Congressman Sander Levin

Government Oversight

I strongly believe that one of Congress’ most important responsibilities is to conduct vigorous oversight to ensure that laws are being faithfully carried out, that taxpayer’s dollars are well spent, and that allegations of abuse are being thoroughly investigated.

As a Member of the House of Representatives I have made information available on my income, travel, and campaign fundraising. The documents are filed with the Clerk of the House and are available here.

Lobbying Reform

When Democrats gained control of Congress in 2007 we passed a landmark rules package which included provisions to end the tight-knit relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers, bring transparency to lobbyists’ activities, and deny taxpayer-funded pension benefits to Members of Congress convicted of corruption.

Furthermore, the Obama Administration instituted tough new restrictions on the role of lobbyists in the executive branch. This included a rule that political appointees must be two years removed from lobbying on a issue they could be working on for the government.

• More on Lobbying Reform

Congressional Office Transparency

I support Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to place each Member’s expense account on the internet. Currently, these records are printed in the Clerk of the House reports. Congressional offices are appropriated a certain amount of money each year to operate their offices depending in part on that District’s distance from Washington, D.C. The 12th District amount for 2009 is $1.45 million. This money has to pay for all expenses including staff salaries, office rent, equipment, telephone bills, supplies, mailings, newsletters and travel between Michigan and D.C. There are rules as to what may be spent on official activities and each mailing or email to an audience larger than 500 people must be approved by the bi-partisan Congressional Standards Mailing Franking Commission under the Committee on House Administration..

Until the U.S. House of Representatives has an online system in place, I have asked my office to copy the most recent Clerk of the House report and make it available here.

Congressional Office Expenses

Project Specific Funding Requests or “Earmarks”

It is absolutely essential that the process by which project specific funding is decided be transparent and open to scrutiny. I have for years gone beyond reporting requirements by listing each and every project I request funds for on this web site. The projects I requested funding for in the most recent appropriations bill are available here:

Additionally, the 111th Congress has reformed the earmark process by adding competitive bidding and executive agency review.

• Timeline of Earmark Reform under the Democratic Congress
• Current Earmark Process
• 2010 Transportation Project Requests
• 2010 Project Requests

Government Transparency

I welcomed President Obama’s call for a more transparent government. The day after his inauguration President Obama ordered agencies to take affirmative steps to make information public and should not simply wait for and respond to FOIA requests. Additionally he has encouraged government agencies to use modern technology to give citizens access to pertinent information. I encourage you to review some of the resources currently available.

• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
• Treasury Department’s Financial Stability Plan
• FY 2008 Budget Results
• Earmarks Details
• Federal Program Results
• Federal Agency Scorecards
• Where Taxpayer Dollars are Spent
• 2008 Financial Report of the US Government
• “Sunlight Before Signing” public viewing and comment on proposed legislation before the President signs it
• Federal Data Aggregator
  

(Update June 19, 2009)