Dear Chairman Perry, Ranking Member Titus, and Members of the Subcommittee:

My name is Marc Joffe, and I am a Federalism and State Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute. I am writing to you today to provide information and policy recommendations regarding the regional commissions that are under the Subcommittee’s purview.

The Congressional Research Service has identified eight regional commissions and authorities. Some of these entities have little or no public footprint. The Great Lakes Authority, established under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, does not appear to have received any appropriations and has yet to begin operating. The Northern Great Plains Regional Authority was created in 2002, but its authorization lapsed at the end of FY2018. Finally, while the Southwest Border Regional Commission has $5 million in authorized funding and a confirmed federal co-chair, it does not appear to have a website, nor does it have any grant information on usaspend​ing​.gov.

If a commission or authority is not active, it is clearly a candidate for sunsetting. With the national debt now exceeding $33 trillion and large projected deficits over the coming decades, there is no fiscal space for adding new programs.