On the recordJuly 12, 2016
Mr. Chair, I want to thank the gentleman from Tarrant County and Denton County for offering this amendment. I am a cosponsor. It is unconscionable that we are using a provision in Federal law that was first passed during World War II to give a handful of elite medical professionals the capability to get a little bit more than the average Federal pay scale. This has ballooned over at the EPA, and, as has been pointed out, as far as we know, there are in the neighborhood of 50 people who are now getting this above-average pay. We ought to be eliminating the program. We ought to be just putting the nail through the coffin in this program at EPA. Instead, because of the generosity of my good friend, Dr. Burgess, he is just saying don't hire any more. Surely this House of Representatives, with a $500 billion budget deficit, can see it within our heart to accept the Burgess amendment and let us in the authorizing committee hold hearings and hopefully next year pass a law that puts an end to this program. I rise in strong support of the Burgess amendment and would ask for its adoption.
