Support the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act, H.R. 732

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to support the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act, H.R. 732, introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.). The bill would require the Department of Justice to spend settlement dollars on victims or send settlement dollars to the general fund of the Treasury to be appropriated by Congress.

During the Obama administration, the Department of Justice, without authority from Congress, funneled settlement dollars to a cadre of leftist activist organizations that were political allies of the administration. A December 2015 story in the Wall Street Journal noted that these dollars went to organizations such as National Council of La Raza and the National Urban League.

A House Judiciary Committee investigation discovered that the Department of Justice directed nearly $1 billion in settlement dollars over two years to leftist activist organizations. The organizations that received these dollars didn’t suffer any actual harm but did happen to support the policy agenda of the Obama administration.

The Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act would ensure that settlement dollars go to victims’ funds or to the general fund of the Treasury to be appropriated by Congress, which, as Article I of the Constitution requires, holds the power of the purse over funds spent by the federal government.

It’s critical that Congress reins in the executive branch and restore its Article I power. Like other bills that FreedomWorks supports in the 115th Congress, the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act is another crucial part of this effort. For these reasons, please contact your representative and ask him or her to support the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act, H.R. 732.

Sincerely,

Adam Brandon, President and CEO, FreedomWorks