There may never be a better time to remove legacy riders from spending bills

Abortion rights, campaign finance transparency, and our environment are all at stake in the annual spending legislation due on Dec. 16.

Legacy riders are harmful policy poison pills that were attached to spending legislation at some point in the past and have remained in effect year after year. It’s up to members of Congress to remove these special favors for big corporations and ideological extremists, or they will remain part of the final spending package.

With both chambers of Congress at play, Democratic leaders and appropriators may not get a better chance to remove these noxious measures for many years to come. That’s why it’s crucial that they fight as hard as they can to remove legacy riders now.

Probably the most notorious legacy rider of all is the Hyde Amendment. Added to the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations package in 1976, Hyde bans federal funding that covers abortion. Since then, numerous Hyde-like poison pills have been added to spending bills targeting everyone from Peace Corps volunteers to Native Americans to federal employees — impacting tens of millions of women.

Hyde and its siblings illustrate the danger of allowing poison pill riders to fester for decades. Lawmakers should not allow this pattern to continue and spread to other issue areas.

Legacy poison pill riders that fuel political corruption also urgently need to come out. There’s a rider that blocks the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from finalizing a rule that would require publicly traded companies to disclose their political spending to shareholders. And there’s another one that blocks a joint regulation from the U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS that would clarify the definition of political activity for charities, churches, and other nonprofits.

Abortion and corruption are just the tip of the poison pill iceberg. Appropriators also need to remove an array of legacy poison pills that attack our environment. One blocks the addition of the Sage Grouse to the list of endangered species. Another two set up clean air exemptions for factory farms. And several allow more climate pollution.

There are many more in areas ranging from children’s health to public safety to consumer protection that are impacted by legacy riders — all of which need to be removed.

Republicans may be behind many of the noxious measures added in recent budget cycles, but even they have been forced to concede the importance of clean spending bills.

In a dear colleague letter circulated in September, a group of 42 House Republicans and 10 Senate Republicans said, “We must not accept anything short of a ‘clean’ Continuing Resolution that contains no additional spending or extraneous policy riders.”

If Republicans actually believe this, it is deeply hypocritical of them to defend legacy poison pills — the very definition of unrelated extraneous policy — in the upcoming FY 23 omnibus spending package.

If new poison pills should be excluded, then the old ones should be removed as well. When they were added is immaterial. None of these damaging measures ever belonged in legislation that is supposed to be about funding our government.

Appropriations bills released by the majority in both chambers and passed in the House took the important first step of removing most of the legacy poison pill riders. Now it’s up to Democratic leaders to remain firm in final negotiations and keep the legacy riders out of the final deal.

There’s never going to be an easy or convenient time to fight the battle for a clean budget. Unfortunately, it still takes 60 votes in the Senate to pass appropriations. But a trifecta, even a narrow one, is a good moment for the current majority to win the fight for a spending package free from measures that harm the public.

Spending bills should be focused on providing ample funding for the programs and services we all count on — not sneaking through noxious policies that could never become law on their own merits. The public deserves a budget that not only invests in important public services but also invests in a better future.

Importantly, lawmakers in both parties agree that poison pill riders are a distraction from that goal. Let’s hold them to it.

Lisa Gilbert is executive vice president of Public Citizen and co-chairs the Clean Budget Coalition. She advocates for government transparency and integrity, financial reform, civil justice, and consumer protection.