In 2020 when the pandemic was beating up every aspect of our society the Congress concocted a 5,593-page-bill monstrosity for Covid-19 relief, The Cares Act. Of course, it passed; nearly everyone could use a little relief from Covid and the taxpayers were stuck with the bill, all $1.8 trillion dollars. But here is the pathetic part; under the guise of helping Americans through the pandemic, members of Congress took the opportunity to pork-up the bill with dozens, if not hundreds, of earmarked funding directives that had absolutely nothing to do with Covid or Covid relief. Here is a sampling:
$10 million for “gender programs” in Pakistan,
$300 million for fisheries,
$100 million for NASA,
$300 million to Endowment for the Arts,
$300 million to Endowment for the Humanities,
$300 million to Public Broadcasting,
$500 million for Museums and Libraries,
$720 million to Social Security Administration,
$315 million to the State Department,
$90 million to the Peace Corp,
$492 million to National Railroad Passenger Corp,
$526 million grant to Amtrak.
$4.7 billion in foreign aid to nine countries.
The takeaway from this example is that under different circumstances, each of these expenditures could have/should have seen the light of day in one or more congressional committees where expert witnesses would have testified to the pros and cons of passing the funding.
The second takeaway is that the Covid Relief Act was not a one-off occurrence. Producing multi-thousand-page bills has become the norm. No one who votes for them has actually read them and therefore do not know what they are voting for or against. Should we be borrowing money for earmarks that have never been exposed to public scrutiny? If viewed separately by the American taxpayers, would they all pass the smell test? Absolutely not.
For years politicians have been emphasizing the need for infrastructure spending. So, in 2021 congress finally passed, in a bipartisan vote, a $1.2 trillion Infrastructure bill which, by the way, is also funding universal pre-K, child care, enhanced child tax credit, earned income tax credit, Affordable Care Act subsidies, Medicaid expansion, medical hearing benefits, affordable housing, Pell grants, children’s nutrition, immigration, state and local tax deductions, etc. etc. etc. Only about 25% of the expenditures actually exist for real infrastructure such as roads, bridges and airports. What happened to the remaining $900 billion?
Why has Congress become so continuously inept when it comes to responsible spending? Simply stated, they do not have a set of established operational standards and any organization without standards is a failed organization. Establish and enforce a set of simple standards and a lot of things in Washington can get fixed, quickly, including irrational spending of hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars.
However, keep in mind that change is a frightening concept to most organizations. Fixing Congress will take courage and strong, sensible, insightful leadership. The Republican Party is supposed to be the party of fiscal responsibility. Now is the time. We just finished a fiscal year with $1.7 trillion in deficit spending; up 23% from the previous year.
$33 trillion in national debt is a frighting reality. But what is worse is the realization that no one in Congress is doing anything to shut down the deficit spending and continuous borrowing. The are two ways to go about achieving real fiscal constraints.
One, we have to realize that the president’s annual budget is the sum of what it takes to fund every branch and division in the massive Executive Branch bureaucracy. We need to also realize that too much of that bureaucracy is outdated, unnecessary, redundant, providing no value-added and just needs to go away. The solution is to tear the U.S. Executive Branch apart piece by piece, rebuild it with elements that are actually providing value added and cut out hundreds of billions of dollars from the President’s budget each spring. But that project must wait for a president/vice president team of Republican fiscal conservatives; maybe 2024.
The second way to cut spending is to change the way Congress operates. Make it more efficient, more effective, more timely, more responsible. Now is the time, right now with a new Speaker in the House of Representatives. This can be Speaker Johnson’s greatest contribution, his legacy. Certainly, it will be met with resistance but the American tax payers will welcome a simple, workable, inexpensive plan to cut spending rather than just keep saying, “we need spending cuts” as a sound bite and a headline.
FIX THE SYSTEM, TRANSFORM CONGRSSIONAL SPENDING
I am suggesting institutionalizing a set of seven new operational standards for Congress. But before we get to that, the members need to think about serving in Congress as a full-time job. From 2001 to 2018, the Senate spent an average of 165 days in session each year, and the House spent an average of 140 days in session; less than three days average per week.
Under the following plan, a small agency will be formed under the Inspector General (free from Congressional influence) inside the General Services Administration (an independent government organization) called the Congressional Legislation Standards Authority (CLSA) Their sole purpose will be to enforce these seven standards and to administer the life-cycle of a piece of legislation as explained below. The CLSA will NOT be in charge of the Congress. They will NOT make policy. But they will become the administrators of the day-to-day process of creating new legislation. The Congress has proven that it is incapable of successfully and efficiently administrating themselves. The CLSA would be something akin to the very valuable oversight we see from the Congressional Budget Office.
