Panel OKs OMB review of federal programs every five years

The House Government Reform Committee on Thursday approved a bill (H.R. 3826) requiring the Office of Management and Budget, "to the maximum extent practicable," to make assessments of each federal government program at least once every five years.

Action was by voice vote. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., vociferously shouted "no" when the vote was called because he opposed several provisions, though not all.

The final bill, proposed by Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa., contained a substitute text offered by Platts and accepted by voice vote.

The aim of the bill was to "evaluate the purpose, design, strategic plan, management and results" of each program, according to a committee description.

Waxman said that there is already "quite a bit of planning and reviewing" of programs, and the bill would codify the process, but it had some "significant flaws" which would cause him to vote against the bill "reluctantly" if they were not fixed.

He offered an amendment requiring that the reviews of the programs should be done by the agencies themselves rather than the Office of Management and Budget.

He and other Democrats said OMB, an agency of the White House, in some cases actually knows relatively little about many aspects of the programs and sometimes had a different view from Congress, which created the programs, on how they should be run and their objectives. Letting the OMB make the reviews could "dilute" Congessional authority and distort programs, they said. Waxman said the bill as written would encourage the OMB to impinge on Congressional interpretations of the law.

Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., opposed the Waxman amendment, saying that it would problematic to allow each agency to evaluate itself.

Waxman replied that the bill would make OMB a "super-authority."

However, the amendment was rejected by voice vote.

Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., then offered an amendment to allow a period of notice to the public and a time for public comment when a program is to be reviewed.

Platts opposed it, saying the bill already had a mechanism to achieve comment.

Waxman said, "Not allowing public input seems absurd," adding, "There ought to be a process so that the public can come in and give its point of view."

However, the committee defeated the Towns amendment on a straight party line vote of 9 "yeas," all Democrats, to 16 "nays," all Republicans.