TO THE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports S. Con. Res. 3, the concurrent resolution setting forth the congressional budget for fiscal year 2017, as an initial step toward making critical improvements to the American health care system.
Congress must repeal the “Cadillac” tax, the health insurance tax, the medical device tax, the employer responsibility penalties, and other harmful taxes of the Affordable Care Act that have increased health care costs for millions of Americans. As committees begin consideration of reconciliation legislation, the Chamber will continue to advocate strongly for those and other issues. The Chamber will also express its views as various amendments are considered this evening.
Furthermore, this proposal provides for modifications to enacted FY 2017 discretionary spending levels to bring them into alignment with the Appropriations Committee’s existing allocation as part of the deeming resolution required by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. These levels are consistent with the statutory limits established by the Budget Control Act and amended by the Bipartisan Budget Act. This legislation would also make changes to mandatory spending to reflect $2 billion in mandatory savings—the same amount established in the reconciliation instructions.
The FY 2017 Appropriations bills include many Chamber policy priorities. The Chamber strongly supports completing work on those bills and hopes that passage of this budget resolution will provide the framework for their quick consideration, including beginning the important work on fiscal year 2018 bills.
Sincerely,
Jack Howard
