A bipartisan vote for good government

On Tuesday, Congress proved that lawmakers can still work together on passing good government reforms when the House of Representatives passed the Improving Government for America’s Taxpayers Act. The vote shows growing bipartisan support for addressing the nation’s fiscal challenges by using nonpartisan oversight to reform government programs.

The subject of the legislation is the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which, working on behalf of Congress, reviews federal programs and issues recommendations to Congress and agency heads about ways that the government can work better. 

GAO is remarkably efficient. For each dollar that Congress has spent on its watchdog over the past five years, GAO’s work has resulted in an average of $158 in financial benefits. Last year, GAO reported saving taxpayers $66 billion after receiving only $661 million from Congress. For example, GAO’s work saved the Internal Revenue Service $1.4 billion by preventing invalid tax refunds and $2.8 billion by reforming a Medicare payment process. 

But billions more could be saved if Congress and federal agencies enacted GAO’s  recommendations in a timely manner. GAO reports that only 76 percent of its recommendations are addressed within four years. More than 4,700 recommendations are currently open, including 464 “priority recommendations.” 

To address more of these recommendations, the Improving Government for America’s Taxpayers Act would require GAO to annually tell Congress what taxpayers could save if federal agencies enacted all of its open priority recommendations. The bill, sponsored by Reps. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) and William Timmons (R-S.C.), would also require the Comptroller General to provide a roadmap to Congress to enact these good government reforms. 

Kilmer and Timmons lead the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, a bipartisan panel that has issued 142 recommendations for making the legislative branch work better. To date, more than one hundred of the committee’s recommendations have been fully or partially implemented.

Several of the committee’s recommendations focus on improving how Congress uses nonpartisan oversight. 

“Just this past year, the GAO found 112 additional actions that could make a difference for taxpayers,” Kilmer reasoned. “But that will only happen if Congress acts on those recommendations. Unfortunately, too many of GAO’s recommendations are going unimplemented by Congress and relevant agencies — and there’s lots of room for improvement.”

Some might view the bill as a reporting exercise that is unlikely to lead to significant reforms or taxpayer savings. But Congress passed a similar measure in 2010, requiring the Comptroller General to annually review duplication across federal government programs. To date, that work has saved taxpayers more than $550 billion. If enacted, the Improving Government for America’s Taxpayer’s could yield similar and perhaps more financial benefits over time. 

It will come as no surprise that there’s more inefficiency that the GAO’s proposed reforms could address. For example, the Defense, Health and Human Services, and Treasury Departments have 79 open priority recommendations from the GAO, providing an opportunity to save even more than the $688 billion that GAO’s oversight of these departments has already yielded. Similarly, more than 30 of GAO’s open priority recommendations focus on preventing improper payments, which totaled at least $281 billion last year. 

The bill now moves to the Senate. Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) are sponsoring companion legislation that passed the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in May. With bicameral and bipartisan support, the Improving Government for America’s Taxpayers Act should reach President Biden’s desk this year. 

“At the beginning of the 117th Congress, Chair Kilmer and I were determined to do things differently as Chair and Vice Chair of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress,” Timmons explained. “Our committee has worked hard to improve Congress and the institution, and in that same spirit, this bill will improve the federal government as a whole while saving countless taxpayer dollars. Our bill is proof positive that non-partisan, good government legislation is still possible.”

The 117th Congress will be remembered as a time of partisan polarization. But Kilmer and Timmons are showing that lawmakers can still work together to make government work better for the American people. 

Dan Lips is Head of Policy at Lincoln Network.