[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H229-H230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CONGRESS SHOULDN'T SEND ANOTHER OMNIBUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROTHFUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because, like many of my 
700,000 bosses back home, I am frustrated with a broken Washington.
  Prior to joining this House just over 1 year ago, in my work in the 
private sector and in my personal life deadlines mattered. If a client 
needed to

[[Page H230]]

start a contract by January 1, that contract had to be negotiated and 
signed by that date. Every April 15, my western Pennsylvania bosses and 
I have to make sure that all of our tax forms are filed on time. And on 
the first day of school, my neighbors and I make sure our kids are 
ready to start the year. And every year on May 27, I better remember 
that that is the anniversary that the best girl in the world and I 
exchanged wedding rings.
  Getting things done on time is important. It is a value we teach our 
children.
  Mr. Speaker, there is an annual deadline that the House and Senate 
have failed to meet with embarrassing frequency. The United States of 
America operates on fiscal years that begin on October 1 and end on 
September 30. Congress and the President are responsible for enacting 
the annual appropriations bills before each new fiscal year starts. 
That is how it is supposed to work. Unfortunately, Congress, led by 
both parties, has only finished its work on all regular appropriations 
bills before this deadline four times since 1977. That is simply 
unacceptable.
  Twenty-six years ago, the President of the United States delivered a 
State of the Union address from the podium just over my right shoulder. 
During that address, Ronald Reagan noted that the government had just 
completed another broken and inefficient appropriations season:

       In 7 years of 91 appropriations bills scheduled to arrive 
     on my desk by a certain date, only 10 made it on time. Last 
     year, of the 13 appropriations bills due by October, none of 
     them made it. Instead, we had four continuing resolutions 
     lasting 41 days, then 36 days, and 2 days, and 3 days.

  President Reagan then held up three stacks of paper totaling 45 
pounds which authorized the spending of hundreds of billions of 
taxpayer dollars and reminded the Congress that it had only 3 hours to 
review the documents. After recounting this dysfunctional history, 
President Reagan pleaded:

       Congress shouldn't send another one of these.

  Some may argue that the process is not important; it is the policy 
that matters. Mr. Speaker, process is important because it is inside 
the process that policy happens.
  Our Constitution gives Congress the power to tax and spend. 
Exercising this spending power requires due deliberation and should 
allow for individual Members, on both sides of the aisle, to challenge 
expenditures, including whether any particular expenditure is too much, 
too little, or should be made at all. Those challenges should come in 
the form of amendments that would be debated on this House floor. It is 
the process by which the people of this country have the opportunity to 
have a say in how their hard-earned tax dollars are spent.
  More than 3 months into the fiscal year, we are now heading toward 
the vote on what is known as an omnibus. This bill collapses all 12 
regular appropriations bills into a single behemoth. We are at this 
point today because the House and Senate did not complete the regular 
appropriations process on time. Instead of voting 12 times on 
individual appropriations bills and hundreds of times on amendments to 
those bills, Members of this House will only vote once. Under this 
arrangement, important and necessary spending is held hostage to 
questionable and wasteful spending.
  Last year, the House only passed four spending bills on time, and the 
Senate passed none. This must stop. Congress must get its work done on 
time.
  Today, I am introducing the Congressional Pay for Performance Act of 
2014. This simple bill would hold Congress accountable and force us to 
comply with deadlines, just like people in the real world do outside of 
Washington, D.C.
  This is how it would work: each House of Congress must pass a budget 
resolution by April 15 or have its pay withheld. Then, each House of 
Congress must pass all 12 appropriations bills by July 31 or have its 
pay withheld. It would then have 2 months to reconcile the bills 
between the two Houses.
  If Congress is not performing its core constitutional duties in a 
timely manner, it should not get paid until its work is done. Let this 
year's omnibus be the last one, for Congress shouldn't send another one 
of these to the President.

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