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(5) According to the Drug Enforcement Admin-
istration, China is the primary source of all fentanyl- 
related substances trafficked into the United States. 
(6) The SUPPORT for Patients and Commu-
nities Act was signed into law in the 115th Congress 
in an overwhelmingly bipartisan display of congres-
sional and executive branch support to fight against 
the opioid epidemic. 
(7) The Committee on Energy and Commerce 
and the Committee on Ways and Means are working 
to advance policies that reauthorize and build upon 
laws passed in previous Congresses. 
(8) Bipartisan efforts to reduce the supply of 
opioids in the United States, eliminate opioid abuse, 
and provide relief from addiction for all Americans 
should continue. 
(b) POLICY ON OPIOID ABUSE.—It is the policy of 
this concurrent resolution that— 
(1) combating opioid abuse using available 
budgetary resources remains a high priority; 
(2) the House, in a bipartisan manner, should 
continue to examine the Federal response to the 
opioid abuse epidemic and support essential activi-
ties to reduce and prevent substance abuse; 
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(3) the Federal Government should secure the 
United States southern border to reduce the flow of 
fentanyl and other opioids into the Nation; 
(4) the House should examine the specific 
threat posed by fentanyl and fentanyl analogues and 
support initiatives to reduce the supply of fentanyl 
in the United States and mitigate its deadly impact 
on American lives; 
(5) the House should engage in oversight ef-
forts to ensure that taxpayer dollars intended to 
combat opioid abuse are spent appropriately and ef-
ficiently; and 
(6) the House should collaborate with State, 
local, and tribal entities to develop a comprehensive 
strategy for addressing the opioid addiction crisis. 
SEC. 411. POLICY STATEMENT ON BORDER SECURITY. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) The United States is facing the largest in-
flux of illegal migrants in modern history. Since 
President Biden took office, the Department of 
Homeland Security (DHS) has encountered over 8.7 
million illegal migrants at U.S. Borders. At the 
Southwest Border alone, there have been over 7.2 
million encounters. 
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(2) Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro 
Mayorkas confirmed on January 8, 2024, that the 
current release rate for migrants illegally crossing 
the border is approximately 85 percent. This means 
that of the 7.2 million illegal migrants encountered 
at the Southwest border, over 6.1 million of these il-
legal migrants have been released into the United 
States. In addition, it is estimated that at least 1.7 
million illegal migrants have effectively evaded U.S. 
Customs and Border Patrol and entered the country 
illegally. These aliens are referred to as known 
‘‘gotaways’’. 
(3) President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas’s 
catch and release policy is costing the American tax-
payer tens of billions of dollars a year. Unfortu-
nately, the cost to the taxpayer is much higher once 
all illegal immigrants are included. In total, the Fed-
eration for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) 
estimates the cost of all illegal immigrants to the 
taxpayer to be over $150.7 billion per year. 
(4) Article I, section 8, clause 1 of the Con-
stitution places the mandate on the Legislative 
Branch of the Federal Government to ‘‘provide for 
the common Defence and general Welfare of the 
United States’’. Both the Legislature and the Exec-
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utive have failed to provide a proper defense of the 
border and failed to uphold the common welfare of 
the people, as is evident by the situation in cities 
across the country. 
(5) Article IV, section 4 of the Constitution 
provides that the Federal Government ‘‘shall guar-
antee to every State in this Union a Republican 
Form of Government, and shall protect each of them 
against Invasion’’. The Federal Government of the 
United States has failed to provide its citizens with 
a defense at our borders and has failed to protect 
the States from invasion, as at least 7.8 million ille-
gal migrants have now entered the country through 
the Southwest border. 
(b) POLICY ON BORDER SECURITY.—It is the policy 
of this concurrent resolution to implement the policies set 
forth in H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023. It 
is imperative that Congress dedicate appropriate resources 
to DHS to deter and prevent illegal immigration, secure 
the border, and effectively control the entry and exit of 
all people. Enforcing our borders and the rule of law 
should be a top priority for Congress. 
SEC. 412. POLICY STATEMENT ON THE SUPPLEMENTAL NU-
TRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
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(1) While the Supplemental Nutrition Assist-
ance Program will remain a means-tested entitle-
ment, certain policies steeped in Executive overreach 
have expanded the size and scope of the program 
with continued disregard to transparency of process, 
basic tenets of integrity, and accountability to the 
taxpayer. 
(2) President Biden’s 2021 revision to the 
Thrifty Food Plan was careless, ill-conceived, and 
poorly executed, resulting in a cost estimate of 
$425.5 billion over the 10-year period. The Govern-
ment Accountability Office (GAO) was asked by the 
Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-
trition, and Forestry of the Senate to review the up-
date, and in December 2022, GAO issued a suite of 
recommendations to promote a transparent and sci-
entifically rigorous process for future updates. 
