[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21218]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       UNACCOUNTABLE POLICY CZARS

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, the recent controversy and resignation by 
one of President Obama's policy czars highlights a very real problem: 
the President's use of unaccountable policy czars to circumvent the 
Constitution. Now, by one count, the White House has 32 policy czars, 
including a science czar, a regulatory czar, and even a Great Lakes 
czar.
  These czars are tasked with leading major policy efforts for the 
administration and have simply been granted a great deal of authority. 
Yet each czar, unlike a Cabinet secretary, is not subject to 
congressional oversight.
  Members of the Cabinet have to be approved by Congress, and they 
report to Congress. Policy czars have no such obligation. So what we 
have now is a situation where major policy decisions are being made by 
a group of people who are not approved by Congress, not subjected to 
congressional oversight, and operate without any transparency or 
accountability. This is not what our Constitution intended.

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