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Thursday, June 15, 2006

Sign on Against Sunset Commissions!

Good government is effective, efficient, accountable and responsive to the needs of its citizens. Sunset Commission legislation, while touted as a tool for good government, would do nothing to improve the workings of our federal government. Instead, these proposals will allow an unelected, unaccountable body to dismantle important and beneficial federal programs without public input or Congressional oversight and expertise. As a coalition genuinely concerned with good government, we strongly urge you to oppose Sunset Commission bills.

Sunset commissions offer a misguided approach to government accountability:

• Sunset commissions are unnecessary and duplicative: Congress, through its authorization and appropriations processes, and other federal bodies such as the Government Accountability Office and Inspectors General are already charged with overseeing federal programs and agencies. The Congressional Research Service concluded in 1998 that, instead of stopping waste and duplication, “the commission, ironically, is itself an example of an agency ‘for which a public need does not exist.’”
• Sunset commissions would make decisions behind closed doors: The commission would make its evaluations behind closed doors, without public notice or comment or open meetings, and without allowing Congress to request documents and transcripts. Proponents argue that a sunset commission would be modeled on the successful Base Realignment and Closure Commission, but sunset proposals lack the congressional confirmation requirement, open government provisions, and very discrete purpose of BRAC.
• Sunset commissions would eliminate important and beneficial programs: With its recommendations “fast tracked,” Congress and the committees of jurisdiction would be left with just a single up or down vote, potentially involving hundreds of programs impacting education, the environment, workers, housing, nutrition, transportation, and other programs on which we rely for a better, productive America.
• Sunset commissions would shift power away from Congress: The legislation would shift the responsibilities of authorizing, reauthorizing, and funding the federal government from an elected Congress to an unelected and unaccountable Commission. Two administrations’ Departments of Justice and CRS have already declared similar past proposals to be unconstitutional. Instead of a government run by citizen-selected leaders, we would be entrusting fundamental questions of the structure and function of government to an unelected commission.

We oppose Sunset Commission legislation and its inevitable consequences: sweeping shifts in the separation of powers that would constrict congressional authority; diminished transparency and citizen participation in our government; and extermination of critical programs and agencies. For these reasons, we urge you to oppose Sunset Commission legislation.

Sincerely,

Posted by Jennifer Lowe