“America will never be a socialist nation,” President Trump proudly proclaimed in his 2019 State of the Union Address. Sadly, as each day of this coronavirus pandemic wears on, these words seem to grow less and less prophetic. Just as we think we’ve reached our capacity for government intrusions into the daily lives of Americans, we’re reminded that we may not have even scraped the surface.

FreedomWorks is proud to announce that our bill of the month for July 2020 is the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption (PRIME) Act, H.R. 2859 and S. 1620, introduced in the House by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and in the Senate by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Angus King (I-Maine). This bipartisan legislation would loosen restrictions so that meat processed in a state-licensed facility can be sold locally -- without regulation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) -- in an effort to help address issues with our meat supply chain that have become glaringly obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and senators ask them to cosponsor the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption (PRIME) Act, H.R. 2859 and S. 1620, introduced in the House by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and in the Senate by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Angus King (I-Maine). The PRIME Act would directly help address currently-breaking meat supply chains.

Although the costs of inaction on infrastructure will continue to mount, it is essential that Congress present smart, fiscally responsible solutions. Unfortunately for the American people, the recent proposal put forward by House Democrats dubbed the “Moving Forward Framework” is neither smart nor fiscally responsible. In the words of Reason’s Christian Britschgi, the plan from House Democrats is “heavy on funding ideas, but light on funding sources.”

It is no secret that limited-government proponents dislike the Federal Reserve, or “the Fed,” and the influence that this central bank wields. It attempts to “play God” in our economy by its control over monetary policy and almost always does far more harm than good. What could not be more secretive currently, though, is the way that the Fed operates. Fortunately, there is significant support in Congress for a bill -- the Federal Reserve Transparency Act -- that would require a Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit of the Fed.

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to cosponsor the Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act, H.R. 3971, if they haven’t already done so. Introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and boasting more than a dozen original, bipartisan cosponsors, the Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act would get rid of the double-tax on seniors’ Social Security benefits.

The passenger facility charge (PFC) is a local user fee included in the cost of an airline ticket that can be used by airports for specific purposes defined by statute and regulation. These purposes include airport or terminal developments and improvements, noise reduction, and competition among air carriers. The PFC is currently capped at $4.50 per passenger per flight segment. For a round-trip, direct flight from Atlanta to Washington, D.C, for example, the PFC would be a total of $9.00. A round trip flight from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., with layovers in Charlotte on both destination and return flights, would be capped at $18.

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing titled “Keeping Congress Accountable: Term Limits In the United States.” Chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the primary sponsor of the Senate’s constitutional amendment to impose term limits on Congress, the hearing included testimony from former-Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) as well as from a panel of two professors -- Lynda W. Powell and Dr. John David Rausch, Jr. -- alongside Nick Tomboulides, the Executive Director of the nonprofit group U.S. Term Limits.