On Thursday, Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21), introduced the “No Budget, No Fundraising Act” to prohibit Members of Congress from campaign fundraising until they do their job and pass a balanced budget and subsequent spending bills to reflect it.
Rep. Roy had the following to say about the legislation:
Inflation is ravaging hardworking Americans’ paychecks, we’ve got $31 trillion in national debt, the federal bureaucracy is targeting our freedom on a daily basis, but Congress can’t even pass a proper budget the right way — much less exercise the fiscal restraint necessary to address those problems.
However, members of Congress still manage to raise truckloads of money every year to fund reelection campaigns based on empty promises to fix the dysfunction in Washington, D.C. According to OpenSecrets, nearly $10 billion is projected to be spent on congressional elections this cycle alone.
I wrote this bill to turn that dynamic on its head, specifically by restricting politicians’ ability to fundraise until they do the hard work of balancing the federal budget and passing annual spending bills to fit that budget. It’s long past time for Congress to do its job, and for its members to face consequences if they don’t.
This legislation would bar Members of Congress and their respective national congressional campaign committees, which are incumbent protection organizations, from soliciting federal campaign donations in a given fiscal year until a 10-year balanced budget resolution and annual appropriations for that fiscal year are in effect.
Rep. Roy is joined by original cosponsor Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05).
This legislation would take effect in fiscal year 2024, giving Congress ample time to pass a balanced budget resolution and annual appropriations bills before the September 30, 2023 deadline.
Full text of the legislation can be found here.
