[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7385-7386]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  REESTABLISH THE GOLDEN FLEECE AWARD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Hill) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, at a time when our Nation is currently over 
$18 trillion in debt, we must carefully scrutinize our government 
programs to ensure that we are funding essential programs, policies, 
and projects while eliminating frivolous and wasteful spending.
  Every day in the news, Americans hear of government waste, fraud, 
abuse, and regulations that are hindering our small businesses and 
costing American taxpayers billions of dollars that could be better 
spent in creating jobs and boosting our economy.
  Today, I rise to establish the Golden Fleece Award to once again 
uncover and bring public attention to the wasteful spending across our 
Federal Government. The Golden Fleece Award will highlight some of the 
most egregious examples of government waste of hard-working taxpayers' 
dollars and will shed new light on some of the rampant, unnecessary 
spending by our Federal agencies.
  The inspiration behind the Golden Fleece Award was pioneered by the 
Democratic U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, Bill Proxmire, in March 1975. 
For the next 13 years, Senator Proxmire went on to issue bulletins 
announcing a monthly Golden Fleece Award. The Golden Fleece Award 
became a staple in the U.S. Senate during

[[Page 7386]]

this time. Senator Robert Byrd once stated that the awards were ``as 
much a part of the Senate as quorum calls and filibusters.''
  Mr. Speaker, the Golden Fleece Award will once again serve as an 
important reminder that taxpayers need to watch, control, and provide 
the necessary reforms, through this Congress, about Federal spending 
and regulations.
  I will utilize social media and the Internet to provide a unique 
platform for my constituents to share with me examples that they spot, 
that they see, of waste of our Federal Government resources by using, 
#goldenfleeceoversight on Twitter, or emailing me at 
[email protected]. I have also established a Web site that 
allows users to submit their recommendations for future Golden Fleece 
Awards at hill.house.gov/goldenfleece.
  Americans are crying out for accountability from our leaders, and I 
look forward to working with them and my colleagues to spot waste and 
find ways to effectively eliminate that kind of spending and regulatory 
overreach in Washington.

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