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Our Policy on Advisory Committees
Citizen Advisory Committees
offer a unique way to introduce solid American citizen participation into
the political process which is dominated by long term bureaucrats and
powerful paid special interest lobbyists. Citizens get the short end
of things in that sort of locked down arrangement.
The Congress saw these
committees as a way to develop better accountability from people who had
less self-interest, and great interest in government that served all the
People rather than internal personal interests within the government, or
outside interests.
The President has blocked our
paid lobbyists from these committees (see below). About half of all
the citizen positions are filled, more than 30,000 are not filled.
Usually, this is because there is little effort to fill them.
Rarely, there is a lack of citizens available. These citizen
positions have a purpose, and an important purpose. Our task is to
encourage getting them filled.
Lobbyist Order
President Obama entered an order that paid lobbyists
cannot be appointed or re-appointments to any of the Citizen's Advisory
Committees. These are "citizen" committees, not forums for lobbyist
activity.
Advisory Committees only Half Staffed
There are approximately 66,000 advisory committee positions in the federal
government. The government reports about one-half of these are
vacant - meaning there are 33,000 openings at this time.
Congressional Action
In 1972 the Congress created a formula for Citizen Advisory Committees to
observe and advise many of the agencies of the United States government.
This was a reflection of the general concern that many agencies operated
without oversight. These committees have increased in size over the
intervening years.
Committee Management
The agency where a citizen's committee is
organized selects personnel, manages agenda, and in general maintains the
activities of the committee. A separate agency was established by
the Congress at the time the plan was made into law which accounts for the
activities of the various committees with reports and statistics which are
available to the Congress and the public for purposes of oversight. |
These Advisory
Committees are Reported and Tracked on these Separate Pages on this Site
Subject Areas:
Agriculture:
The Grain Inspection
Advisory Committee
The Grain Inspection
Advisory Committee meets twice annually to advise GIPSA on the programs
and services it delivers under the U.S. Grain Standards Act.
Science:
National Medal of Technology and
Innovation Nomination Evaluation Committee
This advisory committee recommends nominees for the Medal which is
presented by the President to top innovators and scientists each year.
Go to the page just above for details.
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