[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 163 (Thursday, October 27, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H7138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 OVERSIGHT OF EXECUTIVE BRANCH SPENDING

  (Mr. BARROW asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARROW. Madam Speaker, I rise to ask my colleagues to join me in 
improving congressional oversight of Federal spending by cosponsoring 
H.R. 3121, the Reclaiming Oversight of the Executive Branch Spending 
Act.
  Too often Congress appropriates vast amounts of money within broad 
funding categories and gives the executive branch the freedom to spend 
it with little oversight. The constitutional obligation to ensure that 
taxpayer dollars are spent wisely lies with Congress. My legislation 
would require that all Federal spending and loan guarantees over $100 
million be explicitly approved by Congress.
  Had my bill been law a year ago, Congress would have had to approve 
the $500 million loan guarantee to the now bankrupt Solyndra and 
perhaps we could have stopped that from happening. Today, however, the 
only real vetting of programs like the Solyndra loan happens after 
things have gone wrong and the money has been lost.
  Congress needs to reassert itself and ensure that all programs are 
properly vetted. The old carpenter's rule still applies: measure twice, 
cut once.
  I ask all of my colleagues to help me end wasteful spending by 
cosponsoring the Reclaiming Oversight of the Executive Branch Act.

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