House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) wants the GOP to restore the public’s trust in government come January.
McCarthy, who succeeded Eric Cantor in July, sent a memo to House Republicans Monday that outlined his goals for the new Congress that will commence in January, as Politico reports.
Foremost, McCarthy wants the GOP — which is expected to further increase its presence in the House following next month’s midterm elections — to focus on “restoring competence in government” in January.
“The inability of the government to accomplish its most basic tasks has eroded the public’s trust in government, as polls have repeatedly shown,” McCarthy detailed in the memo. “Worse, throughout the country there is an emerging sense of resignation that our great country is on the decline.”
A CNN poll released in August had the percentage of American people trusting government at an all-time low of 13 percent.
Additionally, McCarthy underlined wasteful government practices in the memo, citing excessive agency reports as something Congress needs to trim down.
“Different provisions added to our laws over the years has resulted in a legal requirement that 466 different agencies and non-profits submit over 4,200 different reports to Congress this year,” he explained. “The annual number of reports demanded by law increased nearly 25 percent in the past 25 years.”
“Many, like the annual ‘Report to Congress on Dog and Cat Fur Protection,’ are no longer relevant,” McCarthy continued. “However, absent Congressional action, agencies and non-profits must still submit these reports. We can save taxpayer money and thousands of hours of time by sunsetting these requirements.”
The House Majority Leader also said in the memo that a GOP-led Senate would focus on energy-centric bills like those designed to improve “the permitting process for pipelines.”
“The same is true for reforms we passed for federal mining permits and FDA reforms that the Energy and Commerce Committee has already begun working on,” added McCarthy.
