John Mica: “I think the Committee on Government Reform is one of the most important committees in the House of Representatives and…”

“I think the Committee on Government Reform is one of the most important committees in the House of Representatives and in the entire Congress. It has an interesting history that dates back to when our Federal government started building a bureaucracy. After the Presidencies of Washington and Adams, in 1808, actually, Thomas Jefferson was quite alarmed by the bureaucracy building, he termed it, in Washington. He did not like the huge bureaucracy in his estimation that had been constructed previous to his taking office. The founding Members in the Congress, early Members at the turn of that century, the 19th century, again in 1808, created the predecessor of the Committee on Government Operations. They did not trust the appropriators. They did not trust the authorizers.”