Since 1975 the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, has produced independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the congressional budget process. Each year, the agency’s economists and budget analysts produce dozens of reports and hundreds of cost estimates for proposed legislation. Their work is objective, impartial and nonpartisan.
Under the CLSA every bill will first appear on a Congressional web site operated solely by the CLSA that is totally dedicated to enforcing the standards for every bill. Every member of Congress will receive an alert each time a new bill is proposed and posted on a congressional new-legislation website. This website will be managed solely by the CLSA; The sponsors of a bill may contact the CLSA at any time to update schedules, to notify members of committee hearings, to make changes to the legislation, etc. But the CLSA employees are the only ones who can access the site to add, delete or change any piece of information.
The CLSA does not have the authority to recommend changes, additions or deletions to the intent of the legislation. Their function is to determine if the proposed legislation meets certain established standards, with particular emphasis on Standard Number Three, Applicability.
STANDARD NUMBER ONE, OUTLAW “EARMARKING”: An earmark is a provision inserted into a discretionary spending bill that directs funds to a specific recipient while circumventing the merit-based or competitive funds allocation process. Most earmarks are attached to a “must-pass” bill so that it is protected from non-passage or presidential veto. My definition of an earmark is an idea that would not have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting passed if, standing alone, it was exposed to the light of day.
STANDARD NUMBER TWO, SUNSET LEGISLATION: This is a measure, within a statute or regulation, that provides that the law shall cease to have effect after a specific future date, unless further legislative action is taken to extend the law. Most laws do not have sunset clauses and therefore remain in force indefinitely. Keep in mind that many laws cause some new Executive Branch organization to be created. Our government is full of agencies, divisions and branches that require annual funding, while having outlived their requirement to exit.
STANDARD NUMBER THREE, APPLICABILITY: In the 2020, 5593-page Covid-19 relief bill there were scores of organizations funded from this bill that had absolutely zero association with the Covid-19 outbreak or relief thereof.
Hereafter all of the provisions of a particular bill must clearly identify with the subject, purpose and intent of the bill which could save hundreds of billions of needless expenditures per year. It will prevent publishing bills that are too lengthy to read; e.g., not a single Representative or Senator actually read the 5593-page Covid-19 relief bill before they voted on it.
STANDARD NUMBER FOUR, STAND-ALONE: Every bill will be a single-issue piece of legislation. Period.
STANDARD NUMBER FIVE, TIME LIMITS: There are wo different situations to consider. One is the federal budget process and the other is all bills other than those in the budget process.
The non-budget process bills will get processed in one continuous process not to exceed 90-days. The CLSA will grade the scheduling of all activities to insure it is ready to be voted on within the 90-day timeframe. The exception to this is, at any time the bill’s sponsor or committee may pull it from consideration. (We will get to the federal budget process in a few minutes.)
STANDARD NUMBER SIX, LEADERS CANNOT HIDE A PENDING BILL: The Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader in the Senate continuously practice sitting on bills, not allowing them to be voted on for protracted periods of time. This will not be allowed. Every bill will be voted on or before the end of its 90-day window.
STANDARD NUMBER SEVEN, STANDARD WEBSITE FORMAT: Every piece of legislation will be formatted with four specific sections and pages as follows:
SECTION ONE OF THE CLSA STANDARD FORMAT IS ALL ABOUT ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY AND WILL LOOK LIKE THIS:
CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION STANDARDS AUTHORITY
Page 1, Administrative data
Current as of: ____ (date ____ All of the below data will be filled in as it becomes available from Congress. For each new or changed data point, this “current as of” date will also be updated.
Title of the legislation: ___ ($10 million for “gender programs” in Pakistan)_________
Date which starts the 90-day calendar: ( the date the CLSA initially sends this out)
Not-later-than-date to be presented, debated and voted on the floor of the House of Representatives or Senate___(90 days after the above “start” date)_____
The member of Congress who is the principal sponsor: ______________________
co-sponsors: _______________________
_______________________
_______________________
Author of the proposed bill: ______________ (a member of Congress, the White House, a Congressional committee staff, Executive Branch Department, Non-governmental organization, lobbyist, private citizen, etc.)
Sunset legislation date: ___(a date that must be included inside the Bill)_______
Schedule for committee hearings: ___(determined by congressional leaders)____
____(Foreign Affairs Committee)______
____(___etc.______Committee)______
COMMENTS ON DRAFTING OF LEGISLATION:
Lobbyists. There are nearly 12,000 registered lobbyists in the US. They work for businesses, professional associations, cities, states, non-profit organizations, etc. They get paid to make things happen in government and mostly that is in the form of special interest legislation. Lobbyist are a prime source of today’s legislation and earmarks. It is not a completely negative concept but the downside is that they can too frequently get politicians to earmark appropriations that are self-serving and not in the best interest of the general public.
