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Thursday, September 20, 2007

Congress Working to Renew Federal Agency Improvement Panel

Yesterday, a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a bill (H.R. 3564) which would reauthorize the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) through FY 2011. Congress initially formed ACUS in the 1960's, but vanquished it in the mid 1990's as part of the Newt Gingrich-led effort to reduce government. Reps. Chris Cannon (R-UT) and Linda Sanchez (D-CA) are pushing the bill.

ACUS was a panel of administrative law experts. (Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer have both served at ACUS.) ACUS studied the federal rulemaking process and other operations of federal agencies. The panel took long-term views and made recommendations on improved performance.

Improvements identified by ACUS can allow agencies to be more responsive to public need and can save taxpayers money through increased efficiency. According to the National Journal (subscription), "Sanchez said the bill was 'an extremely nominal investment [that] will unquestionably rebound in billions [of dollars] in savings in taxpayer dollars.' "

Technically, ACUS already exists. 2004 legislation reauthorized the panel. Unfortunately, since then, Congress has not funded it, making it impossible for ACUS to have employees, office space, pens, binder clips, etc...

Sanchez and Cannon hope to get ACUS up and running in a hurry. They will attempt to add a $1 million start-up appropriation to the FY 2008 (which begins Oct. 1) Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill. That bill has already passed the House, but not the Senate. Sanchez says she hopes to add the minor provision when the two chambers form a conference to reconcile the two bills, according to BNA news service (subscription).

The full Judiciary Committee will consider the bill in the near future. No word yet on a Senate version.