[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 19, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H2463-H2464]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE MYTH OF THE MAGIC BUREAUCRAT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Hoekstra] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOEKSTRA. Tonight I want to talk a little bit about actually 
building off the comments of my colleague about the need to downsize 
Government. I think we, as a Nation, have kind of become afflicted with 
what I call the myth of the magic bureaucrat. What is the magic 
bureaucrat, or what is the myth of the magic bureaucrat? The myth of 
the magic bureaucrat is the widely accepted belief that Government 
bureaucrats spending taxpayer money can solve all of our Nation's 
problems. More importantly, the description says that a magic 
bureaucrat is more able to spend our money more effectively than what 
the taxpayer can.
  Why is this a myth? The magic bureaucrat is a myth because it is 
popular and it is a widely held belief, but it is fundamentally untrue 
and unsustainable by objective reality.
  Who believes this myth? Mr. Speaker, I believe that the President and 
many other policy-makers in Washington believe this myth. What does a 
magic bureaucrat do? A magic bureaucrat creates illusions like David 
Copperfield and the great Houdini.
  Tonight we want to just talk about two of these great illusions that 
have been created by the magic bureaucrat.
  Mr. Speaker, we had hearings on one of these today at the oversight 
subcommittee. Bureaucrats at the corporation for national service, they 
are trying to convince the committee, they are trying to convince the 
American people, that a Federal corporation can do a better job of 
volunteerism and community service than actual volunteers in the 
community and actual nonprofit organizations that have been a heritage 
of this Nation for as long as we have been in existence.
  That is the myth, that they can do it better. The reality is they 
cannot do volunteerism, they cannot do community service. As a matter 
of fact, what we pointed out in the hearing today is they cannot even 
keep the books straight.
  A second myth is one that has been perpetuated or is being developed 
by the bureaucrats at the Department of Education, and that is that the 
Department of Education can do Federal loans or student loans more 
effectively than the private sector. We have a colleague here who would 
like to just describe that illusion for us.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. The 
facts are as follows:
  There are 900,000 financial aid applications that are backlogged, and 
the article, Chronicle of Higher Education, the article entitled 
``Sorting Out a Foul Up In Student Aid'' says the following. Student 
aid experts say their backlog of 900,000 financial aid applications was 
caused by mismanagement of the Department of Education and that it 
calls into question the department's ability to manage the student aid 
system.
  I congratulate the gentleman for having oversight hearings in this 
whole area of the Government trying to do for the private sector what 
we know the private sector can do best, volunteering and run a program 
of lending money. If the administration has its way, the student loan 
portfolio will be

[[Page H2464]]

turned over to the Federal Government through the Department of 
Education, and they will not only process the applications, they will 
become bankers collecting the money for the taxpayer, lending the money 
as a bank would do. I suggest to you, Mr. Hoekstra, that would be a 
disastrous event, that they have a 900,000 backlog in just processing 
applications.
  Can you imagine if they also lent the money and had to collect the 
money?
  And their excuse for a 900,000 backlog is it snowed and the 
Government shut down 21 days. Both are false. The private sector gets 
up and goes to work when it snows because they are in it as a way of 
making their living. The Government shutdown did not effect the ability 
to process these loans because contractors are the main source of doing 
the processing. It just shows how inefficient the magic bureaucrats 
are, and, when analyzed against the facts, they do not do very well.
  Mr. HOEKSTRA. These are just 2 examples: The Corporation for National 
Service, the direct lending program. There are many more. Bureaucrats 
at the Commerce Department know another myth is that the bureaucrats at 
the Commerce Department know how to create high-skilled, high-paying 
jobs better than American entrepreneurs, that bureaucrats at the 
Department of Education know better than parents, and teachers, and 
local schools how to run a tutoring or mentoring program in their local 
community.
  The bottom line is who pays for these magic shows? It is the American 
people. It is you and I. How much have we spent? Trillions.
  The real question that the American people have to ask is can we 
afford any more of these shows. You be the judge.
  I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. GRAHAM. While you are conducting hearings, there is another area 
that I would like you to look into that I have asked the GAO to 
investigate, and that is that there are millions of dollars of 
unreconciled money responsible by the Department of Education. We need 
to find out where the money is at.
  Mr. HOEKSTRA. I thank the gentleman for his suggestion. We will 
pursue that.

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