Congress Should Reject FY 24 House FSGG Spending Bill

Capitol Congress Road

Dear Members of Congress,

We the undersigned, representing labor, scientific, consumer, research, good government, faith, civil rights, community, health, environmental, business, and public interest groups – urge you to reject the Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill due for consideration in the House of Representatives this week.

The FSGG bill brings Congress no closer to reaching agreement to fund the government in a year already marred by perilous standoffs that have left the American people shaking their heads with disgust. In contrast with its counterpart legislation in the Senate – which passed committee unanimously (29-0) in July – the overtly partisan House FSGG bill is simply not a serious effort at governance.

The bill would impose a nearly 60% reduction in programmatic funding, with massive reductions to agencies that protect children from unsafe products, workers saving for retirement, and seniors from ruthless scammers. It would cut funding for the agency working to reduce robocalls that people loathe. And the bill would zero out funding for election security grants during a presidential election cycle.

The bill is loaded with harmful policy riders opposed by the American people, and House Republicans have recently proposed many amendments that would move the bill further in the wrong direction. Among the dozens of poison pill riders already written into the bill and the amendments yet to be considered are those that would:

  • Stop the Securities and Exchange Commission from finalizing rules on secret corporate political spending (Sec. 633);
  • Make it more expensive for taxpayers to file their taxes by preventing the IRS from developing free filing software (Sec. 112);
  • Further the anti-climate aims of the big oil and gas lobby by prohibiting regulators from requiring publicly traded companies to disclose their climate-related risks (Sec. 550);
  • Prohibit agencies from purchasing electric vehicles, batteries, and infrastructure (Sec. 635);
  • Restrict Americans’ access to reproductive health services by preventing federal employees from using their insurance to access abortion care (Sec. 613);
  • Attack reproductive freedom by prohibiting D.C. from using its own funds to cover abortion care and enforce anti-discrimination provisions (Sec. 810 & 819);
  • Prohibit the administration from taking steps to increase access to voting (Sec. 758);
  • Perpetuate biased lending practices by prohibiting regulators from better tracking discrimination by lenders to small business owners (Sec. 503); 
  • Divert funding from DC public schools to pay for unaccountable private school vouchers ( 400);
  • Continue to endanger Americans by cutting funding for the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention (Proposed amendments by Reps. Greene, Rosendale, and Steube); and
  • Expose people to the worst impacts of climate change by prohibiting funds from being used to implement any of President Biden’s executive orders on climate change (Proposed amendment by Rep. Roy).

We disagree with these policies on their merits, but regardless, they should be considered under regular order, through the authorizing committees of jurisdiction – not jammed into an appropriations bill as part of an ostensible threat to shut down the government should they not be signed into law.

The public does not support the inclusion of damaging policy riders in must-pass appropriations bills, and any previously included measures doing so must be removed. Earlier this year, 100 public interest groups sent a letter to Congress calling for clean spending bills without any poison pill policy riders and for ample funding for vital programs and agencies to advance the public interest. It is disappointing to see House Republicans so blatantly ignore the will of so many.

The FY24 FSGG bill is an unredeemable, unserious piece of legislation and we urge all Members to vote against it. It is also another example of overreaching abuse of the appropriations process, as all of the funding bills proposed by the GOP House include poison pill riders and proposed amendments that are simply inappropriate. The House should dispense with the theater of partisanship for its own sake and take guidance from the Senate, which last week passed a three-bill appropriations package with 85 votes.

Voters deserve a Congress that can sit down and come to a reasonable agreement for the greater good, and we hope that quickly moving past the FY 24 FSGG bill will bring Congress closer to that outcome.

20/20 Vision
Accountable.US
All Home
American Economic Liberties Project
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
American Federation of Teachers
American Sustainable Business Network
Americans for Financial Reform
Americans for Tax Fairness
Americans United for Separation of Church & State
Arizona Center for Economic Progress
Campaign For Working Families, Inc.
CCAN Action Fund
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Justice & Democracy
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Center for Progressive Reform
Center for Responsible Lending
Children’s HealthWatch
Church World Service
City of Minneapolis
Clean Elections Texas
Clean Water Action
Climate Action Campaign
Colorado Consumer Health Initiative
Columbia Consumer Education Council
Consumer Action
Consumer Federation of America
Consumer Federation of California
DC Vote
Demand Progress
Detroit green skills alliance
DOJ Gender Equality Network*
Earthjustice
Economic Security Project Action
Elevate
End Citizens United//Let America Vote Action Fund
Endangered Species Coalition
Erase The Divide LLC
Foster America
Free Press Action
Friends of the Earth
Futures Without Violence
Guttmacher Institute
Harrington Investments, Inc.
Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative
Immigrant Services Providers Group/Health, Somerville, MA
Impact Fund
Income Movement
Indivisible
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Interfaith Alliance
Interfaith Center on corporate Responsibility
League of Conservation Voters
Missionary Oblates
NAACP
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders
National Association of Consumer Advocates
National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities
National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients)
National Council of Jewish Women
National Organization for Women
National Women’s Law Center
Natural Resources Defense Council
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
New Jersey Association on Correction
Our Children Oregon
Oxfam America
PAI
People Power United
Physicians for Reproductive Health
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Presbyterian Church (USA) Office of Public Witness
Prosperity Now
Public Advocacy for Kids (PAK)
Public Citizen
Public Investors Advocate Bar Association
Public Justice Center
Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America)
Rhia Ventures
Rise Up WV
Saint Louis University School of Social Work
San Diego for Every Child
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Shriver Center on Poverty Law
Sierra Club
Small Business Majority
Social Equity Group
South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center
Stance Capital LLC
Take On Wall Street
The People’s Justice Council
The Phoenix Group
Tulipshare, Sustainable Investment Fund
Union of Concerned Scientists
United Church of Christ, Justice and Local Church Ministries
URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity
Virginia Citizens Consumer Council
VOICE (Voices Organized in Civic Engagement) – Oklahoma
Washington Anti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition
WE ACT for Environmental Justice
Young Invincibles