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The House Government Reform Committee on Thursday approved bills mostly along party lines that would sunset programs, a move Republicans said was necessary to eliminate government inefficiency.

One measure introduced by Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, would establish a permanent commission that would set all federal programs on a path to sunset every 12 years unless Congress acts to keep them. The other bill by Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., would give the president authority to establish commissions to review federal programs for their efficiency and duplication and then recommend to Congress elimination or reorganization.

House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., said hearings showed the need for legislation to examine the "operations and effectiveness" of federal programs.

Davis said the Tiahrt bill would create bipartisan review commissions, but Government Reform ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the panels would end up being partisan commissions. The commissions would be "empowered to propose eliminating or privatizing critical government programs and require those proposals be considered under expedited procedures," setting an agenda for Congress, he said.

Brady's bill would authorize either the president by executive order or Congress by a joint resolution of both chambers to create a 12-member bipartisan commission to review government operations. In the first year of a commission's existence, it would be required to group agencies in categories of overlapping responsibilities and set a date when each agency would expire unless Congress affirmatively acted to reauthorize it.

A definite date when an agency would expire would concentrate Congress' attention on that agency, supporters said. After setting a sunset date for each agency, the commission would then examine each one for overlapping responsibilities and inefficiencies, and recommend changes. If Congress did not act by the targeted date, that agency would be eliminated.

Waxman denounced the Brady approach as "an extermination schedule for every federal agency" and insisted it would put at risk federal agencies that "play a vital role in protecting the health, welfare and security of all Americans."

COMMENTS

• Great idea! Include committees. GovExec.com reader Posted July 25, 2006 8:14 AM
• This is not the way a stable and effective government works. Having a program sunset provision for every federal program will simply create the waste and inefficiency that the provision is meant to stop. Plus it will create a recruitment and retention nightmare. Forcing politicians or committees controlled by politicians to make decisions on program efficiencies is simply insane. It seems this administration is taking great pains to ensure that the government must fail. Every initiative creates instability and chaos. Like a child that can't sit still, it runs here and there and forces through every newfangled silly idea it comes across. It took the oldest agency in the federal service and smashed it into the newest department without any appreciation for organizational cultures. It sticks inexperienced political appointees deep into every program in the federal sector. It runs into a war without any thought to what happens afterwards. It forces HR reform without any forethought on employee and union cooperation. It will take a generation of statesmen and women to glue the government back together. Let’s all take a deep breath and stop reforming before it’s too late. HR Specialist GovExec.com reader Posted July 25, 2006 7:38 AM