[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 17, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H3805-H3806]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE SUNSET ACT OF 1997

  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, watching the sun rise over this Capitol 
each morning is a truly beautiful sight. The white marble on this 
building shines radiantly in the morning, and yet I think the same is 
also true with the birth of many Federal programs. There is usually 
great joy at the sunrise of a new Federal law to meet a genuine need 
across the country. But sometimes an initiative fails to fulfill its 
promise. Sometimes a new Federal program has unintended consequences 
either through misinterpretation by the courts or misapplication by the 
bureaucracy. Somewhere between the Potomac and the Rio Grande, some 
Federal efforts that began as a bright shining idea get so misdirected 
that many Americans get only a bad sunburn.
  Well, Congress we know is great at creating Federal programs because 
we have hundreds of them to prove it. But too often after creating a 
program to address some real need, Congress subsequently fails to 
conduct proper oversight of its handiwork. It has been said that the 
nearest thing to immortality in this world is a government bureau, and 
certainly that is true of too many of the programs that were created in 
the sunrise in this particular institution. We find the sun coming up 
on these programs, but seldom seeming to go down.
  In my home State of Texas, we found a solution for too much 
government sun. We forced periodic review of each new governmental 
initiative through a systematic sunset process. This procedure is 
authorized by the Texas Sunset Act, which I authored as a Texas State 
Senator. Through that process we have completed over 200 sunset 
reviews, performance audits of various State agencies. We have repealed 
statutes, we have consolidated and abolished governmental agencies, and 
the Texas Treasury is about $600 million the better for it.
  In Texas, we believe that a thorough bottom-to-top review of each of 
these new laws and programs is healthy. It is good for the programs, it 
is good for those that are administrating the programs, but most 
importantly, it is good for the people that have to foot the bill, the 
taxpayers.
  Mr. Speaker, I have found that when it comes to solving problems here 
in Washington, we could do with a little more Texas thinking of this 
type. So today I am introducing a bill that will bring this proven 
Texas concept to the Halls of Congress.
  In my judgment, the Congress has an affirmative duty to oversee every 
program that it creates to ensure accountability, to ensure that over 
time the program is being retained only if it is necessary and only if 
it is being run in an efficient way that protects the taxpayer.
  The Sunset Act of 1997, which I am introducing here today, would 
fulfill this duty by requiring Congress to review and reauthorize most 
programs at least once during every decade, if not sooner. There are 
Federal programs that are not being reviewed today that have not been 
formally reauthorized for many years. This is not any way to conduct 
the Nation's business, for it undoubtedly results in the outright waste 
of resources that could be better used to reduce the deficit and 
address our real needs in education, the environment, and health care.
  Mr. Speaker, I advanced this sunset concept, I really advanced it 
during the recent budget debate, in an effort to ensure that this 
bipartisan agreement achieves its promise and is not just more wishful 
thinking. Unfortunately, those who control this House rejected the idea 
of a sunset guarantee to assure that today's political promises 
actually achieve some reality.
  The Sunset Act of 1997 that I am introducing today is another way of 
accomplishing responsible government that addresses real needs within 
the restraint of a budget that is balanced and stays balanced. I urge 
my colleagues to approve the Sunset Act of 1997 as a way to bring about 
needed oversight to this government and assure that unnecessary 
programs are terminated and that all parts of our government are 
operated with true accountability and efficiency.

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