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Rep. Jason Chaffetz urges federal accountability, cautions on education funding in Utah address
Summary
U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz visited the Utah House on Feb. 19 to urge greater federal accountability, criticize EPA and IRS practices, outline bipartisan criminal-justice reforms and decline to cosponsor state medical-marijuana legislation while supporting medical research access.
U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz addressed the Utah House on Feb. 19, warning of federal overreach and calling for greater congressional oversight of agencies from education to the IRS. He told the chamber the federal student‑loan portfolio has grown to "in excess of $1,000,000,000,000" and said the Department of Education now holds "in excess of 135,000,000 social security numbers," which he described as a data‑security vulnerability.
Chaffetz said he ran for office to reduce the federal role in education, criticized No Child Left Behind and urged state leaders to examine the costs and strings attached to federal education funds. He also described ongoing work on a remote‑transaction parity bill and said he is collaborating with Utah’s delegation on public‑lands initiatives.
On criminal‑justice reform, Chaffetz characterized recent bipartisan legislation as aimed at reducing recidivism for nonviolent offenders and said the bill excludes violent offenders and crimes against children. He called the bill a bipartisan effort involving lawmakers across the political spectrum.
Chaffetz sharply criticized the Environmental Protection Agency’s handling of incidents such as Flint, Michigan, saying the agency has at times withheld information and called for further hearings. He also accused the Internal Revenue Service of politicized targeting of conservative groups and criticized the agency’s document handling; he said he has filed papers to impeach the IRS commissioner, citing what he characterized as exhausted remedies and a lack of accountability.
When given questions from the floor, Chaffetz declined a request from Representative Chavez Houck to cosponsor the Carers Act (state medical‑marijuana legislation identified in the session as S.683/HP1538), but said he supports legitimate research into cannabidiol (CBD) and would consider federal steps to ease study access if states demonstrate responsible use. Asked about the national debt, he urged addressing mandatory spending (Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Pell Grants and the Affordable Care Act) as the principal driver of deficits.
The House recessed briefly into a committee of the whole for the presentation and later dissolved that committee and voted to spread Chaffetz’s remarks on the House Journal.
