Rosen Urges Appropriators To Rein In Wasteful Government Spending During Fiscal Year 2019 Appropriations Hearing

Press Release

Today, Congresswoman Jacky Rosen (NV-03) submitted testimony before Members of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations about her legislative efforts to promote commonsense, fiscally responsible policies that prevent wasteful spending of hard-earned taxpayer dollars. Rosen has introduced and co-sponsored several bills that promote increased government accountability, and the Congresswoman's office recently returned over $250,000 in unspent money from her official 2017 operating budget.

View full text below of the Congresswoman's submitted testimony:

Chairman Yoder, Ranking Member Ryan, and Members of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee -- thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today.

I want to take this opportunity to lay out three critical areas of reform that I hope you will take into consideration as you draft the Fiscal Year 2019 Legislative Branch appropriations bill. These recommendations include:

1. Reigning in Congressional spending on franked mail;
2. Ensuring that Members of Congress do not waste taxpayer dollars on first class flights; and
3. Prohibiting Members of Congress who have been convicted of a felony from collecting a Congressional pension.

As you all know, the franking privilege allows Members of Congress to send mailings to constituents without postage. What many of our constituents do not know, however, is that this privilege is not free, but rather is paid for out of our Members' Representational Allowance using taxpayer dollars. Let me be clear -- I recognize that communication with constituents is of the utmost importance and am proud to regularly send my constituents in Nevada updates on my work here in Washington -- via e-newsletters, social media, and written responses to their individual inquiries.

Unfortunately, too many Members of Congress here in Washington abuse the franking perk, spending large sums of taxpayer dollars to send out what amount to glossy, self-promotional, campaign-style mass mailers. Some have racked up annual bills of $100,000 or more, and in one recent case, over a quarter of a million dollars -- just on direct mail! With 435 Members of the House and 100 in the Senate, such reckless spending is unacceptable.

That is why I implore this subcommittee to include language in your appropriations bill capping the amount of money Members of Congress may spend on franked mail each year at $10,000. In an age of widespread electronic communications, there is no need to spend so much of Americans' hard-earned dollars, especially for what are often transparently political purposes.

Stewardship of taxpayer dollars also means that Members of Congress should not be taking first class flights on their constituents' dime. That is why I am strongly supportive of Congressman Gosar's bipartisan effort to prohibit the use of the Member's Representational Allowance to purchase first class flights, thereby holding ourselves to the same standards we hold Executive Branch officials. It is unacceptable when Cabinet officials waste taxpayer dollars on luxury travel, and it is equally improper when Members of Congress do so.

Like many of you, I fly home to my district almost every week, and I can tell you that the trip takes the same amount of time in coach as I hear it does in first class. Flying coach is one of the many reasons I was able to return $250,000 of my office budget last year, and while not every Member will hit this mark, our goal should always be to only spend the dollars necessary to work on behalf of our constituents, including when getting from Point A to Point B. That is why taking first class flights off the table just makes sense. This prohibition already exists in the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill and applies to executive branch employees via regulation. It should be included in the Legislative Branch appropriations bill to apply to Members of Congress as well.

Finally, we must ensure that we use taxpayer dollars responsibly when providing retirement benefits to former Members. That is why I was proud to reach across the aisle to work with Congressman Ted Yoho on urging this subcommittee to explicitly bar Members of Congress from collecting a Congressional pension if they are convicted of a felony. This may seem like common sense, but it is not yet the law. If a Member of Congress, sworn to uphold the law, is convicted of a felony, he or she should not be able to collect a lifetime taxpayer-funded pension in retirement.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of these proposals to ensure prudent exercise of our power of the purse. I sincerely appreciate all of your hard work this work year as you undertake the task of allocating taxpayer dollars to critical priorities.

Thank you.

BACKGROUND: In March of 2018, Rosen introduced the No Free Campaigns for Congress Act of 2018, a bill to rein in and reform the franked mail program. In 2016, Members of Congress spent an average of more than $28,000 of taxpayer money on franked mail, with some Members spending upwards of $100,000 on self-promotional mailings.

In 2017, Rep. Rosen co-sponsored the bipartisan No Pensions for Corrupt Politicians Act. H.R. 4314 prevents elected officials convicted of corruption-related charges from collecting pensions. It closes a loophole in the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (P.L. 110-81) passed during the George W. Bush administration. Under that law, even when an elected official is convicted, they could continue to collect payments as long as they were actively appealing their conviction. H.R. 4314 prevents any pension collection until a ruling is overturned. Rosen also sent a bipartisan letter to House appropriators urging them to prohibit the use of taxpayer money for first-class flights for Members of Congress.

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