EGO Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 188) to prohibit the use of Federal funds for the costs of painting portraits of officers and employees of the Federal Government, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration, including an exchange of letters on the House companion bill, H.R. 1701, between the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on House Administration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 188, the Eliminating Government-Funded Oil-Painting Act, a bill introduced by Senator Bill Cassidy. In years past, the Federal Government spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on portraits of government officials. Taxpayer funds should be invested in programs that benefit taxpayers and our country, not oil paintings of Cabinet members to boost their egos.

That is why today we consider S. 188, the Eliminating Government- Funded Oil-Painting Act, otherwise known as the ``EGO Act.'' The EGO Act makes clear, once and for all, that government agencies cannot spend taxpayer dollars on oil paintings.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense, bipartisan legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and

Government Reform,

Washington, DC, December 6, 2017.

Hon. Gregg Harper,

Chairman, Committee on House Administration, House of

Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. Chairman: On September 13, 2017, the Committee on

Oversight and Government Reform ordered reported H.R. 1701,

the ``Eliminating Government-funded Oil-painting Act'' with

an amendment, by voice vote. The bill was referred primarily

to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, with an

additional referral to the Committee on House Administration.

I ask that you allow the Committee on House Administration

to be discharged from further consideration of the bill so

that it may be scheduled by the Majority Leader. This

discharge in no way affects your jurisdiction over the

subject matter of the bill, and it will not serve as

precedent for future referrals. In addition, should a

conference on the bill be necessary, I would support your

request to have the Committee on House Administration

represented on the conference committee. Finally, I would be

pleased to include this letter and any response in the bill

report filed by the Committee on Oversight and Government

Reform, as well as in the Congressional Record during floor

consideration, to memorialize our understanding.

Thank you for your consideration of my request.

Sincerely,

Trey Gowdy.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to make the gentleman from Virginia aware that I have no further speakers and I am prepared to close. I enjoy my colleague from Virginia's rather dry sense of wit and humor.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

This is a sad day in the swamp, to eliminate oil paintings of men and women who consider themselves very important, to make sure that taxpayer funds are never used for such a thing; sad day for the swamp in Washington.

One can come to the Capitol and look at oil paintings that bestride every corridor and wall, in hearing rooms here in the Capitol, and not know most of these people. We haven't got a clue who most of them are. We recognize John Adams, but when we go to committee hearing rooms, one or two chairmen past, we often don't know who they are.

I guess it was an attempt to achieve immortality, but it really is an act of ego that is a little embarrassing, even for Washington, D.C.

This is an important bill, a commonsense bill, that brings us all back to Earth; that none of us is expendable and that, frankly, we make our contribution and we move on.

This bill strikes at the uncontrolled egos and, I hope, sends a message to those narcissists among us that they can stay that way if they wish, but the taxpayer is not going to pay for their oil painting.

I thank my friend from Iowa for bringing up the bill. I support the bill, and urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Iowa, with whom I share a dry sense of humor. I will remind him, being Irish, that leprechauns are always on the shoulder, especially this time of year.

Mr. Speaker, I like this bill. I think most taxpayers are going to like this bill. I think it is high time we acted on this kind of improvement and injected a sense of humility and humanity into our enterprise here in the United States Capitol. I urge passage of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 188, the Eliminating Government-funded Oil-painting Act, an acronym for the EGO Act.

S. 188 is the Senate companion to H.R. 1401, legislation that I introduced along with Representatives Jim Bridenstine, Cheri Bustos, Walter Jones, Leonard Lance, David McKinley, Pete Olson, and Tom Rice.

My friend and former House colleague, Senator Bill Cassidy, is the lead sponsor of S. 188 which passed the Senate unanimously on September 18, 2017.

The EGO Act would prohibit Federal funds from being used to pay for the costs of painting portraits of officers and employees of the Federal Government. Federal agencies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on portraits that are displayed within agency buildings, often in secure locations that are not open to the public. Although this money is only a fraction of a percentage of the federal budget, it represents a failure to exercise fiscal restraint. Every dollar the government spends on vanity projects for federal officials is a dollar that is not spent improving the lives of everyday Americans.

Congress has the responsibility to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently and effectively. For these reasons, I am proud to sponsor the EGO Act, and urge the House to pass S. 188, sending it to the President's desk.