On Thursday, Rep. Matt Salmon announced the relaunch of his well-known Shrink our Spending (SOS) initiative. The purpose of the initiative is to highlight and cut wasteful and duplicative programs in the federal government. The first bill in the 2016 SOS initiative would defund special classes at the State Department that train potential Congressional witnesses on how to speak to Congress.
The total program cost in 2014 was $545,000.
In early 2014, Rep. Salmon pitched the SOS initiative to a town hall with over 200 East Valley residents.
“Each year, I propose cuts to wasteful programs that hardly serve the taxpayers. Many times, I’ve found agencies that were created with laudable goals, but have since become outdated or duplicative. That’s not the case here. This year’s first SOS bill is aimed at the Department of State’s training grants for congressional testimony,” stated Salmon.
“When Congress calls government bureaucrats to testify on their actions while in the government’s employ, we don’t need rehearsed and conditioned responses programmed by higher-ups trying to hide questionable activities. Sadly, that’s exactly what the State Department is trying to do with its $545,000 contract for this training. It would be a disservice to the taxpayer to not point out a simple, yet damning, fact regarding this training– the contract was initially awarded in June of 2014, just weeks after the creation of the House Select Committee on Benghazi,” said Salmon in a statement released this weeek.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant and the truth is simple.” Salmon concluded, “Let’s end this wasteful spending now.”
Entitled ‘Communicating with Congress: Briefing and Testifying,’ this course was built for government professionals who testify before Congress or brief members or staffers. In addition to general training, a course was requested to deliver hour-long, one-on-one simulated congressional hearing sessions with feedback for other individuals, including “senior-ranking government officials” as preparation for anticipated congressional testimony.