Issue Position: Government Reform

Issue Position

I believe that the number one issue facing the federal government is the federal budget, which has ballooned out of control over the past few years. I support sensible, common sense measures to keep the federal budget in check, starting with freezing discretionary spending at 2008 levels. I also joined my Republican colleagues in supporting a one-year moratorium on earmarks, calling on Speaker Pelosi to return the money which otherwise would have been used for earmarks to the Treasury to pay down the national debt.

One of Congress' primary functions is to oversee the executive branch's actions, and review agency regulations to ensure they are following the laws passed by Congress. This is an essential core to the notion of Separation of Powers. As the Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy & Commerce's Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, I take my responsibility to oversee the executive branch seriously, and have called for greater transparency at the Departments of Health and Human Services, Energy, and Commerce, as well as at the Environmental Protection Agency, and will be following their implementation of recent legislation closely.

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