By Dan Mason

When I hear the word “sunset” used by government to imply that a new tax or program will only be temporary, my Spidey sense immediately starts tingling.

That was my initial reaction when I saw that Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington had introduced legislation called the Unauthorized Spending Accountability Act of 2016. It proposes to sunset any unauthorized federal program after three years.

Many Americans are frustrated with Congress and their failure to accomplish their primary duties, one of which is passing individual spending bills that fund the government. There are a dozen discretionary bills they are required to pass every year, but it hasn’t happened since 1994. Clearly I have a different definition of “required.” Instead we get a never-ending series of “continuing resolutions” that not only keep the government funded, but also keep the dollars flowing to lots of programs without any further reapprovals.

McMorris Rodgers proposes may actually be a good sunset. If a program does not specifically get reauthorized after three years it would sunset, and all new programs would have this clause attached. It would force Congress to be fiscally responsible, something they are very poor at accomplishing. If a program is working, simply reauthorize it. If not, bye-bye!

Limited government advocates understand the problem. Once a program or agency is created, they rarely go away. The lack of a review process perpetuates the never ending expansion of government.  What McMorris Rodgers is proposing is a good start. I wish I was optimistic it will actually happen.