This piece was originally published in the Federalist Society blog.
In the recent election, Americans elected a narrowly divided Congress. That means that lawmakers will need to work together on bipartisan legislation if they want to address the nation’s challenges. With the highest inflation in 40 years and ballooning federal debt payments, lawmakers have a responsibility to trim federal spending and correct what the Comptroller General has called the nation’s “unsustainable” fiscal path.
One area should be an obvious priority—requiring federal agencies to answer open watchdog recommendations to achieve taxpayer savings. In fact, this approach to cost-cutting already has strong bipartisan support within the current Democrat-controlled Congress.
In July, the House passed the Improving Government for America’s Taxpayers Act, sponsored by Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Rep. William Timmons (R-SC). The bill would require the Government Accountability Office to provide a report to Congress telling lawmakers how long the watchdog’s recommendations have been open and suggesting congressional oversight actions to implement these reforms. The legislation would also require the Comptroller General to estimate how much taxpayers could save if federal agencies answered GAO’s good government recommendations.
Click here to read the full piece in the Federalist Society blog.
