Rep. McClintock Introduces Six Bills at the Start of the 118th Congress

California Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) introduced several bills at the start of the 118th Congress.

H.J. Res. 9 – Balanced Budget Amendment

"Before we can provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare we have to be able to pay for it, and our massive debt directly threatens our ability to do so," said Rep. McClintock. "History warns us that nations that bankrupt themselves aren't around very long."

"Instead of trying to define fiscal years, outlays, expenditures, revenues, emergencies, triggers, sequestrations and on and on, I hope we would consider 27 simple words: ‘The United States government may not increase its debt except for a specific purpose by law adopted by three-fourths of the membership of both Houses of Congress.'"

H.J. Res. 10 – Line Item Veto Constitutional Amendment

"H.J. Res. 10 presents us with a simple question: ‘Is it possible – just possible – that from time to time Congress has passed a spending bill or two that ought to have had greater scrutiny?' The answer to this question might elude some members of the House, but I assure them it is self-evident to everybody else," McClintock said.

H.J. Res. 10 proposes a very simple constitutional amendment which authorizes the President to reduce an appropriation in a bill, subject to congressional override.

From 1801 until 1974, the President had the recognized authority to impound excess spending indefinitely – a legitimate executive function first asserted by President Thomas Jefferson. The Budget Act of 1974 stripped the executive of this vital check on Congressional excess.

H.R. 186 – Water Supply Permitting Coordination Act

"Droughts are nature's fault. Water shortages are OUR fault. Water shortages are a choice we made a generation ago when we stopped building new reservoirs to meet the needs of a growing population," McClintock said. "The unvarnished truth is that we will not solve our water shortages until we build new reservoirs. And we cannot build new reservoirs until we overhaul the laws that have made their construction endlessly time consuming and ultimately cost prohibitive."

H.R. 186 will bring order from bureaucratic chaos. It establishes a framework in which federal agencies with permitting responsibilities for the construction of new reservoirs must work together, coordinate schedules, share data and technical materials and make findings publicly available. The end result will be fewer delays, more efficient use of taxpayer dollars and ultimately more abundant water supplies.

H.R. 187 – Default Prevention Act

H.R. 187 guarantees the sovereign debt of the United States Government by authorizing the Treasury Secretary to continue to borrow to pay interest and principal due on the debt, even in the event of an impasse concerning the debt limit.

"If credit markets doubt that their loans to the federal government will be repaid in full and on time, we could suffer an interest rate spike that could sink our nation in a sea of red ink," said Rep. McClintock. "This bill is an absolute guarantee that the sovereign debt of the United States is solid and will be honored. The full faith and credit of the United States should not hang in the balance every time there's a fiscal debate in Washington."

H.R. 188 – Proven Forest Management Act

"Excess timber comes out of the forest in only two ways – it is either carried out or it burns out. For most of the 20th Century, we carried it out," McClintock said.

"Beginning in the 1970s, we began imposing environmental laws that have made the management of our lands all but impossible. Draconian restrictions on logging, grazing, prescribed burns and herbicide use on public lands have made modern land management endlessly time consuming and ultimately cost prohibitive."

H.R. 188 expands throughout the entire National Forest System the categorical exclusion for forest management projects that was secured for the Tahoe Basin in the 2016 WINN Act.

When we granted a categorical exclusion from NEPA to our Tahoe Basin foresters, these provisions for the Tahoe Basin expedited the clearance of excess timber, were instrumental in slowing the Caldor fire, and need to be applied nationally.

H.R. 189 – Action Versus No Action Act

The Action Versus No Action Act requires federal land management agencies to evaluate forest management activity and the alternative of no action.

The Act will ensure that forest management projects are not bogged down by the burdensome NEPA process, and that federal agencies consider the devastating impact that a lack of management would have on the health of a forest, potential for wildfires, and potential loss of life and property.

"The choice is ours: we can restore proper scientific management of our forests or continue to watch them tragically burn," said Rep. McClintock.

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