Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2010

FINANCIAL SERVICES AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010 -- (House of Representatives - July 16, 2009)

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Mr. POSEY. I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding, and I want to thank our good friend, the Congressman from Arizona, for filing this well-intentioned but badly misguided amendment. It's not often that Members of Congress get the opportunity to specifically vote to make government more accountable. By defeating this amendment, you will have done that. You will have cast a vote, a stand-alone vote to make government more accountable.

The amendment strikes funding for a government accountability program known as the Activity-Based Total Accountability Institute. Government accountability is not a partisan issue. Thank goodness it's a bipartisan issue. The Florida legislature established this Activity-Based Total Accountability Institute on a strong bipartisan vote. In fact, it was a unanimous vote of the State legislature. And I am proud to point out that eight Members of the current Congress, Republicans and Democrats, supported this legislation when it was first passed by the Florida legislature. Those Members include the likes of outstanding congresspeople, Representative Wasserman Schultz, Representative KENDRICK MEEK, Representative Ginny Brown-Waite, Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, Representative RON KLEIN, Representative SUZANNE KOSMAS, Representative CONNIE MACK, Representative ADAM PUTNAM and Representative GUS BILIRAKIS. We joined together in a bipartisan fashion because we know we need a greater accountability in government and in how taxpayer dollars are being spent, and this was a way to accomplish that.

I think we can accomplish much when we come together and reach across party lines for greater accountability and for the most efficient use of taxpayer dollars. That's why we did this; and that's what we did when we passed it; and hopefully that's what we will continue to do here today.

Activity-Based Total Accountability has been proposed as model legislation by the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Nation's oldest and largest bipartisan and nonprofit association of State lawmakers. Also the National Conference of State Legislators recommended that it be model legislation in each and every State. In fact, ALEC called it ``the best legislation to come out of any State capital in over a decade.'' If you support better government accountability, you should vote against this amendment, obviously.

Activity-Based Total Accountability helps us better understand unit-based accounting--what it does, what it costs the government to accomplish a certain task, how does that compare on a State-by-State basis. That's what ABTA tells decision makers, and that's what it tells the public. It's the most useful kind of cost accounting which presents the cost for all government activities in a format anyone can understand. Taxpayers can see line by line what government actually accomplishes with its resources.

Florida put $750,000 into the establishment of the institute to gather budget data from every State. The comprehensive analysis of apples to apples will help every State spend its resources more efficiently and the Federal Government's as well. Defeating the amendment will allow the program to continue, and I would respectfully request that you join me in voting ``no'' on the amendment.

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