Every year, a federal government auditor identifies wasteful government spending, and every year, Congress and the executive branch ignore about half of the recommendations for making government more efficient.
“We estimate that tens of billions of dollars in additional financial benefits could be realized should Congress and executive branch agencies fully address open actions,” a new report from the Government Accountability Office said.
Since 2011, GAO has recommended 724 ways to save money or raise new revenue by streamlining or eliminating duplicative programs and making agencies more efficient. Fifty-one percent of those recommendations have been implemented, for a savings of $75 billion. Though the auditors give Congress credit for those savings, they don’t hesitate to point out that the lawmakers are some of the worst offenders, by percentage, when it comes to neglecting their recommendations.
“In our 2011 to 2017 annual reports, we directed 97 actions to Congress, which include 2 new congressional actions we identified in 2017,” the report said. “Of the 97 actions, 61 remained open (9 of which were partially addressed and 52 were not addressed) as of March 2017.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, who chairs the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, wants the government to prioritize GAO’s ideas. “[T]here are still hundreds of recommendations that have not been implemented, and far too many areas of duplication remaining in the federal government that should be addressed,” the Wisconsin Republican said in his prepared remarks at a hearing scheduled for this morning.
According to Johnson, federal agencies — particularly within the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services — have neglected dozens of GAO proposals. The IRS alone has yet to take action on 20 cost-saving ideas offered by the auditors; the tax collectors only partially implemented another 23 ideas.
“The Executive Order signed by President Trump and the memorandum by Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney that followed will result in a plan to reorganize and streamline the federal government and help it better serve the American people,” Johnson’s statement said. “This is long overdue.”
Mulvaney, who was a noted fiscal hawk when he served in the House as a South Carolina Republican, has long said he “would love” to lead OMB, and now leads it under Trump. “That is where I think real improvements can be made in how the government is run,” the then-congressman in October.
The GAO makes clear that those improvements will need to start in his home agency. “OMB manages and coordinates many government-wide efforts,” the report said. “In our 2011 to 2017 reports, we directed 64 actions to OMB in areas to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government-wide programs and activities. As of March 2017, 34 of the 64 actions to OMB remained open.”
