Sunset Commission Legislation
Washington,
Jul 26, 2006 -
Mr. Speaker:
We return this afternoon as part of the Congressional Constitution Caucus’ effort to highlight the Federal government’s limited powers as defined by the United States Constitution, specifically, the 10th Amendment of our cherished Bill of Rights.
I would like to welcome our special guests joining us today, our friend from Texas and our friend from Kansas. They have both been leaders on the topic we are here to discuss today – the need for independent bodies and procedures to review the merits of the many, many Federal programs the American people fund.
In light of our high taxes and even higher deficit, the time for increased efficiency couldn’t be greater. The American worker is handing far too much of his or her hard-earned money over to the Federal government only to see much of it wasted in layers of red-tape and bureaucracy.
For these reasons and more we are here today to show our support for Representative Tiahrt’s HR 5766 and Representative Brady’s HR 3282 both are scheduled for floor consideration this Thursday.
Through their efforts and the legislation they have drafted, there would be a process for reviewing the effectiveness of Federal programs and reporting back to Congress with recommendations. This simple concept would increase efficiency of the Federal government and allowing us to further reduce the amount of the American workers’ paychecks that they are forced to send to Washington.
Its no secret that there are many Federal programs that simply are not serving the American people. These are programs that are no longer necessary, do the same thing that other programs do, or simply waste taxpayer money. A taxpayer works 192.5 days now to pay for his share of the Federal government spending. We are essentially asking our constituents to put in a few extra hours a week at their jobs just to help pay for something we know is little more than red-tape.
Unfortunately, these programs survive because of special interest cottage industry that lives off taxpayers’ largesse. But, Mr. Speaker, we are not here to represent special interests, we are here to represent the mothers and fathers who could be at home with their children instead of working that extra shift so they can make their contribution to a bloated government bureaucracy.
Our friends from Texas and Kansas have taken the initiative to craft legislation to set up procedures for reviewing that bureaucracy and making it work for the people, not the special interests. They established commissions and review processes to eliminate and reduce duplication, inefficiency and ineffectiveness in government bureaucracy. These are both plans I am very supportive of.
In fact, enacting such plans is a top-tier priority for the Congressional Constitution Caucus. We believe in the merits of having a more efficient Federal government, while also having a more limited government.
During ongoing negotiations to bring these initiatives to the floor, I have worked with my colleagues to ensure that any created commission be one with teeth, one with real ability to achieve its intended purpose. We already have numerous, highly-proficient outside organizations who track the effectiveness of the various components of the Federal government. Anything this body establishes needs to do more.
I was happy to work in particular, with my friend Congressman Tiahrt to have my language included that added as a criteria for evaluating Federal programs, a Constitutionality review. That is; do the meet the specific, limited, enumerated powers of Article 1, Sec. 8? Thus we ensure that all Federal programs are Constitutionally acceptable and not outside the intended, limited size and scope of the Federal government. I greatly appreciate his support as well as that of Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis on this effort.
I also would like to thank my friend from Texas for his willingness to work with me on this matter.
We should dedicate the passage of these proposals to our constituents and to our Founding Fathers. And I once again express gratitude to my friends who have led this effort and to everyone who was able join us today and speak.
As this is the last Congressional Constitution Caucus’ Constitution Hour before we go into our District Work Period, let me once again thank my friend from Utah for all he and his staff do to put these weekly, educational forums together. His efforts are far from unnoticed and are greatly appreciated.
Thank you and I yield back the balance of my time.