(3) Other statutes and subsequent regulations 
continue to promote dependence rather than upward 
mobility, namely States’ use and abuse of able-bod-
ied adults without dependents time limit waivers, 
broad-based categorical eligibility, and lackluster im-
plementation of program integrity standards. 
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(4) While it is critical families have access to 
food, it is equally critical work capable households 
are encouraged to make more responsible choices. 
Not to mention, when States and Washington elites 
propose eliminating work, eligibility, and integrity 
standards, they are further distancing eligible house-
holds from the tools and supports to advance their 
financial position. 
(b) POLICY ON THE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION AS-
SISTANCE PROGRAM.—It is the policy of this concurrent 
resolution that the Committee on Agriculture of the House 
of Representatives look for opportunities to strengthen 
measures related to employment, integrity, and health. 
Benefit recipients and the American taxpayer deserve a 
program that provides for those in need while emphasizing 
pathways out of poverty. 
SEC. 413. POLICY STATEMENT ON AGRICULTURE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) The Farm Safety Net is made up of various 
Federal agricultural support programs that provide 
farmers, ranchers, and producers with income assist-
ance. 
(2) Ad hoc disaster spending allocated for the 
agriculture sector comes from supplemental funding 
appropriated by Congress and funds directly allo-
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cated from the Commodity Credit Corporation 
(CCC) at the discretion of the Secretary of Agri-
culture. 
(3) While there have been unanticipated chal-
lenges over the last several years from trade disrup-
tions with China, a global pandemic, and extreme 
weather events that necessitated assistance for the 
agriculture sector, the level of emergency ad hoc as-
sistance has grown considerably, representing more 
than 70 percent of Federal agriculture spending 
since 2018. This level of unbudgeted assistance is an 
indication of the inadequacies within the current 
Farm Safety Net, which fails to provide certainty for 
the agriculture sector, and leaves taxpayers footing 
the bill for the additional cost. 
(4) Furthermore, in 2018, Congress restored 
the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) authority 
to spend additional amounts of funds through sec-
tion 5 of the CCC Charter Act, which was utilized 
by the Trump Administration to rapidly respond to 
unprecedented trade barriers and the COVID–19 
pandemic. While these funds provided USDA with 
immense flexibility to quickly support producers, the 
Biden Administration has abused this authority to 
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fund questionable, nonemergency initiatives in a 
clear effort to circumvent the role of Congress. 
(5) According to recent improper payment data 
from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for fiscal year 2023, USDA’s Emergency Conserva-
tion Program – Disasters and the Farm Service 
Agency (FSA) Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity 
Program Plus had projected improper payment rates 
of over 40 and 8.3 percent, respectively, which fur-
ther highlights the inefficiencies of ad hoc spending. 
CCC funded Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price 
Loss Coverage programs were estimated to be over 
8.5 percent, and FSA Livestock Forage Disaster 
Program and FSA Noninsured Crop Disaster Assist-
ance Program were estimated to be 13.6 and 10.4 
percent, respectively. OMB’s data shows that en-
hanced program integrity measures at USDA are 
needed to ensure taxpayer dollars are not wasted or 
abused. 
(b) POLICY ON AGRICULTURE.—It is the policy of 
this concurrent resolution that the Committee on Agri-
culture of the House of Representatives improve and 
strengthen the Farm Safety Net to provide stability to the 
agriculture sector and certainty to farmers, ranchers, and 
producers, by reducing unbudgeted and untimely ad hoc 
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disaster spending, ceasing the USDA’s discretionary use 
of the section 5 CCC Charter Act authority, and enhanc-
ing program compliance and integrity enforcement at 
USDA. Any yielded savings from these examinations 
should be reinvested into Farm Safety Net programs in 
the most fiscally responsible manner. The security of the 
food and agriculture systems of the United States is a cor-
nerstone of national security, and this concurrent resolu-
tion supports the Committee on Agriculture of the House 
of Representatives in their endeavors to address these 
issues. 
SEC. 414. POLICY STATEMENT ON BIPARTISAN FISCAL 
COMMISSION. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) The United States faces a significant debt 
crisis, with the national debt currently exceeding 
$34 trillion. 
(2) This debt poses a significant risk to the 
country’s long-term fiscal sustainability, with impli-
cations for future generations. 
(3) The drivers of U.S. debt include entitlement 
spending such as Social Security and Medicare and 
discretionary government spending. 
(4) To address these challenges, a comprehen-
sive review of the United States’ current debt situa-
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tion is necessary to ensure that the country’s finan-
cial future is secure. 
(5) On January 18, 2024, the Committee on 
the Budget ordered reported H.R. 5779, the Fiscal 
Commission Act of 2024, on a bipartisan vote. 
(b) POLICY ON BIPARTISAN DEBT COMMISSION.—It 
is the policy of this concurrent resolution that the House 
of Representatives recommends the creation of a bipar-
tisan fiscal commission, consistent with H.R. 5779, the 
Fiscal Commission Act of 2024, ordered reported by the 
Committee on the Budget. 
