100 Groups to Congress: Exclude Poison Pill Riders From FY24 Spending Bills

For Immediate Release | Contact: David Rosen, drosen@citizen.org, (202) 588-7742

WASHINGTON, D.C. – No appropriations package should move forward if it contains poison pill riders that go against the public interest, 100 groups told congressional lawmakers in a letter sent today. In addition, Congress must not allow the budgetary process to be held hostage by the debt limit, the groups said.

“Congress must pass clean spending bills that place the focus of the federal budget and appropriations process back where it belongs: on providing ample funding and advancing the public interest,” the letter reads. “The House majority has proposed draconian cuts to non-defense discretionary spending which we must not entertain, and so we ask that you prioritize both appropriate funding levels and keeping new poison pill policy riders out of the bills. We also ask that you work to remove legacy riders that were embedded in previous cycles.”

Every budget cycle, unscrupulous lawmakers attempt to insert special favors for big corporations and ideological extremists into annual spending bills. These poison pills could not become law on their own merits and would be rejected by the public. Legacy riders held over from previous cycles need to be removed, and new poison pills should be kept out, the groups maintain.