Blake Farenthold: “Without getting into the pros and cons of the various investigations that this body does, I will say that it is our…”

“Without getting into the pros and cons of the various investigations that this body does, I will say that it is our constitutional obligation to provide oversight to the various Federal agencies. One of the ways we do that is through the investigation that our committee does bring up. I do want to say we did visit with Representative Duckworth, and we do feel as if her concerns have been addressed. We could not agree on specific language with Ms. Duckworth, but we were able to come up with these provisions that the minority requested at the markup that allowed the OMB to come up with the implementing regulations. It also includes a provision suggested by the minority to make clear that communications funded entirely by user fees or by sources other than that that do not include Federal funds may indicate how it is funded through the United States Government. But this is a bill all designed to provide transparency, let taxpayers see the fruits of the spending of taxpayer dollars on advertisements, and to make a judgment about that on their own and know what is going on and know how their money is being spent. As my colleague from Missouri pointed out, sunshine is the best disinfectant. It is what we are about in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It is what this bill does, again, designed as a regulation on government agencies, not as an attempt to go after broadcasters, print shops, or anything like that.…”