Sunshine for Regulations and Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act of 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chairman, I rise today to speak in favor of H.R. 469, the Sunshine for Regulations and Regulatory Decrees
and Settlements Act.

This is an important piece of legislation because, as has been noted here, it seeks to increase accountability on the regulatory process by providing greater scrutiny of sue and settle cases. Yes, they do exist.

It requires the Department of Justice to release details of payments made through the Judgment Fund, and it strengthens Congress' ability to intervene on litigation regarding the constitutionality of congressional statutes.
This legislation also includes H.R. 1096, the Judgment Fund Transparency Act, which I am proud to cosponsor. That piece of legislation includes an amendment I offered, which would require the Secretary of the Treasury to clearly display the total expenditures, including the attorney's fees, interest, and all other payments made from the Judgment Fund on an annual basis.

Hardworking taxpayers deserve to know where their tax dollars are being spent, and Congress must ensure that programs like the Judgment Fund are following the law. The American people must be allowed every available tool to keep their government accountable, and this will be an important tool.
Also, it would ensure a terrorist organization is prohibited from receiving any taxpayer funds from the Judgment Fund by prohibiting any foreign terrorist organization, as defined in section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

That statute clearly classifies a terrorist organization as those who ``engage in terrorist activity or terrorism, and the organization threatens the security of the United States nationals or the national security of the United States.''

These terrorist organizations only seek to commit serious harm or potential targets, of course, including Americans, and I believe this prohibition is warranted to be included in this important legislation.

Let me be clear. We should all agree that not a cent of taxpayer dollars should ever go to a state sponsor of terrorism or foreign terrorist organizations. A recent illustration of the need for this ban on funding to state sponsors of terrorism is what we now know about the previous administration. They paid $1.3 billion from the Judgment Fund to the nation of Iran in a settlement dating back over 30 years.

Although all the information surrounding this payment was never made clear to the public, Iran still remains a state sponsor of terrorism, the most notorious one.

Mr. Chair, again, I strongly support H.R. 469. We must never allow taxpayer dollars to be given to violent rogue nations that support terrorists or, obviously, terrorist organizations, and this will ensure a constitutional check on the Judgment Fund. This is about Article I, the authority of this body. For that reason, Mr. Chairman, I strongly support it, and I encourage our colleagues to do the same.

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