have repealed ObamaCare through reconciliation.

The Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act relaxed FDA regulations that required business owners who own 20 or more restaurants to provide calorie information on their menus. This is costly one-size-fits-all regulation, made possible by ObamaCare, that will cost business owners $1 billion.

The Email Privacy Act would amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) to protect the privacy of email communications by requiring a warrant to access emails and other covered electronic communications by American citizens that are in the custody of a service provider and more than 180 days old. H.R. 699 passed the House Judiciary Committee by a unanimous vote. This legislation is an important step in protecting the Fourth Amendment rights of Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures and updating our laws for the 21st Century.

This legislation is an important step in protecting the First Amendment rights of Americans against harassment and coercion from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Introduced by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), this bill stops the IRS from collecting and releasing information about donors to tax-exempt organizations, which would chill political speech. The legislation would protect the free speech of donors to nonprofit organizations by modifying IRS disclosure requirements of information such as donor names and addresses. Under H.R. 5053, tax-exempt organizations are required to report only information on donors who contribute $5,000 or more and who are either an officer of the organization or one of its five highest paid employees.

H. Amdt. 1194 offered by Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), to H.R. 5293, to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2017, would retain the U.S. military’s current practice of providing cash stipend to recruits, allowing them to pick the footwear of their personal preference. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed by the House and Senate in May, changed current practice regarding footwear by including a “buy American” requirement, replacing the current cash allowance. This new language is a de facto earmark because it benefits one company: New Balance. The Department of Defense has concluded that the new language in the NDAA “would directly lead to a higher recruit injury rate at basic training,” The amendment would undo the New Balance provision, and halt an egregious example of crony capitalism that will cost taxpayers over $300 million and keeps this provision from coming into effect by not backing it.

H. Amdt. 1204 offered by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), to H.R. 5293, to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2017, protects the Fourth Amendment rights of Americans from unauthorized searches and seizures of property. The bill in its current form requires the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies to follow due process and obtain a warrant to collect the communications of American citizens. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was written to only allow the government to collect the communications of foreigners, but a large quantity of American communications are bundled in during the process. By prohibiting backdoor spying, this measure represents a step forward in the battle to ensure privacy and security in the face of unconstitutional surveillance. The amendment also prohibits government agencies from requesting that U.S. companies build security vulnerabilities into their hardware or software in order to make it easier for the government to access them

H. Amdt. 1243 offered by Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.)) which “reduces the salary of the IRS Commissioner to $0 annually from date of enactment through January 20, 2017;”

H. Amdt. 1249 offered by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) which “prohibits funds the use of funds to pay a performance bonus to any senior IRS employee

H. Amdt. 1245 by Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) which “prohibits funds from being used to implement, administer, or enforce a new regulatory action of $100 million or more;”

The Anti-terrorism Information Sharing Is Strength Act expands Section 314 of the USA PATRIOT Act to a host of domestic crimes that have nothing to do with terrorism. The bill also surrenders more rulemaking authority to the Treasury Department at a time when the regulatory state is out of control.

This bill modifies the scope of judicial review of agency actions to authorize courts reviewing agency actions to decide de novo (without giving deference to the agency's interpretation) all relevant questions of law, including the interpretation of constitutional and statutory provisions, and rules made by agencies.

H. Amdt.1346 offered by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) which “reduces Appropriations made in this Act for the Environmental Protection Agency by 17 percent.” The cost of EPA’s Clean Power Plan to Pennsylvania consumers would be shifted back to the EPA under this statement

H. Amdt. 1342 offered by Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) which “ensures that none of the funds made available by this Act may be used for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Enforcement Division.” The cost and extent of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Enforcement Division are addressed by this amendment

H. Amdt. 1330 offered by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) which “ensures that no funds appropriated by this Act can be used to implement, administer, or enforce Davis-Bacon prevailing rate wage requirements.”

In March 2015, the DOJ restricted the use of civil asset forfeiture in cases where structuring -- in which a bank account holder makes frequent deposits below $10,000 -- is the only offense suspected. Civil asset forfeiture is a pernicious form of government overreach by which federal agencies can seize cash or property without ever arresting, charging or prosecuting someone of a crime. The Clyde-Hirsch-Sowers RESPECT Act codified this administrative change.

