Ed Royce: “for years I have introduced government waste legislation that would set up a commission to identify waste, fraud and…”

“for years I have introduced government waste legislation that would set up a commission to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the Federal Government. It's similar to the Grace Commission of the 1980s. I believe strongly, as does Mr. Tanner, the sponsor of the resolution we're debating today, that we have a responsibility to oversee the spending of taxpayer money. And clearly, the American people feel that we have all abdicated that responsibility, both Republicans and Democrats. It is an indisputable fact that Washington is excellent at spending money on new programs. It almost never ends programs. Today we are on the eve of passing a second stimulus bill that may cost $1 trillion. These are dollars we don't have. If it does pass, with this one bill, Congress will double the already $1 trillion deficit. I can remember when we were concerned about the total national debt being that large--and now the national debt is $10.6 trillion. This debt level is an economic and national security calamity. So what are we doing about this? 'We are debating this bill, which changes the House rules to require the committees to hold hearings on waste, fraud and abuse. That's good, as far as it goes. The Washington Post recently editorialized, ``It's easy to find the fat in the federal budget. What's hard is getting rid of it.''”