House Committee to Act on Troubling "Sunset" Bill

Last night, Representative Todd Tiahrt (Republican from Kansas) dropped H.R. 5766, a new sunset commission bill that combines elements from two previous bills introduced earlier this session. In short, the new Tiahrt legislation would force federal programs to plead their case before an unelected panel that would then recommend to Congress whether programs should be terminated. H.R. 5766 is the result of months of internal negotiations among Republican House members.

OMB Watch has prepared an excellent analysis of the legislation, which the House Government Reform Committee is expected to consider on July 19th.

In June, the Senate Budget Committee approved the Stop Over-Sending Act of 2006 Act (S. 3521), sponsored by Senator Judd Greg (Republican from New Hampshire), Chairman of the Committee. S. 3521 would (among other things) establish a sunset commission.

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