"Senator Dick Durbin" by AMSF2011 is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/61567423@N02/

Today, ATR President Grover Norquist sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to oppose the Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone, or the PROMISE Act. This bill would establish a “bipartisan advisory committee” called the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB). This committee is designed to do one thing: fast track tax increases through Congress while giving Democrats a seat at the table they lost at the ballot box.

Bipartisan committees and “bargains” like this aren’t a new idea. They have been tested time and time again. Overwhelmingly, the result is failure to reduce spending and success – for the Left – in putting tax hikes on the table. As Larry Kudlow said, “the trouble with these so-called bipartisan commissions is they start raising taxes at the very first meeting even before the first cup of coffee has been poured.”

To read the letter, click here or see below.

July 16th, 2026

The Honorable Members
United States Congress
Washington, D.C. 20515

RE: Opposition to the “Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone,” or PROMISE Act

Dear Members of Congress,

There is yet another Democrat plan to raise taxes. It’s called the PROMISE Act – a bill that would establish a “bipartisan advisory committee” called the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB). This committee is designed to do one thing: fast track tax increases through Congress while giving Democrats a seat at the table they lost at the ballot box.

The Democratic sponsors of this bill are the usual suspects: Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), and Chris Coons (D-Del.). One notices that the Senators leading the charge on the Republican side are retiring and will never have to face the consequences of holding the door open to tax hikes: Senators Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

The effort would neuter Republican majorities in both chambers, placing Democrats on equal footing with Republicans on a committee authorized to advance tax increases and intentionally designed to bypass objections from the tax-writing committees and Republican leadership.

When Democrats hold power in both chambers and the presidency, they work relentlessly to increase both spending and taxes. Republicans were given control of the House, Senate, and White House specifically because voters were dissatisfied with these reckless policies.

It is no surprise that when Democrats are out of power, they seek to neutralize the Republican majority by shifting decision-making authority from relevant committees, Congressional leadership, and the White House to a committee where they have equal representation.

It is mystifying that, with the control voters gave them, any Republican member would push for the creation of a committee that would put Democrats on equal ground with Republicans in drafting legislation for the chambers to consider.

Bipartisan committees and “bargains” like this are not a new idea. In fact, we’ve tried this idea several times before. Each time, it fails to reduce spending. It’s one “success” (for the Left) is to put tax hikes on the table. As Larry Kudlow said, “the trouble with these so-called bipartisan commissions is they start raising taxes at the very first meeting even before the first cup of coffee has been poured.”

In 1982, Democrats made a “bipartisan grand bargain” with President Reagan promising $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. Result: The tax increases happened, the spending cuts did not. Reagan regretted getting lied to and later said, “We never got the $3 in spending cuts.” 

In 1990, Democrats made another “bipartisan grand bargain” with President George H.W. Bush promising $2 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. Result: The tax increases happened, the spending cuts did not. Bush regretted getting lied to and later said, “It was a mistake to go along with the Democratic tax increase and I admit it.” 

The bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (NCFRR), commonly referred to as the Simpson-Bowles commission, created by executive order during the Obama administration, proposed several multi-trillion-dollar tax hikes that went to Congress to be voted on. 

In 2010, the Simpson-Bowles commission proposed a net tax hike of $1.133 trillion which sought to raise the federal tax burden permanently to 21 percent of GDP, up from the half-century average of 18 percent of GDP. 

In 2012, the Simpson-Bowles budget would have raised taxes over the next decade by $2 trillion, and was riddled with phony spending cut gimmicks and double-counting. It was voted down in the House after united conservative movement opposition from Americans for Tax Reform and groups like Americans for Prosperity, Heritage Foundation, Club for Growth, and National Taxpayers Union. 

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) later insisted that the NCFRR was insufficient, as it didn’t have enough power. Specifically, the commission’s recommendations weren’t given expedited consideration. Rep. Wolf proposed his own bill, the Securing America’s Future Economy (SAFE) Commission Act – which would establish a commission “with teeth.” His proposed bill, that went further than the disastrous Obama debt commission, notably had the same “teeth” as the PROMISE Act. Notably, when Rep. Wolf proposed this bill he was the only elected Republican who had not publicly stated opposition to increasing taxes.

Similar commissions have been tried on the state level too. In 2011, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) established a bipartisan debt commission which mirrored Obama’s Simpson-Bowles commission. At the time, Americans for Tax Reform warned against its establishment. Soon after, the commission released its recommendations, which included $1.4 billion in tax increases on income, cigarettes, and alcohol. 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If we don’t learn from our past mistakes, we’ll soon be fighting disastrous tax hike proposals yet again. This time, Republicans will be on the hook for helping create the commission in the first place.

Onward,

Grover G. Norquist
President, Americans for Tax Reform