[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 56 (Wednesday, April 28, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H2454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      HOUSE BUDGET RESOLUTION TO WEED OUT WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want to speak 
briefly this evening on the House budget and the House budget 
resolution. It is a responsible budget that has a proper balancing of 
national priorities. However, Congress cannot get a control on 
government spending and reduce the deficit unless we find a way to 
combat waste.
  We right now are spending $69,000 per second. The 2005 House budget 
seeks to weed out waste, fraud and abuse, and builds on our successes 
of 2004.
  Last year the Committee on the Budget, which I am very proud to serve 
on, began an effort to identify the most blatant examples of waste, 
fraud and abuse in the Federal mandatory programs. One year later, we 
know with certainty that we have not even scratched the surface.
  For example, the Inspector General of the Department of Education 
found that States are not complying with the Federal regulations for 
distributing IDEA funds to local agencies. In a review of six States, 
half were not complying. Many local education agencies were receiving 
an incorrect allocation. Some were underfunded by as much as $600,000 
and some overfunded by more than $800,000.

                              {time}  1745

  The budget that we passed also provides for the permanent extension 
of the President's tax cuts, the marriage penalty on which we voted 
earlier, the death tax, and also the child tax credit. Included in the 
House budget which we passed was language that I had suggested, 
suggesting the importance of regulatory inform.
  Let me briefly quote from the budget resolution: ``It is the sense of 
the House that Congress should establish a mechanism for reviewing 
Federal agencies and their regulations with the express purpose of 
making recommendations to Congress when agencies prove to be 
inefficient, duplicative, outdated, irrelevant, or fail to accomplish 
their intended purpose.''
  Some would think that we could do away with half of the Federal 
bureaucracy with that description.
  To continue with the language that is in the budget: ``It is an 
economic reality that unnecessary and ineffective regulations 
discourage investment and run counter to a holistic vision of growth. 
They increase prices for consumers, and they suppress job creation. 
Making agencies more accountable to Congress and the American taxpayer 
will lead to more efficient practices and less waste.''
  Based on these findings, I have introduced legislation to reduce 
wasteful government bureaucracy. It is actually called the JAPC bill, 
or the Joint Administrative Procedures bill, and it is House Resolution 
3356.
  I introduced it because during my term as a State Senator I had the 
privilege of serving on the Florida JAPC commission. It is a bipartisan 
commission made up of House and Senate members who were charged with 
the responsibility and the authority of reviewing agency rulemaking. 
Our State knew that excessive paperwork and burdensome regulations 
thwarted economic growth and global competitiveness. The accountability 
will lead to far more efficient practices and much less waste.
  The JAPC Act that I introduced is very similar because it establishes 
a bicameral committee modeled after the Florida system to review agency 
rules. It also builds on the success of the Congressional Review Act, 
which was implemented in 1996 as part of the Contract With America.
  Mr. Speaker, it has been estimated that Americans pay more than $700 
billion a year to comply with regulatory burdens, and that is more than 
$8,000 per household. I believe that it is time to put the brakes on 
this unnecessary and ineffective runaway system of regulations that we 
have. I hope that Democrats, like the gentleman running for President, 
will embrace regulatory reform and eliminate this burden from the 
American economy and the taxpayer before they seek out new ways to 
raise our taxes.

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