Key Votes on Amendments to the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, H.R. 3354 (Part I)

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to vote on amendments offered to the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, H.R. 3354, in the manner prescribed on each amendment below.

Because the House Rules Committee has not yet completed its work on amendments submitted for consideration, this is the first of two key vote notices for amendments to H.R. 3354. As is always the case, FreedomWorks reserves the right to key vote any amendment brought to the floor for a vote.

YES – Amendment #11: Sponsored by Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.), this amendment would prohibit any funds from being used to implement Executive Order 13502, signed by President Barack Obama in February 2009. This amendment relates the use of project labor agreements for federal construction projects. This executive order ostensibly functions as a hand out to labor unions, unnecessarily driving up the cost of these projects.

YES – Amendments #15, #51, #80, and #112: Sponsored by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), these amendments would save taxpayers money by prohibiting inflated prevailing wage requirements established by the Davis-Bacon Act.

YES – Amendment #25: Sponsored by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), this amendment would reduce funding for the Essential Air Service program by $150 million and transfer the savings to the Spending Reduction Account. The Essential Air Service subsidizes flights to small communities in the United States and its territories. These flights, however, are often half full or mostly empty, within driving distance, and heavily subsidized.

YES – Amendment #32: Sponsored by Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), this amendment would eliminate a planned $900 million earmark for an upgrade of an Amtrak rail line between Newark, New Jersey and New York City. Supposedly, the House has a moratorium on earmarks. Yet, this would be one of the largest ever included in an appropriations package. This amendment would redirect $474 million to deficit reduction and $400 million to New Starts Account.

YES – Amendment #33: Sponsored by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), this amendment would defund Amtrak, a federally funded passenger railroad service. Amtrak routinely loses money, failing to cover its operating costs through fares paid by passengers. This amendment would save $1.1 billion.

FreedomWorks will count the vote on these amendments to the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, H.R. 3354, on our 2017 Congressional Scorecard and reserves the right to score votes for amendments not listed above. The scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes Members of the House and Senate who consistently vote to support economic freedom and individual liberty.