by Bob Barr | Nov 17, 2022 | Townhall Article |
TownhallThe United States House of Representatives wields three great powers –to appropriate money, to legislate, and to conduct oversight of every function and component part of the federal government to ensure compliance with the Constitution and congressional intent.While not express, Congress’ oversight power is universally recognized as implied through the “necessary and proper clause” in Section 8 of Article I of the Constitution. It is this power that is the least understood of Congress’ powers, and which has in recent decades been the least effectively employed.In the coming 118th Congress that begins in early January 2023 with a Republican House majority, it is the oversight power that – if pursued seriously and effectively – will offer the Party the greatest opportunity to define itself in advance of the 2024 presidential election, and that will provide the key to reining in the disastrous policies of the Biden Administration. Continued Democrat control of the Senate effectively neuters the power of the Republican Party to pass legislation reflecting the Party’s conservative values. This shortcoming means as well that it will be next to impossible to attach significant limits to federal spending for the remaining two years of the Biden Administration. In the present environment, the only meaningful power remaining to Republicans is that of oversight, which can be employed regardless of what happens in the Senate. If Republicans decide to conduct oversight as a way to rehash old grudges, to wreak vengeance on the other Party, or to grab headlines, they will have squandered a major opportunity to define and advance the Party’s agenda as well as the interests of the American people . The clear results of...
by Bob Barr | Nov 15, 2022 | Daily Caller Article |
Daily CallerAs much trouble as Republican leaders in the Congress might have accepting the brutal fact of their candidates’ poor performances in last week’s mid-term elections, “fixing” the problem will take more than post-election tinkering. Sure, there were major problems affecting the outcomes of last week’s results that were unique to this cycle – foremost among them, the quality of several Republican Senate candidates, and the barrage of early votes by Democrats – but there are far more consequential problems facing the GOP.Even accounting for such problems as candidate quality, uneven funding, and questionable polling, the failure of the Republican Party to develop and communicate a coherent and positive message to the electorate stands as a major shortcoming now and moving forward. History shows it need not be that way.In the 1994 mid-term election, the White House occupant was the widely unpopular President Bill Clinton. The House of Representatives had been under Democrat control for 40 years. The stage was set for change. To take advantage of that momentum, then-Minority Whip (and future Speaker) Newt Gingrich broke with Republican tradition, and articulated a substantive, specific, and positive message to the electorate.The 1994 Contract With America did not mention, much less attack Bill Clinton, though he was vulnerable to such charges. That would have been the politically easier course.Instead, the Contract listed ten pieces of legislation the GOP promised to bring to the floor of the House for a vote within the first 100 days of being awarded a majority. Importantly, it did not overpromise. The widely publicized document promised only what we could guarantee. It worked.By running on a program of specific, positive issues — each...
by Bob Barr | Nov 10, 2022 | Townhall Article |
TownhallUncle Sam’s benevolent, prying eyes are everywhere, especially on matters concerning medicine and health. Now, a little-known federal bureaucracy, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), is recommending that virtually every man, woman, and child over the age of eight be screened for anxiety. This will be an unnecessary and very expensive recommendation.Unlike recommendations made by other government task forces, those by this agency can have costly consequences. Under federal law, when the USPSTF recommends certain health care screening procedures, they must be covered by health insurers at no cost to the insured, regardless of how expensive or how little benefit results.Since it was established by the Congress in 1984, the USPSTF has amassed an uneven record when it comes to medical screening recommendations; alternatively recommended and then not recommended screening for breast cancer in women of a certain age and screening for prostate cancer in men.Notwithstanding this mixed record, the USPSTF has decided that Americans are such a fretful and anxious people, that health care providers should screen them for anxiety and depression, even in the absence of symptoms. Forcing insurers to cover such asymptomatic procedures at no cost to the insured, simply means that the cost would be passed on to the larger pool of people in those plans by way of increased premiums or reduced reimbursements to the health care providers.This is but the most recent example of the sleight-of-hand by which Uncle Sam tells a gullible electorate that they are getting something for free or at a reduced cost when the government is simply shifting the cost to be shared more widely. The Biden administration’s college loan forgiveness plan is a similar fraud. Is...
