Hearing of the Committee on Rules
"Biennial Budgeting: A Tool for Improving Government Fiscal Management and Oversight"
Chairman Dreier and Members of the Rules Committee, I would like to commend you for scheduling hearings on whether the Administration and the Congress should move to a two-year budget process. I am a long-time supporter of a two-year budget process, believing that it will reduce the repetitive annual budget votes and allow more time for long-term planning and for careful oversight of government spending.
I would like to spend few minutes today reviewing some of the reforms that have been implemented in the programs that I oversee as Chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. These reforms have been the result of oversight hearings held by the Subcommittee. I hope that these examples will provide a glimpse of the types of reforms that can be made government-wide if there is more time for in-depth oversight by both authorizing committees and the appropriations subcommittees. We need to ensure that American tax dollars are spent wisely and in the manner in which they are intended to be spent.
Since becoming Chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee in 1995, I have held nearly 20 oversight hearings, and I have scheduled an additional six hearings for this year. Working with the General Accounting Office and the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), I have examined a variety of agencies and issues within the our jurisdiction. And I firmly believe that through this process we are making a difference on behalf of the American people. As a result of the hearings and the actions we have taken in the Interior Appropriations bills, we are improving management, reorganizing dysfunctional structures and streamlining processes.
During my first year as Chairman, we examined each of the more than 30 agencies funded in the bill and asked the question about their relevance to the American people. We asked whether we could eliminate programs or even entire agencies. As a result, we eliminated the Bureau of Mines at the Department of the Interior and rescinded nearly $200 million in funding we considered unnecessary and even wasteful.
During an oversight hearing in late 1997, we heard from the Department of the Interior’s Inspector General and NAPA about the National Park Service’s construction program. We learned that the 500 employees in its construction program were completely off-budget and that their office was funded by a fee they placed on line-item construction projects in our bill. The more a project cost, the more money the program received for its Denver Service Center operations. It was under this scenario that the American taxpayer funded a $387,000 outhouse in the Delaware Water Gap.
We have changed this situation: In the fiscal year 1999 Appropriations bill we brought the Denver Service Center on budget, we downsized it by half - to 250 employees and we have completely revamped the Park Service’s construction process. Now, 90 percent of the design work is being contracted out to local architect and engineering firms. Park superintendents and regional directors are being held accountable for the sound management of construction projects within their parks.
Further, since 1993 taxpayers have provided a billion dollars to restore the Everglades. Last spring I held an oversight hearing on this subject and questioned the GAO on how we are doing with this significant investment. We know that the taxpayers are on the hook for multi-billions of dollars before this massive effort is complete, so we asked important questions such as, “Are we on the right track?” “After we have spent all this money, will the Everglades truly be restored?” “Does the science show us everything we need to know, or do we need additional research and data to proceed?”
As a result of this hearing, it became clear to me that I can’t assure the people in my district that we are wisely using their tax dollars to protect this precious resource. In the fiscal year 2000 appropriations bill, however, I included strong language requiring a strategic plan for this project and improved cost estimates. I will also hold a follow up oversight hearing on this issue later this spring.
Numerous committees in the Congress have focused on financial management shortfalls in the U.S. Forest Service. We held a hearing on this problem in the spring of 1998 and held a second hearing just this morning to follow up on the recommendations necessary to ensure the agency receives a clean audit and equally important, to ensure that the agency can report to Congress and the American people on how its funds are spent.
I have a listing of all of the Interior Subcommittee oversight hearings that have been held and that are planned for this year, with notations on the reforms that have been implemented. I ask that this document be made part of the official record.
I look forward to working with you to enact a two-year budget process. Such a process will allow sufficient time to conduct oversight hearings. These hearings will provide the Congress with necessary information to ensure a more efficient and effective federal government for the American people.