Citing investigate efforts from Fast and Furious to the IRS scandal, Human Events named House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) its “conservative of the year.”
The newspaper said Issa received the award “for his tireless insistence on the free flow of information from government to its citizens, his confidence that free people can make wise decisions when provided with good data, and his determination to restrain the size of government.”
“When the Left crows that Oversight hearings can’t seem to get anyone fired, they reveal a dismaying lack of interest in the honest and efficient management of the massive government they believe morally entitled, and intellectually qualified, to run so much of American life. They’re also forgetting how many astonishing things have been said by nervous officials in Issa’s hearing rooms,” the article announcing Issa’s selection said.
“As Chairman of the Committee for Oversight and Government Reform, I have endeavored to defend the American people’s right to know how their tax dollars are being spent. Increased transparency leads to increased accountability. Abuses occur under every Administration, but today with a sweeping new health care law, an IRS that got caught abusing its authority, and abuses of powerful technology to eavesdrop on American citizens, government is playing a more intrusive role in our lives than ever before. I view this award as recognizing the importance of oversight, a fundamental responsibility of Congress that has a been a greater point emphasis over the last year than any other point in my 13 years of public service,” Issa said in response.
“This year, the Oversight Committee focused on the many problems with ObamaCare and HealthCare.gov, the IRS’s inappropriate targeting of conservative groups, excessive government conference spending, ending billions in waste in federal IT procurement, stopping Medicaid fraud in New York and finding answers about the events surrounding the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, among many other issues. We have also advanced bipartisan legislation to improve transparency and spending, the DATA Act, which creates an online database so Americans can see just where their tax dollars are going, and pushed for postal reforms that would save taxpayers billions.”
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