Government Affairs

I continue to fight for limited government, states’ rights, and adherence to the United States Constitution.  I will continue to uphold my oath to defend and protect the Constitution and I strongly believe that Congress needs to get back to legislating the way our founding fathers intended.  I support legislation that would require any bill considered by Congress to cite the Constitutional authority for that legislation. I am proud of the efforts Congress made to repeal a number of federal rules like the Stream Protection Rule, which threatened one-third of the nation’s coal mining workforce, and the Bureau of Land management’s (BLM) Planning 2.0 Rule, which shifted land management decisions away from state and local governments into the hands of Washington, D.C. I support additional legislation that would require any bill considered by Congress to cite the Constitutional authority for that legislation. This includes enhancing the Congressional Review Act to make it easier to block bad regulations and roll back midnight regulations that get pushed through at the end of a president’s term. I also have supported a proposed Constitutional amendment that would allow a federal law or regulation to be repealed if two-thirds of the states pass a resolution doing so.

As Chairman of the Senate Budget committee and a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, I am focused on cutting wasteful and duplicative programs that we don’t need. I have prioritized oversight of federal spending in order to help lawmakers improve programs that are not delivering results. I am focused on several aspects of oversight to ensure the federal government is accountable to hardworking taxpayers. These efforts include boosting transparency for federal agencies, improving financial management, targeting duplication of federal programs, and improving federal information technology and program accountability. Wasting taxpayer dollars is unacceptable under any conditions, but our nation’s government spending crisis makes it even more important to reduce needless and bloated government programs. 

Over the past several years, I have also noticed a rise in the number of hoaxes and fabricated stories about government agencies and programs.  I take my government oversight responsibilities very seriously and investigate these claims, but it is often the case that these stories are just rumors being passed around social media. I encourage people to do some investigating of their own before acting on these stories.