Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, in 1995, Congress passed the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, or UMRA, to prevent the imposition of burdensome and costly Federal unfunded mandates. Over the course of this Congress, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee has developed a record that clearly shows UMRA has fallen short of its original goals. Last year, the committee sought input on UMRA and received several hundred responses from Governors, State legislators, and county officials regarding the impact of Federal laws and regulations. Too often, State and local governments are confronted with the rotten choice of raising taxes on their residents or cutting services residents depend on in order to comply with Federal mandates. Unfunded federal mandates strain State and local budgets, and subvert the principles of American federalism. Federal agencies treat States as servants to their regulatory whims, rather than as partners to consult before imposing new, burdensome mandates. In an April 2017 hearing, a Kentucky county executive testified that Federal agencies treat their responsibilities under UMRA as an exercise to ``check a box,'' rather than an opportunity to engage in a meaningful intergovernmental partnership. H.R. 50, the Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act, is designed to solve these problems.…”