The House will vote this week on two "sunset commission" bills, under which unelected commissions would be given the authority to recommend sweeping changes in the federal government and force those changes through Congress.

Committee Mark-Up Makes a Bad Bill Worse

The two bills were rushed through a July 19 hearing and then marked up the next day by the House Government Reform Committee.

The Brady bill, H.R. 3282, was voted out of committee on largely party line votes with Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA) crossing the aisle to oppose the legislation.

Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va) offered a manager's amendment to the Tiahrt bill, H.R. 5766, expanding the scope of the commission's reviews to include rules and regulations. The amendment also requires the commission to review the constitutional basis of all programs and agencies. This amendment vastly increases the scope of the commission's power and puts individual regulations, not just programs, on the chopping block.

H.R. 5766 is scheduled for a vote on the floor this Thursday, July 27. While the Brady bill is not currently scheduled for a floor vote, there are rumors that the Brady bill could be combined with the Tiahrt bill before reaching the floor.

Growing Legions Oppose Sunsets

Over 350 organizations and thousands of concerned constituents have sent letters to Congress opposing sunset commissions. A broad coalition of both national and state groups joined together to send a letter to Congress opposing sunsets. Environmental, labor, education, healthcare and veterans groups have also sent individual letters opposing sunset commission legislation. (Click here for the latest batch of letters, and check with www.OMBWatch.org/sunset for up-to-the-minute info.)

"The innocent intent of cleaning up some frivolous government agencies/departments could have possible far-reaching unintended consequences," said the American Legion in a letter sent to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) opposing sunset commission legislation. "Quite frankly, the idea of growing government (creation of sunset commissions) to reduce government seems like poor public policy. How is a decision made as to whether a sunset commission is accountable, efficient and effective? Is that decision made by yet another sunset commission?"

Next Steps

The current schedule is for the House Rules committee to take up only the Tiahrt bill on July 26 and propose a rule for considering the legislation on the floor on July 27. According to one rumor, the Brady bill text could be put up as an amendment to be voted on when the Tiahrt bill goes the floor. The end result would be the two separate approaches becoming title I and title II of a combined bill.

The Brady bill would require all government programs and agencies to be subject to a commission review at least once every 12 years. If Congress did not expeditiously deal with the commission recommendations, the program or agency would be automatically terminated. Under the Tiahrt bill, every program, agency or regulation would be subject to the possibility of a sunset review. If a review were desired, a commission would be formed. Its recommendations would be fast-tracked through Congress, limiting debate and opportunities to amend the recommendations.

Bipartisan opposition to sunset commission legislation is growing. Along with champions emerging from all corners of the Democratic caucus, several Republican members are now raising concerns, among them Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), who issued a statement today opposing the bills.