Rep. McMorris-Rodgers: Restore the people’s “power of the purse”

5th District Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers says her bill just passed by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability aims to restore the people’s “power of the purse”.

“As the people’s representatives in Congress, we have an obligation under Article 1 of the Constitution to responsibly determine how money is spent." McMorris-Rodgers said in a statement.

She's behind the Unauthorized Spending Accountability (USA) Act which strives to review spending on government programs that haven’t been approved by Congress coupled with phasing out those programs.

McMorris-Rodgers cites more than 500 billion dollars have been spent on programs without review or approval.

"This misuse of taxpayer dollars is a dangerous symptom of the reckless spending and lack of accountability the American people have grown tired of.” McMorris-Rodgers said.

The USA Act now goes to the full House of Representatives. If passed by legislators on both sides of the aisle, McMorris-Rodgers says it will responsibly implement the reduction of wasteful spending in three phases.

1 Year After Expiration of Authorization: Overall budget level will be reduced by 10 percent.
2 Years After Expiration of Authorization: Overall budget level will be reduced by an additional 15 percent.
3 Years After Expiration of Authorization: Overall budget level will be reduced by an additional 15 percent. The program will then terminate at the end of the third unauthorized year.

For further details on the act, we've set up a link.