Golden Fleece Award

Today, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) announced that the entire Obama Administration would be the recipient of the Golden Fleece Award for January. A recent report from the American Action Forum found that the administration’s last minute environmental and other regulations would cost the U.S. economy $6 billion.

Today, in an effort to prevent similar behavior from future administrations, the House passed H.R. 21, the Midnight Rules Relief Act, which would make it easier for Congress to repeal midnight rules that could cause significant negative effects on the economy.

“Fortunately, the administration that has actively imposed billions in unnecessary regulatory costs on hardworking Americans is now taking its final breaths,” said Hill. “Today, we voted on an important measure to prevent similar actions in the future, and with an estimated $6 billion cost for the U.S. economy, this last-ditch rulemaking effort must be opposed, reviewed, and rescinded by the new administration to ensure that we put an end to these types of last ditch efforts by a departing administration.”

About the Golden Fleece Award

Every year, Congress appropriates trillions of dollars to fund the federal government, and every year the federal government wastes portions of these funds in unconscionable ways. As a Member of Congress, and as a taxpayer, this frustrates me to no end. In an attempt to increase accountability for every single government program, Congressman Hill decided to bring back the Golden Fleece Award.

Originally introduced by Democratic U.S. Senator from Wisconsin William Proxmire in March 1975, the Golden Fleece Award was a monthly bulletin on the most frivolous and wasteful uses of hardworking taxpayers’ dollars. The Golden Fleece Award became a staple in the U.S. Senate during this time, and Senator Robert Byrd once stated that the awards were “as much a part of the Senate as quorum calls and filibusters.”

In reviving this idea, the Golden Fleece Award will again have the opportunity to serve as an important reminder to taxpayers about the need for necessary, commonsense reforms to our federal spending.