JOHN LINDER: “Mr. Chairman, H.R. 350, the Mandates Information Act of 1999, is a procedures bill designed to make Congress more…”

“Mr. Chairman, H.R. 350, the Mandates Information Act of 1999, is a procedures bill designed to make Congress more accountable and provide Members with the most factual information possible before voting on legislation. This bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Rules and Organization of the House, and as chairman of that subcommittee, I am pleased to rise in strong support of this important bipartisan reform legislation. Two of our colleagues, the gentleman from California (Mr. Condit) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman) were the main proponents four years ago of the intergovernmental mandates legislation that was one of the first bills passed in the 104th Congress with 394 votes from both sides of the aisle. Today, they both deserve great credit for their tireless hard work to amend that act in an effort to provide more accurate information to Members during the course of debate. The intergovernmental mandates bill provided a point of order for intergovernmental mandates over $50 million. This act has worked incredibly well. My subcommittee heard testimony from the director of the Congressional Budget Committee who said that he had been doing mandate estimates for years, but nobody really paid attention to them and to the costs until the 1995 mandates bill. Now we have the opportunity to force Members and committees to pay attention to the costs on businesses and consumers.”