WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Tim Scott (R-SC), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee Mike Crapo (R-ID) and other Senate GOP colleagues filed an amicus brief at the 11th Circuit Court arguing President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) unconstitutionally blocks states from lowering taxes.

“If the Tax Mandate is unambiguous, it amounts to an impermissible assault on the States’ sovereignty,” write the senators. “If it is ambiguous, it fails to pass one of the Supreme Court’s clear limitations on Congress’s conditioning authority.”

Joining Senators Boozman, Scott and Crapo on the brief are Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Mike Braun (R-IN), John Cornyn (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), James Inhofe (R-OK), James Lankford (R-OK), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Todd Young (R-IN).

Republican Study Committee Chair Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), House Ways and Means Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-TX) and more than 50 other Republican congressmen also signed onto the brief, which was filed on behalf of the members by the American Center for Law & Justice.

Background:

• Multiple states, including Arkansas, have challenged the constitutionality of the ARPA “tax mandate.”
• After the district court ruled in favor of the states’ argument of unconstitutionality, the federal government appealed to the 11th Circuit Court.

Click here to read the amicus brief.