Write Your Representative or Senators

Time is Short; Stakes are High

Several readers have asked about something concrete or specific to do about opposing the current budget reconciliation. Here is a basic step.

GOVTRACK.US (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/119/sconres7/comment) provides an easy template and tool for emailing your representatives in the House and Senate. Plug in your address, get back the contact information. All the Congressional websites include a “contact” button. Hit that, put in your information, insert your message, and send. This is especially important for Republican Representatives or Senators (the Democrats will almost certainly be voting no already) but no harm in sending to all three.

Here is the message I just sent to my Republican House Representative:

I am writing to ask you to vote against S.Con.Res. 7: An original concurrent resolution setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2025 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2026 through 2034.

In particular, I urge you to reject any version of this budget reconciliation that includes any tax cuts on tips, Social Security retirement benefits, or overtime pay or increases the SALT deductibility cap.

You already know why the above tax cuts should be rejected. The US has accumulated an unprecedented and dangerous debt, with nearly $2 trillion deficits overfeeding it every year. It is only a matter of time before a rising debt triggers a fiscal crisis that will severely hurt America and Americans. The CBO projections are already unsustainable and will worsen rapidly on current trends. Why make this problem worse, faster?

Candidate Trump promised those tax cuts, but President Trump has since promised a balanced budget to the Congress and to the American people. One of those promises must wait. Which is more pressing? Cutting taxes on tips or retirees does nothing to bolster America’s economic prospects. Restoring fiscal sanity, in contrast, is all important. Numerous fiscal think tanks of varying persuasions—including CRFB, Concord, Manhattan Inst., Peterson, and the Tax Foundation—warn of the grave dangers of America’s growing debt in general, and this proposed reconciliation in particular.

You have a proud record of supporting fiscal responsibility, which has earned you my vote and, I’m certain, many thousands of others. Why sully that record by supporting reckless increases in the deficit like these?

Please vote against any budget reconciliation that includes these tax cuts.

Thank you for your time.

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The paragraph beginning “You have a proud record …” is specific to my Representative. All the rest is general purpose. Add, delete, revise, or make up your own. What’s important is that the staff tally lots of constituents opposing a budget busting reconciliation. Unless you are a big donor, only numbers matter. Please share this with anyone you think might play.

Don’t count on much of a response, if any, but I’m told that constituent messages and phone calls have made a difference in the past.