[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 148 (Monday, November 15, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H7402-H7403]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1420
CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT
(Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, as we've heard, a new Congress was elected
2 weeks ago. But now the American people are anxious because the old
Congress is back in town to finish the unfinished business. And to be
sure, there are some things that need to be taken care of; but what
remains of this Congress must be careful not to overstep its bounds.
We saw what happened with the passage of a deeply, deeply unpopular
health care law. That repeal vote needs to come quickly in the next
Congress; and, quite honestly, it can't come quickly enough.
But as long as we're here, as long as we're here doing the people's
business, how about if we exercised some of that famous congressional
oversight and
[[Page H7403]]
asked some of the heads of the Federal agencies to come into the
relevant committees and talk about what their plans are for
implementation of these rules in the health care law?
What about these new Federal agencies that are being created even as
we speak with new office space being rented and personnel being hired?
What about these waivers that, over the last 2\1/2\ weeks, have just
snowballed out of the White House, and what about the health exchanges
that even now our State legislatures are being asked to create?
Oversight was eliminated by the last Congress; it will not be
overlooked by the next.
____________________