Right to Try - February 2018

More than two months after being mentioned as a legislative priority in President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, the House Judiciary Committee will mark up the Prison Reform and Redemption Act, H.R. 3356, on Wednesday. FreedomWorks released its original letter of support for the bill in July 2017 and sent a revised letter on the amendment in the nature of a substitute that will be considered this week by the committee.

Welcome to FreedomWorks Foundation’s sixth regulatory review! Our Regulatory Action Center proudly updates you with our favorite tidbits from the swamp. We want to smash barriers between bureaucracy and the American people by delivering regulatory news straight to FreedomWorks activists. Check back in two Fridays for the next edition.

The issue of eminent domain is receiving renewed interest thanks to a new movie about Susette Kelo, whose property was taken by the City of New London, Connecticut to enhance the city’s tax base. The movie, Little Pink House, was recently released in select theaters across the country. Conservative columnist George Will wrote that the movie, which was directed by Courtney Balaker and co-produced by Ted Balaker, “will win the Oscar for best picture if Hollywood’s political preening contains even a scintilla of sincerity about speaking truth to power.”

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and him or her to support the Health Savings Account Expansion Act, H.R. 247, introduced by Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.). The bill would increase contribution limits for health savings accounts (HSAs) and would, for the first time, allow consumers to pay insurance premiums from their HSAs.

The fix is in.

On behalf of FreedomWorks activists nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and encourage him or her to support the amendment in the nature of a substitute for the Prison Reform and Redemption Act, H.R. 3356, introduced by Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.). The bill would require the implementation of evidence-based recidivism reduction programming in federal prisons and allow eligible offenders to earn time credits to serve part of their sentence in home confinement, halfway houses, or community supervision.

The House and Senate are in session this week.

Senate Democrats could seek to reverse the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) “Restoring Internet Freedom Order” by Monday. While their attempt has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled House or avoiding a President Trump veto, the move panders to severely misinformed activists.

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and strongly encourage him or her to cosponsor the One Percent Spending Reduction Act, H.R. 5572, introduced by Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.). The bill, also known as the “penny plan,” would balance the federal budget in five years by simply cutting one penny from every dollar the federal government spends.