Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Twenty-five conservative senators sent a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday, asking the committee to preserve all existing pro-life and religious freedom protections in all future appropriations bills produced by the committee. “The unborn are the most vulnerable members of our society, yet they are under attack,” the letter reads. “In 2015 alone, 638,169 unborn children lost their lives to abortion. This is a terrible tragedy, and we must continue to prevent federal funding from supporting the unjust practice of elective abortion.”

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT), Mike Lee (R-UT), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) today introduced the Budgeting for Disasters Act, legislation that would require future disaster funding to fall within statutory budget limits. A summary of the legislation is available here. “It is long overdue for Congress to start planning ahead for natural disasters,” Romney said. “By building disaster spending into the annual budget process, instead of busting our spending limits and adding to our national debt, our bill will both ensure that funding is available for disaster assistance and save taxpayers billions of dollars every year.”

WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Agency Accountability Act Tuesday, a bill designed to increase transparency, oversight, and accountability over the executive branch. “Congress has given far too much power and authority to the executive branch and it is far past time for us to start taking it back,” Sen. Lee said. “By forcing government agencies to get approval from Congress before spending government money, the Agency Accountability Act is an essential element of any effort to rein in executive branch overreach.”

WASHINGTON - Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Air Traffic Control Safe Operations and Readiness Act Monday, a bill designed to decrease the number of applicants that flunk out of the air traffic control academy. “When employers look to hire a new employee, common sense suggests they should look for qualified candidates with job-relevant experience,” Sen. Lee said. “Currently federal law forbids the FAA from doing this for half of their air traffic controller hire. This is ridiculous. We need to let the FAA hire experienced candidates that have the best skills to keep us safe.” The ATC SOAR Act would restore common sense hiring to the FAA by eliminating the requirement that approximately 50% of open controller positions go to “off the street” applicants and would instruct the FAA to give preference to veterans, national guard members, and candidates with previous controller experience or training.