Posted on 01/06/2011 1:56:14 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Republicans introduce bill to eliminate presidential 'czars' By Michael O'Brien - 01/06/11 04:15 PM ET
A group of House Republicans introduced a bill on Wednesday to rein in the various "czars" in the Obama administration.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and 28 other House Republicans introduced legislation to do away with the informal, paid advisers President Obama has employed over the past two years.
The legislation, which was introduced in the last Congress but was not allowed to advance under Democratic control, would do away with the 39 czars Obama has employed during his administration.
The bill defines a czar as "a head of any task force, council, policy office within the Executive Office of the President, or similar office established by or at the direction of the President" who is appointed to a position that would otherwise require Senate confirmation.
Republicans had complained about the president's use of czars to help advance his agenda in Congress. In particular, the GOP had harped about the personal history of Van Jones, the president's czar for "green jobs," over past comments Jones had made about Fox News came to light. Jones eventually resigned.
Another prominent czar over the past year was Carol Browner, the president's energy and environmental adviser. She helped head up efforts in response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the ultimately unsuccessful effort for an energy and climate bill from Congress.
Republicans introduced several bills to eliminate czars in the last Congress, but similar legislation could conceivably advance in the House now that the GOP controls the chamber.
"We haven’t gotten an indication of an exact timeline for committee action, considering that the bill was just filed yesterday," said Scalise spokesman Stephen Bell. "We hope to have this discussion in the near future as the congressman works to pursue all the bills he has introduced in the 112th Congress."
Good. Let’s hope the pubbies don’t wilt like they usually do when the dims and their media allies start screaming like stuck pigs.
Congress needs to reassert its constitutional authority ;the executive branch has grown too much in power under both parties .
Read the Constitution, slam the CBO report, and now this.
So far, so good.
Ha! I posted this to my FB page to annoy all the dumbass liberals!
I’m not getting my hopes up.
good!
How are these czars paid? Pull the plug on that.
Can we ban commies from the white house staff too while we are at it?
Who knows? Obama has been so secretive about them. Many of them we don’t know where their pay is coming from. Shady bastard.
Sweet! lol
Dang! This deal, and the report that DOJ is about to be called on the rug, is beginning to give me a little faith in the new posse in town.
It’s a start.
Defund them when you write the budget.
Like the repeal of 0bamacare scheduled for House vote on Jan. 12th, this will get some debate and won’t make it through the Senate to get vetoed by 0bama. If this gets killed in the Senate or gets vetoed, it can lead to investigations of all of the czars and their funding.
Keep it up, 112th! Even if it gets nowhere, you can at least help us have something to smile about once in awhile for the next 2 years. This is a great one! And, as Rush has suggested, introduce a new bill to repeal Obamacare every week. Keep the ‘Rats so busy playing defense that they can’t inflict as much harm during this session.
Don’t get all het up yet.......
Beautiful. And the Republicans can claim this as a cost cutting measure. I’d like the see the RATS try and defend these Czars. That will be interesting.
The 1940 Smith Act is still law I believe.
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