Congressional Appropriators Focus New Attention on Wasteful Spending

W ith interest rates rising, the federal government’s debt problem is about to get much worse. The Congressional Budget Office recently warned that rising interest rates, projected trillion-dollar deficits, and the ballooning national debt will cause federal spending on debt payments to “increase substantially.” The federal government’s interest payments are projected to reach $1.2 trillion annually by 2032, or 3.3 percent of GDP.

This growing pressure on the federal budget is causing lawmakers to focus new attention on trimming wasteful spending. House appropriators recently called on the comptroller general and the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) to identify ways that Congress can save money by leveraging the watchdog agency’s nonpartisan oversight.

In its report accompanying the FY2023 funding bill for the legislative branch, the House Appropriations Committee included reporting requirements that will identify opportunities to trim hundreds of billions of dollars of waste from the budget.

The first requirement directs the GAO to report how much federal agencies could save if they acted on the GAO’s more than 4,600 open recommendations for improving government operations. Based on GAO’s track record, it is likely that the comptroller general will identify tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars in potential savings. The congressional watchdog has estimated that its recommendations have saved the federal government $1.3 trillion since 2002.

There is growing bipartisan interest in requiring GAO to provide this reform roadmap to Congress. The House Oversight and Reform Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee recently approved bipartisan legislation sponsored by Representative Derek Kilmer (D., Wash.) and Representative William Timmons (R., S.C.), the Improving Government for America’s Taxpayers Act, that would require a similar GAO report with streamlined recommendations and estimates of potential cost savings. The House passed the bill by voice vote last week.

The House Appropriations Committee’s report also requires the Comptroller General to focus more attention on the federal government’s improper payments, which is a large source of wasteful spending. The Appropriations Committee’s report requires more frequent updates on this costly problem and recommendations for reform. As of FY2021, federal agencies estimated making $281 billion in improper payments. But the problem is likely much bigger than that.

At a recent hearing, Senator Mike Braun (R., Ind.) asked Comptroller General Gene Dodaro about the federal government’s improper-payments problem. “I want to make it clear that is not a complete estimate,” Dodaro said. “There are a number of programs that didn’t even make an estimate. . . . It’s definitely more. The question is how much more.”

Senator Braun, the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee, highlighted the scope of the problem: “Just so the American public knows, we spent (back in 2021) somewhere between 4 and 4.5 trillion. Big numbers. And $281 billion was an improper payment. That’s a big percentage of our total expenditures.”

With the House Appropriations Committee requiring more frequent reporting on the improper-payments problem, Congress will have new opportunities to conduct oversight or pass legislative reforms to prevent unnecessary spending.

Trimming waste by leveraging the GAO’s nonpartisan oversight alone won’t fix our long-term fiscal challenges. But it’s a good place to start. American taxpayers should cheer the growing bipartisan support for improving government efficiency before the federal government’s debt problem gets even more out of control.