The continuing resolution through December 9, 2016 triggers a lame duck session of Congress, which is designed to bolster the failed Beltway practice of legislating at the expense of the American taxpayers instead of for them. The CR will continue this pattern of irresponsible spending by forcing a new spending measure to be considered in a lame duck when the current session of Congress is wrapping up and members are at their least accountable.

The motion to refer was a procedural move made by Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) to block H.Res. 828 from consideration on the floor of the House. The motion sent the resolution to the House Judiciary Committee, effectively killing it in the 114th Congress. In September, FreedomWorks reserved the right to key vote against any motion that would prevent the resolution consideration. The commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is appointed to a five-year term. John Koskinen took office in December 2013, meaning that he could, theoretically, continue to hold his current post in the next administration.

While this bill may have good intentions, there should not be federal intervention. The bill does not properly limit the rulemaking authority of the DOJ, and rather, opens shortens the amount of time available to examine and debate the content. “Federal standards must respect the ‘civil rights and liberties’ of people being tracked, including their Fourth Amendment rights. Data collected must be used ‘solely for the purpose of preventing injury or death.’” We cannot risk civil liberties or allow our privacies to be ignored.

This amendment by Rep. Tom McClintock would completely end the federal subsidies for Amtrak. In spite of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, Amtrak has continued to run an inefficient service that racks up massive annual losses, and should not continue being propped up by the government.

This bill would fully repeal the federal estate tax, better known to most as the "death tax". Not only does the death tax represent double (or more) taxation of an individual's property and belongings, it can also destroy individually owned family farms and small businesses.

While this bill is intended to make information sharing on cyber threats easier, it also sacrifices many privacy protections in the process. The bill fails to ensure that companies and government agencies are not sharing personally identifiable information when they report cyber attacks. Worse, the bill requires that cyber threat information be shared with the NSA. Although well-intentioned, the privacy loopholes in this bill turn in from a "cybersecurity" bill to a "cybersurveillance" bill.

This amendment by Rep. Tom McClintock would eliminate the Department of Energy funding for the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Fossil Energy programs, and would sharply reduce funding for nuclear energy programs. Removing these market-distorting subsidies would save nearly $3 billion.

Currently, the NSA and FBI can access the electronic communications of U.S. citizens collected without a specific warrant under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This amendment by Reps. Massie and Lofgren would defund those activities. It would also prevent the NSA from requesting that security vulnerabilities be built into private products.

This bill would delay the EPA from implementing their economically devastating new greenhouse gas emissions rule for existing power plants. If implemented, this rule would cause many coal-fired power plants to shut down, dramatically increasing energy costs for millions of Americans.

This amendment by Rep. Zeldin would greatly strengthen current prohibitions against coercing states to adopt national educational standards. Specifically, it prohibits the Secretary of Education from conditioning any grant money or waivers upon states keeping Common Core or any other specific national curriculum standards.

This amendment by Rep. Polis (introduced for Rep. Meng) would establish grants to entice states to subsidize early childhood education (Head Start) programs. This would entail an effective federalization of pre-K education at taxpayer expense. Not only does the federal government have no place centralizing yet another aspect of education, repeated studies have shown that Head Start and similar pre-K education programs are ineffective.

As written, H.R. 6 would create nearly $2 billion per year in new mandatory spending (not subject to budget caps). This amendment by Rep. Brat would force Congress to account for the new spending under the Budget Control Act caps and therefore to find equivalent cuts elsewhere.

This bill, entitled the “REINS Act”, would require a vote in Congress on any “major” regulation (over $100 million in economic impact) issued by the executive branch before it could be enforced on the American people. The REINS Act would thus restore much of Congress' lawmaking authority that it has ceded to the executive branch over the past century.

In an uncommon move, 218 Members of the House of Representatives signed a discharge petition regarding H.R. 597 - a bill to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank of the United States. This successful petition bypasses the House Committee on Finance, in which the bill had been stalled, bringing the bill straight to the House floor. The Export-Import bank serves as a taxpayer-backed conduit for corporate welfare, and should be left expired. Only signers of the petition are scored for this vote.

This amendment by Rep. Justin Amash would remove the section of the bill that would provide $500 million in new spending for the Maritime Security Fleet program. This new spending, while a relatively small amount was quietly added into the bill without any vote, ignoring the amendment and committee process. This spending represents a shallow attempt to court a narrow special interest group to gain votes for the bill - essentially violating the House ban on earmarks.

