FreedomWorks is proud to announce that our bill of the month for April 2019 is the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, H.R. 1917 and S. 565, introduced by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), joined by cosponsors Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and James Lankford (R-Okla.). The Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act would require the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to submit an annual report detailing the costs and timelines of projects that are behind schedule, over budget, or both.

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.

When Americans talk about politics, they tend to focus on what’s happens the president’s latest tweet or incendiary comment during a speech or what’s happening in Congress. Most, however, completely ignore what’s happening in their state governments, which may be more impactful to their lives that most debates that happen on the House and Senate floors.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to vote NO on the Defense, Labor, and Health and Human Services (HHS) minibus, H.R. 6157. In addition to spending profligately on programs included in the minibus, it also includes a short-term continuing resolution (CR) for remaining appropriations bills into fiscal year 2019.

It is no secret that Social Security and Medicare will soon be insolvent. The updated Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report released earlier this month has confirmed that insolvency is still imminent, and will come even sooner than anticipated.

There’s almost always a Republican who gets in the way of a positive legislative victory. On health insurance reform, there were a few, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who blocked the “skinny repeal” of ObamaCare from moving forward. It almost happened on tax reform because of Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). On nearly every issue, Sen. Susan Collins (?-Maine) plays a key part in it. Yesterday, joining Sen. Collins, was Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who played the part of Judas.