ATR President Grover Norquist today sent the following letter to Senator John Thune (R-SD):

On behalf of Americans for Tax Reform, I am very proud to endorse S. 720, the “Repeal the CLASS Entitlement Act” from Senator John Thune in his efforts to repeal the devastating CLASS Act that was passed as a part of Obamacare.The CLASS Act creates a new entitlement program that Americans simply cannot afford. Under the guise of short term savings this program will explode out of control and become a massive driver of government debt in the medium and long term.

I applaud efforts to end this dangerous program before it gets the foothold it needs to hurt the American economy and drive up national debt even more. If the CLASS Act is not repealed soon, promises will be made to potential recipients and it will commit to spending more money that America simply does not have. At this point it will be infinitely harder to repeal or reform.

There is widespread agreement among Republicans and even a significant number of Democrats that the CLASS Act is fiscally dangerous. Not only does it create this new entitlement program but it is clearly unsustainable. Senator Thune should be applauded in his efforts to take on the establishment of this devastating and unsustainable new program.

Senator Thune points out President Obama’s ploy to get people behind the Obamacare package. Inclusion of the CLASS Act saves some money in the short term while crippling the medium and long term economic situation. This allowed President Obama and the Democrats to claim that Obamacare reduced the deficit, while conveniently leaving out that the CLASS Act was utterly unsustainable and ultimately leaves the deficit and debt in a far worse condition than before.

I urge everyone who is in favor of stopping the government overspending problem to support Senator Thune in his efforts to bring back some fiscal responsibility to Washington by repealing the CLASS Act.

Sincerely,

Grover Norquist