Unauthorized spending on government programs is harming our economy, taking power away from elected representatives, and is a key driver of unaccountability on Capitol Hill. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) is leading the battle to get this spending under control. Her weapon of choice is the Unauthorized Spending Accountability (USA) Act of 2017, which she has introduced for the second Congress in a row.
Two types of federal spending exist: authorized and unauthorized. Authorized spending is approved by Congress. Unauthorized spending exists when Congress has not approved spending, or the authority for spending from Congress no longer exists. Unauthorized spending continues even though it is no longer formally approved by Congress. Appropriators just keep doling out the dollars. This constitutionally unorthodox and fiscally unaccountable practice has now become a way of life for members of the House and for senators.
{mosads}As the Congressional Budget Office reported, “lawmakers appropriated about $310 billion for fiscal year 2016 for programs and activities whose authorizations of appropriations have expired and whose appropriations could be identified.” As Citizens Against Government Waste explains, unauthorized spending is now “30 percent of total discretionary spending.”
This practice of unauthorized spending runs counter to the Constitution. Congress is supposed to authorize, or give permission, for money to be appropriated, or spent, on federal programs. However, appropriators perpetuate the problem by providing money for programs that no longer have authorization from Congress to exist. This weakens the accountability of Congress to the people by placing spending on automatic pilot, and allowing the appropriations committees in the House and Senate to have an outsized role in determining spending priorities.
Authorizing committees also deserve part of the blame. They are failing to engage in the robust review of government programs under their jurisdictions, which means programs that should be cut or reauthorized keep lingering like an uninvited houseguest. Part of the reason for the failure of authorizing committees is that the activities of the federal government far exceed those assigned to it by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution. As a result, federal programs – many of which should be administered by the states – remain insulated from the democratic process and operate free of significant reforms.
Rep. McMorris Rodgers, chair of the House Republican Conference, has had enough. Last year in the 114th Congress, she introduced H.R. 4730, the Unauthorized Spending Accountability Act, and Rep. McMorris Rodgers has reintroduced the bill in this session of Congress. It has never been more needed. The bill is elegant and effective. If a program is no longer authorized, in the first year of expiration the budget authority for the program is cut by 10 percent. Cuts of 15 percent would happen in year two and year three. If a program gets reauthorized, then it is back to regular order for funding the program. If it isn’t reauthorized after three years, it gets sunset.
To help give the legislation added authority, it establishes a Spending Accountability Commission. On Capitol Hill, setting up a commission typically means that politicians are going to punt on policy. Not so in this case. The commission will review all authorized, discretionary programs, and find areas where cuts can be made in spending. It would establish a three-year timetable to get unauthorized programs on track for reauthorization or sunset, and the commission would start to look at mandatory spending.
The United States is at a crisis point. Its debt is approaching $20 trillion, the Beltway buckles when given the option of making necessary cuts, and unauthorized spending on programs that Congress hasn’t even approved continues unabated. The USA Act would help tackle unauthorized spending and eliminate the usual excuses that keeps this spending from being reined in.
Rep. McMorris Rodgers has shown that Congress can reinvigorate its authorization functions to review government spending through the USA Act. At the same time, the USA Act can guide appropriators to make cuts in programs that have been funded for years with few questions asked. In the last session of Congress, Rep. McMorris Rodgers’ bill had 75 cosponsors. It should get even more this session, and deserves a hearing and a vote in the House. Until Congress takes action, the unauthorized spending won’t stop.
By reintroducing the USA Act, Rep. McMorris Rodgers is working as a happy warrior to help smart spending and vigorous oversight of federal spending win the day. If she has more members supporting her, then she can lead an army to change spending as usual on Capitol Hill.
Neil Siefring (@NeilSiefring) is vice president of Hilltop Advocacy, LLC and a former Republican House staffer.
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