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A Bill to Cut Billions in Government Waste

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A Bill to Cut Billions in Government Waste

April 18, 2022

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With millions of people filing their federal taxes this week, it’s a good time to check in on the nation’s finances.

Last year, the federal government ran a nearly $2.8 trillion deficit. That pushed publicly held debt to an incomprehensible $24 trillion , or more than $70,000 per person. Washington is projected to spend at least $1 trillion more than the government receives in taxes each year through the end of the decade.

Reversing the federal government’s current unsustainable fiscal path will require a culture change in Washington and political leadership from both parties. While there has been far too little progress to date, a new bipartisan bill introduced in the House of Representatives offers taxpayers a glimpse of hope.

The“Improving Government for America’s Taxpayers Act,”sponsored by Democratic Rep. Derek Kilmer of Washington and Republican Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina, could save taxpayers tens (if not hundreds) of billions of dollars by simply eliminating waste. The bill would achieve this by focusing Congress’s attention on the open recommendations of the Government Accountability Office, which works as Congress’s watchdog and audits federal programs.

Since 2000, the GAO’s nonpartisan government reform recommendations have resulted in more than $1 trillion in taxpayer savings . Last year, the congressional watchdog agency reported saving nearly $3 billion by reforming a Medicare payment process and more than $1 billion by preventing fraudulent tax returns.

Click here to read the full article from Washington Examiner.

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