House GOP leader previews report on cutting government waste

As part of a larger effort to rein in federal spending and overhaul the budget process, House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, previewed a 61-page report Tuesday highlighting Republican committee action in the 109th Congress to curb waste, fraud and abuse in government.

"Other important reforms -- such as enactment of earmark reform, the presidential line-item veto, 'rainy day' funds for disaster response, and a 'sunset' commission that evaluates whether federal programs are serving the taxpayers' interests -- represent additional tools House Republicans are proposing to enact this year to support these efforts as well," the report states.

A spokesman for Boehner said the report kicks off the "Spring Cleaning" project endorsed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., which includes a full committee markup in the Budget Committee Wednesday on the line-item veto. Next week, the House is scheduled to take up that legislation, as well as a sunset commission bill.

The report also credits the Appropriations Committee for eliminating 53 programs in 2005, and the passage of a $40 billion spending reconciliation package this year.

Earmark reform language is expected to be included in the House-Senate conference report on a lobbying overhaul measure after Hastert promised appropriators that the legislation would extend changes to all authorizing and appropriations bills in order to garner enough votes to pass the measure.

The lobbying overhaul bill is expected on the floor in short order as Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., issued a joint statement last Friday that they want a bill by the July Fourth recess. Hastert has not yet named conferees.

Boehner's report also highlights 14 case studies of what standing committees have done since January 2005 to curb spending and eliminate what the GOP deemed unnecessary federal programs, such as successful efforts in the appropriations process to cut the "Jobs in the Woods Program" that provided aid to displaced timber workers and the elimination of the U.S. Capitol Police's Mounted Unit.

The report also credits Republican-led congressional oversight efforts, such as an ongoing investigation by the Homeland Security Committee into a $25 million contract awarded to a local bus and limousine company owned by a convicted felon that has been implicated in an expanding criminal probe.

How to rein in federal spending has proven increasingly divisive within the House Republican Conference this year as some members, especially conservatives, have shown an escalating willingness to take on their own party, particularly on issues of earmark and budget process reform.

Democrats heaped scorn on the GOP oversight and reform claims.

"Congressional Republicans ought to sell ice to Eskimos if they can convince anyone that they've been an effective watchdog," said Government Reform ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif. "Their record on oversight is shameful. They've held no one accountable for the enormous mistakes made in Iraq, and the indifference and incompetence of the Republican leadership has cost taxpayers billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse."