December 15, 2017

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.  20515

Dear Representative,

On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to hold a markup as soon as possible on H.R. 1339, the Freedom from Government Competition Act of 2017.

Introduced by Rep. John Duncan, Jr. (R-Tenn.), H.R. 1339 eliminates waste in the federal government by requiring a “Yellow Pages” test on government services.  The “Yellow Pages” test subjects duplicative services in both the federal government and private sector to competition.  H.R. 1339 does not mandate privatization; rather, it proposes competition in executive branch agencies with the private sector to make certain the government is not unfairly competing with small businesses perform while also giving the option to preserve those activities that only the government should do.

In a January 28, 2015 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) report, 1.12 million full-time-equivalent employees were identified in jobs that were not inherently governmental.  Additionally, Rep. Duncan’s staff estimates that simply subjecting all federal commercial operations to a “Yellow Pages” test could save more than $27 billion annually.  By privatizing certain federal programs through a fair competitive process, H.R. 1339 will help boost the economy, grow jobs, and reap significant annual savings.

Thank for your consideration.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (202) 467-5300. 

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW

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