Michael Burgess: “I rise this evening to offer an amendment on an issue that I have worked on, as well as the Committee on Energy and…”

“I rise this evening to offer an amendment on an issue that I have worked on, as well as the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for the last 6 years. In 2006, the Committee on Appropriations, without consultation with the Committee on Energy and Commerce, included a provision in the annual Interior-EPA appropriations bill to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to begin using a special pay program that was explicitly and exclusively authorized for use by the Public Health Service Administration under the Department of Health and Human Services. This special pay mechanism allows a government employee to leave the normal GS pay scale and receive nearly uncapped compensation. This special provision was intended to be used only in unique circumstances for leaders in the healthcare industry who would never leave the private sector to work for the Federal Government but for special higher salaries. This justification can never be used at the EPA. Indeed, some of the employees that the Environmental Protection Agency pays under title 42, the part of the U.S. Code that allows for this special pay, were previous government workers and were merely moved to the special pay scale because they wanted more money. The Environmental Protection Agency claims that, because the EPA is a health organization, it may use this statute to pay special hires; and the Committee on Appropriations has agreed to let them, despite the authorizing committee's objection.…”