{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://gianforte.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/gianforte-continues-efforts-clean-washington", "Gianforte Continues Efforts to Clean up Washington", "2017-10-27", "2017", "2017-10", "Republican", "House", "MT", "Greg Gianforte", "G000584", "gianforte.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Bozeman, Mont. \u2013 Congressman Greg Gianforte released the following statement following passage of several bills this week to clean up Washington:\n\u201cWashington is broken and needs to be fixed,\u201d Gianforte said. \u201cThe House this week took action to bring greater accountability and transparency to the federal government.\u201d\n\u201cOne bill would end the practice used by the Obama administration of using federal settlement funds as a payday for liberal special interest groups instead of dedicating the monies to the victims or the U.S. Treasury. Another bill,\u201d Gianforte continued, \u201cwill increase transparency by putting an end to \u2018sue and settle\u2019 practices that have been abused by federal regulators.\u201d\n\u201cThe measures we passed this week are promising steps to clean up Washington for the American people,\u201d Gianforte said.\nThe U.S. House of Representatives passed a series of bills this week to bring greater accountability to Washington.\nThe Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2017 (H.R. 732) permanently bars federal agencies from requiring defendants to donate money to outside groups as part of settlement agreements. The bipartisan bill further requires that settlement funds be paid directly to the victims or to the U.S. Treasury. The Obama administration\u2019s Department of Justice directed nearly a billion dollars in settlement funds to activist groups, including ACORN.\nThe Sunshine for Regulations and Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act of 2017 (H.R. 469) ends the \u201csue and settle\u201d practice to secretly create regulatory mandates. The practice allowed federal bureaucrats, including those at the EPA and Fish and Wildlife Service, to negotiate privately with serial litigants and then accept a consent decree which compels a federal agency to undertake an action. The bill requires any proposed consent decree be publicly posted and allow other parties to intervene before it goes into effect.\nOther measures to bring greater accountability and transparency to the federal government, which passed the House this week, include the Congressional Subpoena Compliance and Enforcement Act of 2017 (H.R. 4010) and the DHS Accountability Enhancement Act (H.R. 4038).", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://gianforte.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/gianforte-continues-efforts-clean-washington"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9932331740856171, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}