Taxpayer dollars must be spent with transparency and accountability or not at all.  Washington’s failure to heed this fundamental principle over the years has contributed to the spending binge that is causing uncertainty and making it harder to create jobs.  That’s why it’s good news that the House Energy & Commerce Health subcommittee voted today to repeal several mandatory spending slush funds in ObamaCare.  The full House is expected to take up these measures soon.  This is part of the new House majority’s “broad assault on wasteful mandatory spending programs” that began with passing bills to start shutting down the TARP bailout program.

In the case of one ObamaCare slush fund it voted to repeal today, the subcommittee found that (1) the money could be disbursed at the sole discretion of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and (2) the Secretary can spend the money without congressional approval, and (3) the Secretary can fund activities at levels higher than what the people’s representatives authorized.  “If we are going to get our spending under control, we must set limits, we must eliminate slush funds, and we must prioritize our spending decisions,” Energy & Commerce chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) said today. 

Speaker Boehner outlined the new majority’s efforts to repeal ObamaCare slush funds in a video earlier this month: 

Since January, the new House majority has voted to fully repeal the $2.6 trillion health care law; to defund the law as part of H.R. 1; and to repeal the job-destroying 1099 small business mandate.  The House has also started the process of replacing the health care law with common-sense solutions that would protect jobs and bring down costs for families and small businesses.  As Speaker Boehner has said, “[i]f the Senate won’t join us in passing a bill that repeals ObamaCare all at once, we will work to repeal it step-by-step” and “do everything we can to stop this gravy train and ensure this job-crushing health care law is never fully implemented.”