It’s no secret: Washington is broken and deeply dysfunctional. We need to root out corruption, end the chaos and dysfunction, put a check on lazy, unelected bureaucrats, and drain the swamp. That’s why I unveiled my Make Washington Work Again agenda. The bills in this package hold government accountable, shrink the administrative state, and uphold the principles of public service.
As part of this effort, I introduced the Strategic Withdrawal of Agencies for Meaningful Placement (SWAMP) Act. Too often, bureaucrats in the nation’s capital impose costly regulations, like the overreaching Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, without considering their real-world impact. This bill moves federal agency headquarters outside of Washington, D.C., bringing them closer to citizens most affected by their decisions. There’s no valid reason why the Department of Agriculture should operate from D.C. when it could be situated in an agricultural state like Iowa. We don’t need distant bureaucrats dictating policy from afar – we can drain the swamp by moving federal agencies out of it.
Additionally, I introduced the Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act. This bill establishes a Retrospective Regulatory Review Commission with the sole mission of identifying and eliminating outdated, redundant, and overly burdensome regulations that hinder economic growth and harm family farms, businesses, and workers. It’s past time to take a scalpel to the administrative state and cut red tape.
Corruption runs rampant in the swamp, but I’m committed to combatting it through my the Promoting the Unbiased Role of Employees in the Executive (PURE Executive) Act. My bill enforces a five-year ban on senior administration employees from lobbying a federal agency where they were employed. It also bans senior administration officials from lobbying on behalf of a foreign agent or entity for life. This will help restore integrity to public service and ensure senior government officials can’t immediately cash in for a cushy lobbying gig, particularly if it is on behalf of a foreign agent that seeks to undermine U.S. security. Iowans should know that their hard-earned tax dollars will not pay the salary of someone who will then turn around and sell out our country for their next paycheck.
Finally, we need to end Washington’s extended work from home policy for bureaucrats and force federal employees to go back into the office. Currently, 17 of 24 federal agency headquarters are using on average 25 percent or less of their building capacity. Taxpayers are paying $7 billion annually to maintain and lease empty federal office space while getting a lower level of service from their government. Passing the Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems (SHOW UP) Act would require agencies to return to pre-pandemic telework policies and force bureaucrats to go back to work like the rest of America.
Washington may be broken, but with these commonsense reforms, we can Make Washington Work Again.
