Statements On Introduced Bills And Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - June 28, 2007)

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the United States Authorization and Sunset Commission Act of 2007. I am very pleased to be joined by my colleagues and good friends, Senator George Voinovich and Senator Saxby Chambliss, who share my commitment that every dime sent by taxpayers to Washington, DC, is spent wisely.

The United States Authorization and Sunset Commission Act of 2007 creates an eight member bipartisan Commission, made up of four Senators and four Representatives. The Commission will look at the effectiveness and efficiency of all Federal programs, but will especially focus on unauthorized and ineffective programs. The bill is modeled after the sunset process that the State of Texas instituted in 1977 to identify and eliminate waste, duplication, and inefficiency in government agencies. This process has led to the elimination of dozens of agencies that have outlived their usefulness and has saved Texas taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

The job of the Commission is to ask the fundamental question: ``Is an agency or program still needed?''

The Commission has two major responsibilities. First, the Commission must submit a legislative proposal to Congress at least once every 10 years that includes a review schedule of at least 25 percent of unauthorized Federal programs and at least 25 percent of ineffective Federal programs or where effectiveness cannot be shown by the Office of Management and Budget's, OMB, Performance Assessment Rating Tool, PART. The Commission's schedule will abolish each program if Congress fails to either reauthorize the program or consider the Commission's recommendations within 2 years.

Second, the Commission must conduct a review of each program identified in its review schedule and send its recommendations for congressional review. Congress will then have 2 years to consider and pass the Commission's recommendations or to reauthorize the program before it is abolished.

Congress has two bites of the apple when it comes to evaluating Federal spending. First, when it authorizes a program and second when it appropriates the money for it. Yet a study by the Congressional Budget Office found that Congress spent just under $160 billion in 2006 on agencies and programs despite the fact that their authorization had expired. The list included hundreds of accounts, big and small, ranging from the Coast Guard, $8 billion, to the Administration on Aging, $1.5 billion, to section 8 tenant-based housing, $15.6 billion, to foreign relations programs, $9.5 billion. Many of these expired programs and agencies, perhaps most, deserve reauthorization. Nonetheless, Congress should aggressively determine whether these programs and agencies are working as intended and the Commission will help serve this purpose.

In addition, the Commission will use OMB's PART, which is a tool to assess and improve program performance. PART looks at all factors that affect and reflect program performance including program purpose and design, performance measurement, evaluations, and strategic planning, program management, and program results. Using PART, OMB has scored 793 Government programs and found that 4 percent are ineffective and the results for 24 percent could not be shown. Programs rated as ``ineffective'' or ``results not demonstrated'' account for $152 billion in budget authority.

The Commission's work will be guided by 10 criteria, including the program's effectiveness and efficiency, achievement of performance goals, and whether the program has fulfilled its legislative intent.

Unfortunately Congress has a tendency to create commissions and then ignore their work and continue on with business as usual. This bill solves this problem. It requires Congress to consider, debate, and vote on the Commission's report under expedited procedures.

The United States Authorization and Sunset Commission Act of 2007 is an important step to getting our fiscal house in order and to making sure that Congress gets back to the hard work of oversight to determine if programs actually fulfill their stated purpose or yield some unintended or counterproductive results. Periodic assessments are essential to good Government and this is what the Commission will provide to Congress and to taxpayers across the country. For this reason, I ask that my colleagues join me in cosponsoring the United States Authorization and Sunset Commission Act of 2007.

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