Letter to Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations Daniel Inouye

Letter

Letter to Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations Daniel Inouye

Bennett and Senate Republicans Urge Democrats to Send Draft Stimulus to OMB for Further Economic Review

Today, Senator Bob Bennett (R-Utah), a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, joined his Republican colleagues in a letter to Chairman Daniel Inouye expressing concern over the developing stimulus package and urging the chairman to delay consideration of the package until it can be thoroughly reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

"The nearly $1 trillion stimulus package is the largest spending bill in our nation's history and the taxpayers deserve to know exactly what the administration and Congress intends to spend money on to stimulate our economy," said Bennett. "Before cutting enormous checks, we need to be sure that the agencies that will administer the funds - should they receive stimulus money - are held accountable. The OMB is the best equipped to provide us with that economic analysis."

The complete text of the letter from the Republicans on the Senate Committee on Appropriations is below:

Dear Chairman Inouye:

We are very pleased that you will lead the Appropriations Committee during the 111th Congress. We look forward to working alongside you and your Democratic colleagues to conduct the Committee's business through the regular order, and in a manner that ensures responsible oversight of Federal spending.

To this end, we are concerned by efforts to draft and move a stimulus bill absent the full and official participation of the incoming Administration. We do not discount the capability of Committee staff to construct a stimulus package. Indeed, their unofficial discussions with various agencies have been instrumental in beginning to identify which programs and activities may have a timely and targeted impact on our economy - with the overall impact of temporarily increasing spending.

However, we believe that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is best poised within the Executive Branch to examine agency spending proposals and to confirm that specific program increases will indeed have a stimulating effect on the economy. Once OMB has done its job, the President should then submit the package to the Committee for consideration - which should include hearings and a markup.

While this course of action may take more time than marking up a stimulus package next week, it will unquestionably increase transparency in spending as the American people demand and deserve. By requiring OMB to do its job, Congress will be better able to hold those agencies and grantees executing stimulus spending accountable for successes and failures, and to mitigate opportunities for waste, fraud and abuse.

We very much appreciate your consideration of our views. Please also know that we stand ready to act swiftly to complete action on the remaining fiscal year 2009 spending bills, hopefully well before the March expiration of the current continuing resolution.
Sincerely,

Senator Thad Cochran (Miss.)
Senator Arlen Specter (Pa.)
Senator Christopher Bond (Mo.)
Senator Mitch McConnell (Ky.)
Senator Richard Shelby (Ala.)
Senator Judd Gregg (N.H.)
Senator Robert F. Bennett (Utah)
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas)
Senator Sam Brownback (Kan.)
Senator Lamar Alexander (Tenn.)