Opposition Statements on H.R. 5766
The House Government Reform Committee's Democratic members have a strong opposition statement in the committee report to H.R. 5766 (H. Rep. 109-594 pt.I):
We strongly oppose H.R. 5766. This bill would create partisan commissions empowered to propose eliminating or privatizing critical government programs and require that those proposals be considered by Congress under expedited procedures. This bill is a backdoor attack on important federal programs that support our most vulnerable citizens, including seniors, children, and the disabled. Under this bill, any program the President did not like could be put on the chopping block under fast-track procedures.
For example, the President has tried repeatedly to cut heating assistance for low-income families. The Tiahrt bill is the perfect vehicle for forcing such a change through Congress. The President has tried repeatedly to slash health care for veterans. Again, the Tiahrt bill is the perfect vehicle for these changes. Not even Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid would be immune from attack under this bill.
Supporters of this bill talk about the importance of cutting government waste and eliminating unnecessary programs, but no one has done more to root out waste, fraud, and corruption in government than the Democratic members of the Government Reform Committee. At hearing after hearing, we have exposed billions in wasteful government spending. If the Republican leadership were serious about preventing waste, fraud, and abuse, they would join with us in demanding an end to Halliburton’s billion-dollar contracts in Iraq, a prohibition on sweetheart no-bid contracts, and genuine oversight and accountability.
But this bill isn’t really about oversight and accountability. What it does is create a legislative vehicle for undermining our nation’s health and environmental laws and shrinks the social safety net.
Over the last five years, the White House has significantly encroached upon the power of Congress. H.R. 5766 would make this problem far worse. It would aggrandize the executive branch at the expense of the legislative branch.
It’s this Committee’s job to conduct oversight over the federal agencies. This bill gives this role to partisan commissions dominated by Presidential appointees. Then, to compound the problem, it empowers these executive branch commissions to send a limitless number of fast-track legislative proposals to Congress. In effect, this bill would let these Presidential commissions dictate our legislative priorities.
This bill is also eerily reminiscent of the Grace Commission established in the 1980s by President Reagan. One of the Grace Commission recommendations was an overhaul of the military and civil service retirement systems to make people work longer and, in effect, reduce benefits. Another proposal would have capped the growth of Medicare and Medicaid and converted them to private-sector programs. Similar proposals could be sent to Congress under fast-track procedures under H.R. 5766.
Individuals representing corporate interests were placed on Grace Commission task forces to examine the very agencies that regulated their corporations. For example, virtually all of the 68 members on the panel studying the Environmental Protection Agency came from corporations that had been targets of that agency’s enforcement efforts. Under H.R. 5766, we could again see such a blatant substitution of corporate interests for the public interest.
Supporters of this bill cite “government overlap” to justify the legislation. Overlaps in federal programs are real and should be reviewed by Congress. But executive branch oversight is a congressional responsibility that Congress has fundamentally failed to meet in recent years. These bills reflect further abdication of Congress’ oversight duties. The last thing this President needs is another opportunity to usurp congressional authority and appoint favored cronies and corporate lobbyists to powerful commissions charged with overseeing our most important health and safety programs.
Henry A. Waxman.
Tom Lantos.
Major R. Owens.
Carolyn B. Maloney.
Elijah E. Cummings.
Dennis J. Kucinich.
Wm. Lacy Clay.
Diane E. Watson.
Stephen F. Lynch.
Chris Van Hollen.
Brian Higgins.
Eleanor Holmes Norton.