Today, U.S. Congressman Paul Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after passage by the full House of Representatives of his amendment to cut $2.1 million that was intended for attorneys in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of General Counsel:
“I am pleased my colleagues supported my efforts to cut spending and oppose plans by the Department of Agriculture to hire more government attorneys, many of which will be used to implement and defend the Administration’s overreaching land grabs, water grabs, and climate change policies.
“President Obama has defended the Department of Agriculture’s Office of General Counsel and continues to push for more funding which would be used to hire both more government attorneys, and give raises to government attorneys already on staff.
“I represent a rural district in Western Arizona, and I serve on the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees much of the executive branch’s activities with regard to resources and lands. I am quite familiar with the negative effects government attorneys often have on states, their resources, and their lands; and my colleagues and I are generally disgusted with the overreaching policies and new regulations the Obama administration has imposed on Western states.
“I simply cannot, in good conscience, support funding to hire new government bureaucrats that will impose more overreaching federal regulations and infringe upon Arizona’s Tenth Amendment rights. Cutting wasteful spending is one of my top priorities and I will continue to aggressively pursue opportunities that make better use of taxpayer money. ”
Background:
Rep. Gosar’s amendment was attached to the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
In fiscal year (FY) 2014 the Department of Agriculture’s Office of the General Counsel was appropriated $41,202,000 and the President’s Budget for FY 15 requested a steep 15.4% increase of $6,365,000.
The President has attempted to justify this increase by saying that these monies will “go toward 31 [full-time equivalents] to handle an increased workload, to support current staff, rent, and enhance, OGC’s information technology reporting capabilities and litigation management tools.”
However Congressman Gosar’s amendment does allow a portion of the proposed Department increase for the sole purpose of improving information technology at the Office of General Counsel.
Rep. Gosar’s amendment successfully cut $2,181,000 in wasteful spending in the bill and directed those funds to the spending reduction account for the purposes of deficit reduction.
Congressman Gosar’s speech on the House floor supporting his amendment can be found HERE.
The text of the amendment can be found HERE.
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