[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 13, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H5370-H5371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        FRESHMEN REPUBLICANS INITIATE BEYOND THE BELTWAY PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Green) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago, 19 Republican 
freshmen stood shoulder to shoulder on the front lawn outside this very 
building. We did so to launch our class-wide project that we are 
calling Beyond the Beltway.
  The Republican freshmen are a diverse group coming from diverse 
backgrounds and representing equally diverse parts of America. But 
despite that diversity, we are all excited by some of the innovative 
reforms that we are seeing take place in State capitals throughout the 
land.
  Governors and legislative leaders, Republicans and Democrats from 
States from California to New York, are meeting their policy challenges 
in exciting, innovative ways. With our Beyond the Beltway project, we 
are hoping as freshmen to open new doors for these leaders.
  We know that, for far too long, Federal rules and bureaucracies have 
held them back and smothered their efforts through unnecessary burdens 
and restrictions. Now the freshmen are reaching out to leaders like my 
own Governor, Governor Tommy Thompson, in an effort to help them 
unleash a whole new wave of creativity and innovation in State after 
State.
  It is the freshmen who are initiating this project because, even 
though we are Members of Congress, we are very much still State 
legislators, local officials, and private sector small business persons 
at heart.
  Here specifically is what the beyond the Beltway project will do. The 
freshman class, as a group, have asked our governors, legislative 
leaders, directly and through the various associations to help us 
identify some of those Federal rules and restrictions that are holding 
them back. We want to turn these suggestions into an ongoing action 
agenda. Member by member and issue by issue, we want to provide relief.
  We are coming forward now with the Beyond the Beltway initiative 
because we have also introduced the first measure result from this new 
dialogue. This legislation would direct each Federal agency to develop 
an expedited review process for waiver requests.
  Mr. Speaker, as we know, oftentimes States need Federal approval or 
waivers to initiate their State programs if

[[Page H5371]]

those plans deviate from the details of Federal programs.

                              {time}  0915

  The idea of this legislation is that where a State has been granted a 
waiver on a particular program, if another State seeks a similar 
waiver, we believe that they should only have to go through a 
streamlined or expedited waiver review process. We want to encourage 
the laboratories of democracy. We want to encourage modeling. We want 
to encourage benchmarking. We want to encourage borrowing of ideas.
  Mr. Speaker, I would hope that my colleagues would join us in this 
expedited review bill and, more importantly, join the Republican 
freshmen in developing beyond-the-Beltway ideas. This is more than a 
short-term project. We hope it is the beginning of a new, longer, more 
open relationship between Congress and the States. Instead of the 
governors coming to us on bended knee, we are hoping to go to them for 
ideas and suggestions. We want to turn them loose. We believe that 
there is no telling how many of our major social, political challenges 
can be met if only we will move power and authority out of Washington 
and beyond the Beltway.

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