Mike Collins: “I thank the chairman for yielding and for his tireless work over the last couple of Congresses in bringing this to the…”

“I thank the chairman for yielding and for his tireless work over the last couple of Congresses in bringing this to the floor. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1033, the Open Book on Equal Access to Justice Act. I introduced this legislation with a bipartisan group of cosponsors to provide additional transparency and oversight of taxpayer dollars awarded through the Equal Access to Justice Act. I want to thank all of the original cosponsors of this legislation for their support, but, in particular, I would like to thank my friend from Tennessee, Steve Cohen, a member of the Judiciary Committee. These are the kind of areas where we find agreement, and transparency is one of those. I want to thank him for his support and also the gentleman from Maryland as well, for his support of this. Additionally, there is one former Member I would like to thank, Mr. Speaker, Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis, for her leadership on an earlier version of this legislation. She is looking forward to bringing this to fruition. Current and past bipartisan support for this legislation demonstrates a consensus that we need to address this issue, and that Americans deserve to know how taxpayer funds are being spent. Almost identical legislation passed both the Judiciary Committee and the full House on a voice vote in the 114th Congress.…”