House Passes Bipartisan Legislation Congressman Krishnamoorthi Cosponsored To Improve Federal Government Efficiency, Save Taxpayers Money

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass the bipartisan Improving Government for America's Taxpayers Act, which U.S. Representatives Derek Kilmer (WA-06) and William Timmons (SC-04) introduced and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi cosponsored. Other Members of Congress that cosponsored the legislation include House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney, House Oversight Committee Ranking Member James Comer, House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations Chairman Gerald E. Connolly, and U.S. Representative Nancy Mace. This bill will help drive better implementation of recommendations from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to improve government efficiency and save taxpayers more money.

"The U.S. Government Accountability Office is specifically dedicated to investigating, reviewing, and auditing the activities of our government to make it more effective and to save taxpayers money," said Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. "Unfortunately, despite the potential savings and paths to more efficient government the GAO identifies each year, few are implemented. Our Improving Government for America's Taxpayers Act will help improve the ability of Congress to act on those recommendations through streamlining reviewing and recommendation processes, tracking timelines for recommendations, and providing clear costs for both the implementation of recommendations, and the failure to do so."

The GAO provides Congress, the heads of executive agencies, and the public with fact-based, non-partisan information that can be used to improve government and save taxpayers billions of dollars. In 2020 alone, the GAO's work generated over $77 billion in benefits for Congress and the American people—a return of about $114 for every dollar invested in the GAO. Despite this, the reports GAO publishes with priority recommendations often fail to see action by Congress or relevant agencies. GAO's 2021 Duplication and Cost Savings Report identified 112 new actions that Congress and executive branch agencies could take to save money and improve efficiency and effectiveness of government programs and activities. In 2021, as part of its work to improve government efficiency and transparency, the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress (Modernization Committee) examined opportunities to strengthen government oversight – and on a bipartisan basis put forth recommendations to improve congressional support agencies. Regarding GAO, the Modernization Committee recommended that: "GAO should annually report to Congress on legislative options to address open priority recommendations."

Building off this recommendation, the Improving Government for America's Taxpayers Act aims to improve Congress' ability to act on GAO recommendations. Specifically, the bill directs GAO to:

• Consolidate open priority recommendations in one succinct report to be addressed to Congressional Leadership and relevant committees organized by topic;
• Include in this report the amount of time a priority recommendation has been open for;
• Include the estimated costs concerning unimplemented priority recommendations and anticipated cost-savings, upon implementation;
• Identify any additional Congressional oversight actions that can help agencies implement open priority recommendations and address any underlying issues, as part of its annual reporting to agency heads and relevant Congressional Committees; and,
• Publish the above items publicly.