This bill would reauthorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank through 2019. The Ex-Im Bank's loans and guarantees distort trade markets, and mostly flow to a small number of immense, politically connected corporations. Congress allowed the Ex-Im Bank's charter to expire in June, and this 80-year-old corporate welfare program should stay closed.

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 amendment by Rep. Steve King would effectively prevent Davis-Bacon wage controls from applying to the infrastructure projects funded by this highway funding bill. These onerous wage requirement were designed to shut out competition with unions for federal contracts, and end up costing taxpayers huge sums of money.

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 Rep. Joe Barton would finally lift the decades-old ban on exporting U.S. crude oil. This would allow the U.S. to take better advantage of our recent major surge in oil production, creating thousands of new jobs and boosting economic growth in the process.

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 bill would effectively undo the damaging Supreme Court decision in the case of Kelo v. New London, which held that the government can redistribute property from one individual to another if it serves a community's "economic development. The bill stops federal, state, and local governments from exercising eminent domain to seize private property for the purpose of "economic development" or any other transfer from a private owner to another private entity. It also provides legal rights for property owners to sue the government for abuse of eminent domain.

This bill would stop the IRS for one year from finalizing a proposed regulation that would stop grassroots non-profit groups from engaging in political free speech. On the heels of the IRS targeting of conservative groups, the regulation that this bill would delay would seemingly finish their job by excluding tea parties and other grassroots groups from any role in the political process.

This bill would delay a major reform to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that would have returned some semblance of market rates to flood insurance premiums. Currently, NFIP is over $25 billion in debt because homeowners in frequently flooded areas do not have to pay an amount that is equal to the risk they incur, meaning that the government takes a loss when the inevitable floods occur. By delaying the scheduled reforms, the NFIP will require a taxpayer bailout for billions of dollars.

Delaying Obamacare's unconstitutional individual insurance mandate extends the same exception to the law that was extended to businesses with the delay of the employer mandate. This delay would also prevent Obamacare from taking full effect, and provides an extended window to work on defunding, delaying, or dismantling the entire law.

This bill would stop the EPA from imposing proposed regulations that would effectively ban new coal-fired power plants from ever being constructed. It would require the EPA to take into account current achievable technologies from existing plants when setting future emission reductions, stopping them from promulgating impossible regulations that would kill the coal industry.

This bill would require that all government budget calculations be made based upon the spending levels for the current fiscal year. Currently, budget projections assume an automatic increase in federal spending based upon the rate of inflation, meaning that even stopping the growth of federal spending would be scored as a cut. Baseline budgeting would force Congress to account for this "automatic" growth of government spending honestly.

This amendment specifically prevents Defense funding from being used to implement any climate change recommendations that are based upon controversial international and U.S. scientific assessments, including the IPCC's 5th Assessment Report, the U.S. Global Change Research Program National Climate Assessment, or the United Nations Agenda 21 sustainable development plan.

This amendment by Rep. Mike Pompeo would eliminate the Economic Development Administration, a Great Society creation that has turned into a de facto backdoor earmark program.

This amendment by Rep. Marsha Blackburn would reduce the spending levels in the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill by 1% across the board, with the exception of funding for the FBI.

This amendment by Rep. John Fleming would prevent federal funding for state and local license plate scanning programs. Mass scanning of license plates has the potential to be as invasive of individuals' privacy as the NSA's phone data collection, and should not be subsidized federally.

This amendment by Rep. Marsha Blackburn would cut spending from Transportation and Housing & Urban Development appropriations bill by 1% across the board.

This amendment by Rep. Thomas Massie requires the NSA and other intelligence agencies to obtain specific warrants in order to access communications metadata collected on American citizens. It also stops intelligence agencies from using "backdoor" security vulnerabilities to access companies' data.

This amendment by Rep. Tom McClintock would eliminate all funding for the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program and the Fossil Energy Research and Development Program, and reduce funding for the Nuclear Energy Programs, saving taxpayers $3.1 billion dollars.

This amendment by Rep. Richard Hudson would reduce spending in the Energy & Water Appropriations bill by 7.4831%, which would return spending in the bill to 2008 levels. Defense and nuclear security programs would be exempted from the cut.

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 bill would stop the Environmental Protection Agency from finalizing a new rule that would allow them to regulate practically any water under the Clean Water Act. The CWA was intended to regulate "navigable waterways", but the EPA wants to be able to regulate everything from irrigation ditches to ponds to dry creek beds - which would massively infringe upon property owners' rights to develop their own land.