Congressional committee staffers. Staffers write much of the legislation today and therein lies a big problem. Because many issues rarely fit nicely inside the domain of a single committee, there will ultimately be multiple committee staffers, working on behalf of their politicians and bringing their individual thoughts and prejudices to the effort. Too often, having begun in good faith to build a thoroughbred race horse, they end up with a camel. Under today’s system that “camel” ends up earmarked to some “must pass” bill and eventually in some Executive Branch, department or agency for execution. By then, the original intent for the bill may be so convoluted that it is potentially a complete waste of time, energy, money and is one of the causes of the gross inefficiency of government.
The Executive Branch of government, to include the president, should author a larger portion of the bills. Why? Because they know the who, what, when, where, why and how details of their proposals and should not be delegated to lobbyists or congressional staffers. Why not let the experts, those who will be responsible for execution, do the up-front piece? For example, if the Department of Homeland Security needs $400 million for border security, they should write the proposed bill and seek out some member(s) of Congress to sponsor it.
SECTION 2 OF THE STANDARD WEBSITE FORMAT WILL LOOK LIKE THIS:
CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION STANDARDS AUTHORITY
Page 2, Legislation Intent
Current as of: ____(date inserted by CLSA)_____
(CLSA Instructions: This narrative must be limited to one single-spaced page, font 12 and must begin with the words, THE PURPOSE OF THIS LEGISLATION IS TO…….
Intent is one of the least used and most important aspects of any law. Congress and the authors of a bill should not leave it to the applicable governmental departments to infuse their own intent for what the laws should or should not be about.
SECTION 3 OF THE STANDARD WEBSITE FORMAT WILL LOOK LIKE THIS:
CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION STANDARDS AUTHORITY
Page 3, Component outline
Current as of: ____(date inserted by CLSA)_____
(CLSA instructions: provide an outline of the major elements. The format
will be similar to a Table of Contents but with a few sentences explaining each entry.
SECTION 4 OF THE STANDARD WEBSITE FORMAT WILL LOOK LIKE THIS:
CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION STANDARDS AUTHORITY
The Entire Bill, (e.g.HR-12 or S-16}
Current as of: ____(date inserted by CLSA)_____
CONCLUSIONS about having Congressional Legislation Standards Authority oversight of day-to-day stand-alone legislation:
- $10 million for gender programs in Pakistan. After the fact; that’s when we found out about this and dozens more ridiculous “Covid-19 relief” packages. Who knew about them before they became law? None of us. Why? Because the Congress can waste our tax dollars almost at will while hiding behind a wall of anonymity. What happened to accountability? Without standards there is no accountability.
- Under the above proposed program, The Congressional Legislation Standards Authority (CLSA), we would have known on day-one who sponsored this insane earmark. We would have known when a committee was going to discuss it. We would have known weeks in advance when it was going to be voted on. We would have known all this because it would have been a stand-alone bill, not hidden inside a 5593-page unread bill. Accountability and transparency would have been front and center. The fact is, it would never have made it to the floor for a vote because visibility to the press and to we-the-people would have caused it to go away.
- Furthermore, one of the great advantages of a standards-based legislative process is that in all likelihood, the bill would never have been written because anonymity is non-existent.
- Journalists will use the CLSA website as a source for up-to-the-minute reporting on pending legislation. Citizens can read it, learn what the legislation is all about, understand the positives and negatives of the intent and weigh in with their elected legislators before, not after, it becomes the law of the land.
- After about a year, this simple process will guide all new-legislation activities in the Congress and will be accepted as the new normal. This process has the potential to save hundreds of billions of dollars per year. It will have the effect of spending our tax dollars first in support of we-the-people.
- Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, this more disciplined approach to legislation could have the long-term impact of moving toward greater fiscal responsibility building towards a future balanced budget mindset.
- Successful, admired organizations operate this way every day. It is as simple as one-two-three. One, thoroughly define a single TASK at hand. Two, define the CONDITIONS, in this case stand-alone bills. Three, set and enforce the operating STANDARDS without exceptions.
- Task, conditions, standards; this new approach to doing the peoples’ business in Washington is within the art of the possible and it will not cost a dime to adopt and institutionalize operational change. But as noted earlier it will take great leadership to put it in place and make it happen.
THE FEDERAL BUDGET PROCESS STANDARDS:
As previously stated above in STANDARD NUMBER FIVE, TIME LIMITS, there are two different situations to consider; the non-budget related bill with sections 1-4 defined above, and now a look at the federal budget process legislation.
THE FEDERAL BUDGET PROCESS LEGISLATION: To develop and pass a new budget with twelve separate appropriations bills is supposed to be a standardized 8-month process from early February through the end of the current fiscal year on 30 September.
THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH RESPONSIBILITIES: Each October federal agencies begin compiling their budgets for the following fiscal year and submit their proposals to the President via the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OMB edits, calculates, and coordinates the budget for final review and approval by the President. The President then forwards the approved proposal to the House and Senate, hopefully, by the first Monday in February.
CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ACTIONS: The Budget Act of 1974 lays out the required congressional actions, February through September of each year, in order to have a completed, agreed upon and signed budget by 30 September. Upon receipt of the president’s budget, various Committees begin reviewing their respective sections of the budget; the process is spear-headed by the Budget Committee.
BUDGET RESOLUTION: The Budget Resolution document is then worked in the House and Senate. The budget resolution process allows Congress to establish a framework within which the House and Senate will consider budget-related legislation and set revenue and spending levels. The Budget Act set a target date of 15 April for adoption of a budget resolution by both chambers. The CLSA will closely monitor the resolution process looking for violations of the standards on earmarking and applicability.
The Budget Act further sets a target date of 15 June for completing action on reconciliation legislation if required in able to complete the resolution. Without resolution between the House and Senate there are no rules, no timelines, no standards and no discipline. All of that leads directly to the chaos and disasters of completing a budget for all twelve separate appropriations bills by 30 September.
Following budget resolution and reconciliation, April through June, the 90-day CLSA standard window begins for passage of the twelve budget appropriations.
Resolution and reconciliation during April, May and June sounds reasonable. But in fact, that is the period when congressional ineptitude begins to impact the Budget Resolution process because they choose to disregard protocols and standards. For example, in six of the seven fiscal years, 2014-2020, Congress never adopted a formal budget resolution at all.
Comment: One of the most basic Constitutional tasks for Congress is to pass a fiscal year budget and do it on time. However, Congressional indiscipline continues to place the day-to-day functioning of the federal government in jeopardy and thereby negatively affecting nearly all Americans.
Failure to pass the appropriation bills on time results in either passing continuing resolutions (CRs) or shut down the government. Congress has used CRs in 40 of the 44 fiscal years, 1976-2020. In FY 2013 a full-year CR covered 7 of the 12 budget appropriations. As of 2020 it has been 23 years since all of the appropriations bills were passed prior to the beginning of the next fiscal year. This is unacceptable institutionalized irresponsibility and ineptitude. The system is seriously broken because of the failure of the senior leaders, House Speaker, Senate Majority Leader and Committee Chairpersons.
Continuing resolutions in the absence of a budget can waste billions of dollars. A new fiscal year budget will always drop obligations, programs and spending that are no longer needed or desired. Going forward into the new fiscal year, efficiency and effectiveness are hampered because of the absence of new fiscal year funding for essential new programs.
This has become so routine that Congress seems to treat this monumental failure as business as usual, as OK. Well, it is not OK. It is first of all against the law, The Budget Act of 1974. It is not fair to we-the-people who sent you there to do the peoples’ business and the first order of business is to have a budget.
STANDARDS FOR THE ANNUAL BUDGET PROCESS, FEBRUARY THROUGH SEPTEMBER. STANDARD NUMBER ONE: Leaders publish detailed plans
STANDARD NUMBER TWO: IPRs
STANDARD NUMBER THREE: Work days
STANDARD NUMBER FOUR: Election year schedule
the Congressional Legislation Standards Authority needs to come into play again as follows beginning with these website pages:
CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION STANDARDS AUTHORITY and THE ANNUAL BUDGET PROCESS
The Speaker of the House, the Majority Leader in the Senate and House and Senate Budget Committee chairpersons will be required to prepare and publish a Concept of Operations for the FY 2025 budget preparation process published on the CLSA website not later than 15 January. Their narratives will cover the who/what/when/where/why and how of the process in great detail.
(The CLSA will, prior to putting the above proposals on the web site, reconcile any conflicts in dates or products.)
Milestones will be set and not broken. Committee chairpersons will frequently be required to brief their senior leaders on their progress, problems, issues and likelihood of meeting their deadlines. They are called in-progress reviews, IPRs.
If committee work is behind schedule, the senior leaders will direct night and weekend work to ensure on-time results.
Each of the leaders’ directives will include consideration of the fact that 2024 is an election year and August/September will be campaign time for all but a few of the Senators.
BOTTOM LINE:
We cannot go into FY 2025 with continuing resolutions and a potential
government shutdown with a post-election lame-duke government.
The new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, is in a perfect position to bring forward a new idea on how to make the budget process an annual success vs the annual disaster it has been for decades.
Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired, is the author of two books, Vision to Execution and Fix the Systems, Transform America as well as the author of a blog, WeThePeopleSpeaking.com