Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S., is serving his sixth term in Congress as the Representative from Arizona’s Fourth Congressional District. First elected in 2010, he came to Congress with no prior political experience. Paul believes that the Constitution is the cornerstone of our Republic, and always pursues policies that allow for more individual liberty and less government involvement.
Dr. Gosar is focused on bringing jobs back to the district, fighting illegal immigration and securing the border, challenging the status quo and holding Washington bureaucrats accountable, cutting wasteful government spending, and ensuring that he is representing the interests of his constituents.
As a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform – the chief government watchdog – I have a powerful perch from which to expose waste, fraud and abuse within the federal bureaucracy. The practice of good governance requires periodic evaluations of federal programs and expenditures to review and debate their necessity, their efficiency and, sometimes, their constitutionality. I have been relentless in such pursuits and have sought to restore fiscal responsibility as well as commonsense to a bloated federal government that has lost its way.
Shamefully, the federal government continues to be a terrible steward of your tax dollars. Each year government bureaucracy wastes approximately $1.67 billion maintaining more than 77,000 vacant or underutilized federal properties. Even more atrocious, the Inspector General reported in 2013 that the State Department squandered $630,000 “buying fans” for its social media accounts. The federal government allows legal brothels in Nevada to claim $17.5 million annually in tax deductions through the tax code; the federal government wastes more than 20 percent (amounting to billions yearly) on federal construction projects using an outdated wage calculation formula that has been determined to be 100% fraudulent. Unfortunately, these examples are more of the rule that the exception and I could list more than 100 other wasteful examples just from this past year alone.
If Congress is serious about eliminating waste, fraud and abuse, then we must return to regular order in the budget process. Under regular order, each federal program’s effectiveness is reviewed annually. Then Congress can make informed choices as to whether it would like to improve, maintain or eliminate each program. Shockingly, this process has not been followed in its entirety since 1994. Rather than adopting a budget resolution that caps spending levels and then appropriating funds through 12 different bills, Congress has funded the government the last couple years through massive 1,000+ page bills that legislators were given only 48 hours or so to read. This deeply flawed process does not allow members to know what's in these bills or for amendments that cut reckless spending and reprioritize programs.
Our citizens expect and deserve a lean, efficient federal government that only funds effective and necessary programs. This year, I will continue the fight to eliminate as much waste as possible through any and all means necessary. With a $18 trillion plus federal debt, the time to act is now. We, both Democrats and Republicans, must chart a responsible budget course. I will continue to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse wherever I can.