This bill would require a full and comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve. The central bank of the United States has operated in secrecy for over a century, and should be fully open to Congressional and public scrutiny.

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 Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11), would add another $33 billion to the Disaster Relief Act, bringing the total spending in the bill to over $50 billion. Although the bill is supposedly to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, the better portion of this amendment funds unrelated programs such as community development block grants. The "emergency" spending is also not offset, meaning that it will add to the federal deficit.

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 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 closed rule does allow for any extended debate or amendments to the Continuing Resolution, thus allowing a bill that spends at the rate of over $1 trillion per year to be passed without any input from individual Members of Congress on the floor of the House.

This bill would repeal ObamaCare entirely, stopping the government takeover of our health care. If allowed to take effect, ObamaCare will greatly increase health insurance costs, reduce the quality of care, and eventually lead to direct rationing of care. It also contains unconstitutional mandates that attempt to force people to buy health insurance, an unprecedented use of federal power.

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 amendment by Rep. McClintock would cut $1.544 billion from various research and development programs for alternative energy. The free market can take care of researching and development the next generation of energy technologies far more efficiently than the federal government can, without the distorting effect of the government picking winners and losers.

This version of the Farm Bill contains only the actual agricultural side of the earlier bill, leaving food stamps to be considered as their own bill. Unfortunately, this bill actually makes the Farm Bill worse by making the billions in subsidies to farm corporations and dozens of special hand-outs to favored industries permanent, instead of making free market reforms. The bill also still contains the brand new, unnecessary "shallow-loss" crop insurance entitlement, which will actually increase the Farm Bill's cost.

This bill would simply delay the enactment of ObamaCare's "individual mandate" for one year, extending the same temporary reprieve for individuals that was granted to businesses when the administration delayed the employer mandate. Delaying the individual mandate effectively forces a delay of the entire law, and buys time to work to defund and dismantle ObamaCare entirely.

This amendment to the DoD Appropriations Act, by Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), protects a basic 4th Amendment right by requiring that the NSA can only gather electronic data from people who are actively under an investigation with approval of the FISA court. This is basic due process under the law - you need a specific warrant to search and seize an individual's physical property; the same should apply to that individual's communications and digital property.

This amendment to the T-HUD Appropriations bill would eliminate the Essential Air Service program, a wasteful federal subsidy that supports seldom-used rural airfields. This would save taxpayers $100 million.

This amendment by Rep. Scalise (R-LA) effectively prevents the executive branch from levying any form of carbon tax without Congressional approval. Since a carbon tax would be tremendously destructive to the economy as a whole, this measure would hopefully make such a tax far less likely to pass.

This bill, entitled 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 thus restore accountability and protect citizens’ rights by giving elected officials a voice in all major regulations issued.

This bill would prevent the IRS from implementing or enforcing any aspect of ObamaCare. Under the law as written, the IRS would have access to a massive new data source called the "Federal Data Services Hub", which would give the IRS employees charged with enforcing ObamaCare's mandates unprecedented access to information about each and every taxpayer. In the wake of multiple scandals in which IRS employees deliberately leaked sensitive personal information on political candidates and groups, it makes little sense to put them in charge or our health care.

Congressman Mark Meadows solicited signatures for a letter to Speaker Boehner, asking that the House Republicans stand firm in their commitment to defund ObamaCare through the Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government. Members who signed the letter affirmed their commitment to resist ObamaCare using a must-pass bill (the CR), rather than continuing to take ineffectual, symbolic votes to that effect.

This initial Continuing Resolution offered by the House during the debate over the funding for ObamaCare fully funds the entire federal government except for any further implementation or operation of ObamaCare. The premium increases, dropped insurance policies, and delays of major portions of ObamaCare made clear that this poorly-written law could not succeed, and this Continuing Resolution was the last chance to stop ObamaCare's harmful policies before they took full effect.

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 completely 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 bill would protect individual states' rights to develop energy resources within their borders by declaring state regulations on hydraulic fracturing to have supremacy over those issued by the federal EPA. Hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking") has proven to be a safe and economical way to develop America's vast natural gas resources, and in those state which choose to allow fracking thousands of new jobs will be created as a result.

This bill simply expedites the permitting process for establishing natural gas pipelines. Currently the federal government has slowed down pipeline construction by as much as several years in many instances, and this bill would require that the permitting process be finished within one year of a permit request being filed.

This is the final House vote to pass 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.

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.