SEC. 415. POLICY STATEMENT ON GOVERNMENT DEREGU-
LATION. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) Regulations throughout the Federal Govern-
ment have been a major issue for decades, continu-
ously growing while negatively impacting the na-
tion’s economic and fiscal standing. Overregulation 
has consistently hurt small businesses, strangled do-
mestic energy production, negatively impacted labor 
market conditions, and expanded government over-
reach and costs to taxpayers. To combat the consoli-
dation of power, our Constitution requires elected 
representatives to authorize spending and the collec-
tion of taxes. The executive branch has become a 
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sprawling bureaucracy of more than 400 agencies 
and sub-agencies staffed by unelected bureaucrats 
who create new regulations for the American people 
to follow. These regulations impose significant costs 
on individuals and businesses and increase spending 
for existing programs without the authorization of 
Congress or the approval of the American people. 
(2) Real (inflation-adjusted) spending on regu-
latory agencies has increased from $4 billion in 1960 
to almost $70 billion in 2021 – 17 times the 1960 
funding level. The total number of regulators has 
grown from 57,109 to 288,409 over the same period. 
Additionally, the total number of pages in the Code 
of Federal Regulations (CFR) has increased from 
22,877 pages in 1960 to 188,321 pages in 2021. 
Going back further, the CFR contained only 9,745 
pages in 1950 – making the size of the CFR in 
1950 only about 5 percent of its current size. Since 
1970, the total number of regulatory restrictions has 
grown by over 2.5 times, from 440,000 restrictions 
to over 1.3 million restrictions in 2021. 
(3) Moreover, this problem has only gotten 
worse under President Biden, who has spent over 
$1.5 trillion through various unilateral and even un-
constitutional executive actions since taking office in 
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January 2021. On his first day in office, President 
Biden revoked executive orders on regulatory over-
sight, thereby eliminating regulatory budgets for 
agencies and transparency requirements for guid-
ance documents. During his first year, President 
Biden pushed through more economically significant 
regulations than any other president’s first year in 
office. Moreover, President Biden has vetoed more 
resolutions of disapproval (to overturn rules issued 
by agencies) than all other presidents combined. 
(4) This concurrent resolution encourages re-
pealing all new regulations created under President 
Biden, permanently eliminating regulations that 
were temporarily waived during the COVID-19 pan-
demic, exempting small businesses from National 
Labor Relations Board regulations, addressing the 
burdens of occupational licensing requirements, and 
repealing Corporate Average Fuel Economy stand-
ards, among other policies. 
(5) Additionally, this concurrent resolution pro-
poses enacting legislation into law that restores con-
gressional Article I powers, scales back Federal reg-
ulations, limits future bureaucratic red tape, and 
unleashes economic growth, including but not limited 
to the— 
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(A) Regulations from the Executive in 
Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, as passed the 
House on June 14, 2023; 
(B) Article I Regulatory Budget Act; 
(C) All Economic Regulations are Trans-
parent Act; 
(D) Guidance Out of Darkness Act; 
(E) Regulatory Accountability Act; 
(F) Require Evaluation before Imple-
menting Executive Wishlists Act; 
(G) Separation of Powers Restoration Act; 
(H) Paperwork Burden Reduction Act; 
(I) Patient Access to Higher Quality 
Health Care Act; 
(J) Lower Energy Costs Act; 
(K) Mission not Emissions Act; 
(L) Water Supply Permitting Coordination 
Act; 
(M) Endangered Species Transparency and 
Reasonableness Act; 
(N) Ensuring Accountability in Agency 
Rulemaking Act; 
(O) Determination of NEPA Adequacy 
Streamlining Act; and 
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(P) Bureau of Land Management Mineral 
Spacing Act. 
(b) POLICY ON GOVERNMENT REGULATION.—It is 
the policy of this concurrent resolution— 
(1) that Congress continues to examine ways to 
relieve the burdens of overregulation throughout the 
Federal Government; 
(2) that House Republicans remain at the ready 
to promote initiatives that will reduce government 
bureaucracy, restore Article I congressional power, 
enhance federalism, and increase economic pros-
perity through deregulation; 
(3) to ensure that once harmful and costly reg-
ulations are repealed, they cannot be reimposed 
through executive fiat, as the Biden Administration 
has done on issues such as student loan forgiveness 
and expansion of the Thrifty Food Plan; 
(4) to develop policies with the authorizing com-
mittees that will demonstrate the contributions to 
economic growth and reducing government spending 
embodied in legislation like the REINS Act; and 
(5) to not only reduce burdensome, costly regu-
lations but to reestablish and strengthen the role of 
Congress in checking executive branch overreach in 
the future. 
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Union Calendar No. 469 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 117 
[Report No. 118–568] 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Establishing the congressional budget for the 
United States Government for fiscal year 2025 
and setting forth the appropriate budgetary lev-
els for fiscal years 2026 through 2034. 
JUNE 27, 2024 
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
State of the Union and ordered to be printed 
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