This week, the House approved H.R. 4973, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act, by a vote of 416 to 4.

H.R. 4843, the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act, passed without dissent.

Also passing without dissent was H.R. 889, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act Conference Report.

On a vote of 393 to 23, the House passed H.R. 5672, making appropriations for Science, the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, and related agencies for Fiscal Year 2007.

Fiscal Restraint

Many Americans have rightly criticized the federal government for spending too much of their money, often for purposes of little value. This criticism is merited – Congress does spend too much money. However, I am also happy to say that we have made some truly significant progress in exercising fiscal restraint.

Last year, House Republicans were successful in terminating 53 wasteful programs for a savings of $3.5 billion. This year we have proposed 95 program terminations, for a savings of nearly $4 billion. Earlier this year, we passed a fiscally responsible budget that placed tough constraints on discretionary spending and rejected efforts to increase spending by more than $45 billion during this year’s appropriations process. Also, we held the line and turned back $14.4 billion in extraneous spending in the defense supplemental funding bill. We have also cut back on member project requests, or “earmarks”. Although congressional earmarks represent less than one percent of the total federal budget, Congress has taken action to reduce the number of member requests by 37 percent for a level of spending $7.5 billion below last year.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I am proud each appropriations bill reduced spending on earmarks and was passed early in the year. It is a sign that we are, in fact, reining in federal spending. This is a goal for which I will continue to strive.

Do Not Call

Recently, I introduced legislation that allows citizens to apply the National Do-Not-Call Registry to politically-oriented calls. My bill, H.R. 5325, creates a new and separate category in the National Do-Not-Call Registry that would enable a person to choose whether he wants to opt out of political calls in addition to the business-related calls already covered. Since Congress established the National Do-Not-Call Registry in 2003, the number of intrusive and unsolicited calls has dropped significantly. However, unsolicited calls from political organizations were exempted by Congress and are not currently defined as “telemarketing”. The Federal Communications Commission has reported that political calls result in the highest number of complaints.

Many of my constituents are fed up with how frequent and intrusive these political calls have become. I agree with them and want to empower people to decide for themselves whether they want to continue to have their lives interrupted in this manner. This legislation treats all political calls the same regardless of whether they originate from Members of Congress, candidates running for local office, or 527 political organizations like MoveOn.org. Congress never should have exempted political calls in the first place. My bill closes this loophole and gives consumers the choice they should have had all along.

Protecting Private Property

Last Friday, one year after the controversial Supreme Court decision, Kelo v. New London, Connecticut, that gave local governments broad power to condemn homes for the purposes of commercial development, President Bush issued an executive order that federal agencies cannot seize private property except for truly public projects. This is a welcome presidential action. Through last year’s decision, the Supreme Court limited homeowners’ rights and veered from centuries of precedent by allowing local governments to take private property purely for economic development. Traditionally, eminent domain has only been allowed for projects with a clear, direct public benefit, such as a bridge or highway. The power to condemn private property only to convey it to another private party was not tolerated previously, nor should it be now. I am gratified to know that the federal government will not participate in such actions.