At Least 22 New Poison Pill Riders Were Added to House Spending Bills in the Past Week. Lawmakers Must Remove All of Them.

Capitol hill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At least 22 new poison pill policy riders were added to appropriations bills drafted in the U.S. House over the past week, according to the Clean Budget Coalition, which is tracking them. That’s in addition to the 17 new poison pills the coalition found in May, bringing the total number of new poison pill riders to at least 39.

Coalition members are calling on lawmakers to remove all of them and oppose passage of any legislation that includes these unpopular and controversial special favors for big corporations and ideological extremists. Below is a list of new poison pills added or found in the past week:

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies

  • The Racial Equity Rider would prohibit funding for implementing racial equity and support for underserved communities in executive orders and agency plans.
  • The CRT Rider would prohibit funding for critical race theory or any concepts associated with it.
  • The USDA D.C. Hiring Rider would prevent the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from effectively serving farmers, ranchers, and other stakeholders by needlessly limiting the department’s hiring of staff in the National Capital Region. It would only allow D.C.-based staff only as specified by the appropriations bill. This would be problematic as the USDA looks to staff up to handle Inflation Reduction Act implementation.
  • The Pride Flag Rider would prohibit pride flags from being flown at covered facilities.

Defense

  • The Women’s Health Travel Rider would ban funding for travel expenses for reproductive healthcare needs for service members and their families.
  • The DEIA Rider would block funding for the Deputy Inspector General for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility and any funds used to implement, administer, apply, enforce, or carry out executive orders on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
  • The Gender Affirming Care Rider would ban funding for surgical procedures or hormone therapies for gender affirming care.
  • The Drag Queen Rider would ban funding that promotes, hosts, facilitates, or supports events on U.S. military installations or as part of military recruiting programs that violate the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Ethics Regulation or bring discredit upon the military, such as drag queen story hour for children or the use of drag queens as military recruiters.
  • The CRT Rider would ban funding for any activity that promotes or advances Critical Race Theory.
  • The Disinformation Rider would ban funding that may be used to classify or facilitate classification of any communications by a U.S. person as “mis, dis, or mal-information” – permitting the spread of falsehoods without the ability to present the facts.
  • The Hunter Biden Rider would ban security clearances for any signatory to the “Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails” dated October 19, 2020 – limiting the free speech of those expressing ideas the majority opposes.
  • The Same-Sex Marriage Rider would ban retribution against any individual with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as a union of one man and one woman – language that fuels discrimination and limits the diversity of our military. The language in this rider would require the government to continue to fund contractors, nonprofits, and other organizations that discriminate against LGBTQI+ people if they claim the reason for their discrimination is because of their belief that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Energy and Water Development

  • The Firearms on Public Lands Rider would allow firearms on public lands managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
  • The Waters of the U.S. Rider would block the January 2023 revised definition of “Waters of the United States.”
  • The California Water Management Rider would mandate the use of environmentally harmful water management plans and advances controversial California dam proposals.
  • The Grid Transformers Rider would prohibit funding to stop the energy efficiency standard for electric grid distribution transformers.
  • The Justice40 Rider would prohibit funding related to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Justice40 initiative, which directs 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to flow to disadvantaged communities. These investments include clean energy, energy efficiency, clean transit, affordable and sustainable housing, training and workforce development, remediation and reduction of legacy pollution, and clean water infrastructure development.
  • The CRT Rider would prohibit funding related to critical race theory.
  • The DEIA Rider would block funding related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
  • The Racial Equity Rider would prohibit funding related to racial equity and support for underserved communities.
  • The Same-Sex Marriage Rider would allow discrimination based on same-sex marriage.

Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies

  • The Pride Flag Rider would prohibit pride flags from being flown at covered facilities.

In addition to these measures, more than two dozen legacy riders that attack abortion rights, fuel political corruption, harm our environment, and more also must be removed from the annual spending bills.

Please reach out to speak with an expert on the Clean Budget Coalition’s work or specific riders listed here.

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