Republicans Push Through Partisan Giveaway for Billionaires and Big Corporations

WASHINGTON – Today, Republicans on the House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee pushed through, on a party-line vote, a fiscal year 2027 spending bill that benefits billionaires, big corporations, and the well-connected at the expense of the working class, the middle class, and vulnerable Americans. It makes communities less safe and enables individuals to commit fraud and sell dangerous products.

This bill:

• Promotes corruption by billionaires and large corporations by decimating tax enforcement and drastically underfunding the Securities and Exchange Commission, the corporate watchdog that ensures markets are fair and protects investors from bad actors.
• Leaves consumers vulnerable to scams and predatory junk fees by underfunding the Federal Trade Commission, allowing corporations to continue price gouging. These changes increase the cost of living for working class, middle class, and vulnerable Americans.
• Enables individuals to sell dangerous products and puts children at risk by cutting resources for the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
• Makes our elections less secure by cutting the funding for the Election Assistance Commission.
• Includes approximately 50 new, problematic, or pointless policy riders that have failed to make it in the final bill multiple years in a row on topics such as the IRS Free File, consumer safety, and abortion. Additionally, instead of addressing the issues that matter most to the American people, House Republicans are micromanaging the District of Columbia’s health and traffic laws.

From Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD-05) opening remarks:

“Respectfully, this subcommittee, if its experts have not been given the information [they] need at this point in time, we're flying blind, because we have not had the overwhelming majority – 90 plus percent of the agencies we fund – testify before us to justify the expenditures that they're asking for and tell us what the trade-offs are,” said Ranking Member Hoyer. “As a result, this is essentially a pro forma session. And I raise that issue because I think it impacts the result, the substance. Yes, it's process, but the substance is affected because we have not had the opportunity to question, to learn, to make a decision on what the tradeoffs are, what the alternatives are.”

From Appropriations Committee Ranking Rosa DeLauro’s (D-CT-03) opening remarks:

“This bill is a boon for the very rich and large corporations. It does nothing to alleviate the strain on working families who are struggling just to get by as the cost-of-living crisis continues unabated. In fact, it makes this problem even worse,” said Ranking Member DeLauro. “Additionally, it takes aim at our election infrastructure, defunding the Election Assistance Commission, weakening political fundraising guardrails, allowing misinformation and disinformation to spread unchecked. We should be taking steps to shore up our election infrastructure from any and all interference, and make sure that our states and our localities have the resources they need to conduct elections that are free and fair; that the American people can have faith in.”

A summary of the bill is here. A fact sheet is here. The text of the bill is here. 

Watch the subcommittee markup here.

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