WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after the House Appropriations Committee passed the Financial Services Appropriations Act which included one of his legislative efforts:
Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after the House Appropriations Committee passed the Financial Services Appropriations Act which included one of his legislative efforts:
“I am pleased that the House Appropriations Committee agreed to my legislative effort to end the wasteful and ridiculous practice of spending millions of dollars teaching federal agencies how to lobby Congress. There is absolutely no excuse to be allocating money to a third party outside group so that we can teach agencies such as NASA how Congress works. They are more than capable to pick up a phone and make a call or meet with members in person.
“I am encouraged by the actions of my colleagues as they join me in my efforts to closely examine how every federal dollar is spent. While one might suppose there are laws against these egregious practices, there are not—members of Congress must be vigilant and relentless in our pursuit to cut government waste, fraud and abuse in order to put our nation back on track to fiscal solvency.”
Background:
The language included in the FY15 Financial Services Appropriations Act is listed below:
SEC. 629. None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to award a contract for services to train any employee of an Executive agency (as that term is defined in section 105 of title 5, United States Code) to learn how to support or defeat legislation pending before Congress.
More information about Congressman Gosar’s legislative effort to ban spending on teaching federal employees to lobby Congress can be found HERE.
