Debatably the most important power delegated to Congress is its power of the purse. However, it never uses this power correctly. This week, the United States’ national debt surpassed the $22 trillion mark. Also this week, Congress passed a multi-hundred-billion dollar spending bill in order to cover for its inability to do its job properly. Congress was behind schedule by nearly half of an entire year on funding the government for this fiscal year.

Today, a bipartisan group of senators and representatives are meeting to negotiate the final text of the Farm Bill, H.R. 2. The Farm Bill is an $860 billion spending bill that funds U.S. agricultural activities. This will impact farmers across the nation and it is important for the conferees to consider much-needed reforms that will last for years.

FreedomWorks is proud to announce that our bill of the month for August 2018 is the One Percent Spending Reduction Act, H.R. 5572, introduced by Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.).

When Washington raised the debt ceiling this week, the Beltway media breathlessly reported that the fiscal crisis had ended. Lawyers danced in hallways, bureaucrats twerked on the Metro, congressional aides kissed strangers in the streets — the Tea Party has been defeated! It was like VJ day for wonks.

Default won't happen. This chart shows why the U.S. Government will not default on its debt, should it hit the statutory debt limit set by Congress (a limit that the Treasury Deparment suggests may be reached later this month).

There are a lot of myths about the looming government shutdown. The biggest one is that it is, in fact, a government shutdown. The country will not descend into anarchy, there will not be chaos in the streets (well, no more than usual) and, really, we don’t need to panic if it happens. Here’s the deal.