Fund the Troops First, says Conservative Action Project

Conservatives want the Senate to work fulltime and overtime starting now until their work is done. Working Americans do this, or they don't get paid. Eliminating paid leave in August is nice but insufficient.

As we have outlined in previous memos, conservatives now call on the Senate's leadership to use this critical time to pass all of their appropriations bills, confirm President Trump's nominees, and work to implement a strong conservative agenda.

Specifically, we call on the Senate to prioritize funding for the troops. Before passing a funding bill for themselves, which the Senate has indicated they are planning to do, the Senate should immediately take up funding bills for the Department of Defense and the Veteran's Administration. Fund the troops first. Fund Congress last.

Moreover, the substance of these funding bills is important. When Congress passed its $1.3 trillion spending bill in March, it failed to defund sanctuary cities, failed to defund Planned Parenthood and failed to address any part of Obamacare. It also openly blocked President Trump from building his border wall. The Senate should use this current opportunity to address these long-standing campaign promises.

Finally, we ask the Senate to clear the historic backlog of President Trump's nominees. There remain 156 nominees pending in committee, and 108 available for immediate floor consideration. This Senate has confirmed substantially fewer nominees under this president than at similar times under his last four predecessors. Despite progress on judicial nominees, there are now more judicial vacancies than when Trump took office last year. Given this, we urge the Senate to use the full weight of the Senate's rules against Democrat obstruction of Trump's nominees.

The Senate must show it is serious about doing its job by using this canceled recess to accomplish these priorities. We look forward to supporting them in these efforts.