Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - April 29, 2009)

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By Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Ensign, Mrs. Hutchison, and Mr. Chambliss):

S. 926. A bill to provide for the continuing review of unauthorized Federal programs and agencies and to establish a bipartisan commission for the purpose of improving oversight and eliminating Government spending; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the United States Authorization and Sunset Commission Act of 2009. I am very pleased to be joined by my colleagues and good friends, Senators VOINOVICH, CHAMBLISS, ENSIGN and HUTCHISON, who share my commitment that every dime sent by taxpayers to Washington, DC is spent wisely.

The President has said several times that he intends to go through the Federal budget line-by-line--ending programs that we do not need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less. It is in this same spirit that I introduce this legislation.

The United States Authorization and Sunset Commission Act of 2009 creates an 8 member bipartisan Commission, made up of 4 Senators and 4 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, the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, annually finds that Congress spends billions of taxpayers' money on agencies and programs despite the fact that their authorization had expired. 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 over 1,000 government programs and found that 20 percent were not performing--they were found to be ineffective or their effectiveness could not be determined.

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 2009 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 2009.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

S. 926

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