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Currently, two billion dollars is given each year in perpetuity to an Obamacare slush fund known as the Prevention and Public Health fund. The Department of Health and Human Services is then free to spend these funds as they see fit, without any Congressional oversight.

Unsurprisingly, this has led to the slush fund being used by the Administration as a tool to push blatantly partisan, politicized policies.

Most alarmingly, a 2012 Inspector general alert raised concerns that these payments equated to taxpayer funded lobbying, while former Democrat Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) expressed concern that hundreds of millions sent to the fund have been diverted to encourage individuals to sign-up for Obamacare.

Members of Congress have the opportunity to repeal this slush fund by voting for H.R. 4725, the “Common Sense Savings Act,” introduced by Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chairman Joe Pitts (R-Pa.).

ATR President Grover Norquist recently sent a letter urging full support for this legislation found here.

This legislation also closes the Medicaid Lottery winner loophole, eliminates unsustainable Obamacare Medicaid spending and reduces the Medicaid Provider tax threshold. In total, the reforms will save close to $30 billion over ten years.

Not only does this important legislation repeal Obamacare’s Public Health slush fund, it ensures finite federal resources are more responsibly spent through a set of common sense reforms. ATR urges all members of Congress to fully support this legislation.