Rein in Washington's Overgrowth by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley
Families across Iowa look forward to fall traditions, from school homecoming events to apple-picking, pumpkin patches and trick-or-treating. Iowa farmers are working longer hours to bring in the harvest, thankful that sunny skies and dry conditions are helping them get a good start on a good crop.
This fall I am also grateful for a tradition I've kept since Iowans first elected me to the U.S. Senate. In October I completed my face-to-face meetings with Iowans in each county. Holding a meeting in each of Iowa's 99 counties at least once every year gives me a good perspective on what people are talking about on Main Street, around their kitchen tables and in the workplace.
At this time of year, I am tuned in to crop yields from county to county. Early reports indicate Iowa farmers are harvesting an impressive bounty.
Washington's bounty, on the other hand, is not so impressive. Inside the Beltway, bean counters can measure an abundance of taxes, regulations and deficits. The reach of the federal bureaucracy sprawls across the landscape of American society, reaching deeply and broadly into the economy. Federal rules and regulations are implementing costly health care, banking, immigration, education, energy, transportation and farm policy that affects hard-working families all across the country.
Federal regulations create a regressive tax on all Americans. Hidden compliance costs passed on to U.S. households reach nearly $15,000 per year per household, according to an analysis by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. A joint academic study estimates the federal government spends $57.3 billion to enforce its regulations. Another projection by the Competitive Enterprise Institute concludes the U.S. regulatory footprint would rank as the 10th largest economy in the world.
Consider that in 2013, 72 federal laws were enacted. And yet there were 51 times that many federal rules issued - 3,659 - in just those 12 months. Furthermore, the Federal Register issued 79,311 pages of rules that same year handed down from the federal bureaucracy. From the economy to the environment, education, health care and taxes, Washington dictates, regulates, redistributes and centralizes its authority within a bloated bureaucracy that is cumbersome and unaccountable.
Iowans tell me that Washington overtaxes, overregulates and overspends. Its overgrowth is eclipsing good government.
Until the Veterans Department sweeps away bad management and fixes patient backlogs, the Secret Service and Drug Enforcement Administration get serious about punishing wrongdoers within their ranks and the Defense Department figures out how to clamp down on flagrant credit card abuse, the electorate will continue asking: What's wrong with Washington?
Taxpayers work hard for their money. And they deserve to get their money's worth, not wasteful spending squandered by Washington.
And yet, the incredible fact is, they don't. The federal government improperly paid out $125 billion last year, according to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. That's a 20 percent jump over the previous year. Tracing the payment trail to government contractors requires constant oversight. From the Pentagon to Medicare, I relentlessly track federal spending to help ensure the nation's defense and health care dollars are spent as intended, as an example. From government-issued credit cards to bloated bureaucracies that rubber stamp improper payments, the federal payment stream is riddled with mismanagement.
That's why I'm pushing new legislation that would implement continuous fiscal controls and accountability measures to thwart personal spending sprees on the taxpayer's dime. It builds upon my anti-fraud credit card bill that was signed into law in 2012.
I'm also working to trim costly spending and excessive regulations with the REINS Act, or Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny Act. It would require any executive rule that would cost $100 million or more to come before Congress for approval. Basically, it would tighten oversight, foster transparency and increase accountability by derailing bureaucratic overreach from unelected officials. The House of Representatives passed the bill this summer. As a co-sponsor in the U.S. Senate, I'm working to get this bill to the President's desk.
The REINS Act would address concerns made long ago by James Madison in Federalist Paper no. 62. He said that layers of laws and regulations allow the "sagacious and monied few" to "harvest" the benefits of big government. When Congress delegates too much authority and loosens the reins on the federal bureaucracy, we see bad policies such as the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule handed down by the unelected federal bureaucracy.
Thanks to our system of checks and balances, an appellate court in October put the brakes on the EPA power grab. I'm also co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill to require the EPA to go back to the drawing board.
When Washington piles on more taxes, more spending and more regulations, the government reins in the industriousness of the American people. And that's bad news for America's long-term prosperity. It's time to rein in the way Washington works and prune the overgrown regulatory state.
As a longstanding champion for transparency, whistleblower protections and government accountability, I work to drive out a culture of corruption and cronyism that puts self-dealing and self-service above public service. Weeding out the poor yields of big government is needed to restore the public trust and harvest a bounty of good government "of, by and for the people."
Friday, October 16, 2015
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Grassley Questions President on Cuba Engagement Amid Reports of Cuban Troops in Syria
WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today asked President Obama to reconcile strong engagement with the Cuban government amid reports of Cuban troops' fighting on the side of Russia and Iran in bolstering the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
"Russia's actions in Syria appear to be in direct contradiction to your statement of more than four years ago that 'the time has come for President Assad to step aside,' " Grassley wrote to the President today. "And now, Cuba is acting as a military partner to Russia and Assad. It's disconcerting that in light of your new relationship with Cuba, the Castro regime has chosen to align with Russia and Iran in supporting Assad in Syria. You've called on Congress to take further actions to engage Cuba and normalize relations. However, just months after your 'historic step forward' the regime of Raul Castro has essentially thumbed its nose at the U.S. by aligning with Russia, Iran and Assad in combating rebel fighters backed by the United States."
Grassley's letter continues, "Are you disappointed by Cuba's decision to provide military support with Russia to back Assad? What actions do you plan to take with regard to Cuba's military involvement in Syria? What message have you or your administration conveyed to the Cuban government regarding its actions?"
On Thursday afternoon, the President hosted the newly installed Cuban ambassador to the United States and a Cuban band at the White House.
The text of Grassley's letter is available here.
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Pork In Prisons
After receiving questions from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, the Bureau of Prisons has reversed its decision to remove pork from federal prison menus. In a letter yesterday to Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Charles Samuels, Grassley expressed concern about the lack of transparency used in the decision and the taxpayer dollars used to conduct surveys of prisoners' food wishes.
"The decision by the Bureau of Prisons to completely remove pork from its menus was ham-handed at best. I appreciate the quick decision after my letter to the bureau to keep pork products on prison menus. That's good news for the American economy. But, there are still questions about how the original determination was made and the cost of conducting the surveys. None of that's been answered, and it ought to be. I look forward to receiving a response to my letter."
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