Gary Condit: “Today marks the culmination of years of work by both Democrats and Republicans to put accountability back in Congress. I…”

“Today marks the culmination of years of work by both Democrats and Republicans to put accountability back in Congress. I want to pay special recognition to several Members, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Clinger], the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Geren], the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Moran], the gentleman from Kansas [Mr. Roberts], and the gentleman from New York [Mr. Towns], and the entire group that made up the Unfunded Mandate Caucus that worked very, very hard to find a solution to this serious problem facing this country. Our current system of mandating the cost of programs on to States and local governments is a good example of the abuse of power by Washington. Under the current system, we in Congress can pass what we call feel-good legislation. That is, legislation that lets us feel good. We get to feel good and pat ourselves on the back and say what a good job we have done, and at the same time we get to pass the cost on to State and local governments. Today we are taking a great step in correcting that problem.”