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Overview:

An arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) serves as a “fiscal watchdog” that seeks to improve the financial performance of the federal government and ensure its accountability to Congress and the American people. Over the years, the agency has earned a reputation for fact-based, nonpartisan reviews of government activities while uncovering serious accounts of mismanagement and waste by such key government operations as the Defense Department, Medicare, and education. In 2002, the GAO took on the Bush White House when it filed suit to obtain records pertaining to an energy task force led by Vice President Dick Cheney. The watchdog agency lost that legal battle when a federal judge ruled the GAO did not have the legal stature to force the executive branch to release documents deemed sensitive. The ruling left the GAO’s power in doubt and led some Democrats to sponsor legislation to try to reinvigorate the agency’s capabilities.

 
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History:

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) began in 1921 as the General Accounting Office. That year, the Budget and Accounting Act transferred auditing responsibilities, accounting, and claims functions from the Treasury Department to the new GAO. The agency was created because federal financial management was in disarray after World War I. Wartime spending had driven up the national debt, creating a need for more information and better control over expenditures. The act made the GAO independent of the executive branch and gave it a broad mandate to investigate how federal dollars are spent. The act also required the President to prepare an annual budget for the federal government. Later legislation clarified or expanded GAO’s role, but the Budget and Accounting Act continues to serve as the basis for its operations.

 

Until the end of World War II, the GAO primarily checked the legality and adequacy of government expenditures. The agency issued decisions on payment questions and helped process financial claims for and against the government. GAO employees reviewed individual financial transactions by checking expenditure vouchers. They also audited and reconciled disbursing officers’ accounts. The work was done centrally, which meant that government agencies had to send their fiscal records to the GAO. Legions of audit clerks worked in the great hall of the Pension Building—GAO’s home from 1926 to 1951—reviewing stacks of paperwork documenting government expenditures.

 

During President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s, federal money poured into recovery and relief efforts to fight the Great Depression. More government programs meant more paperwork for the GAO to examine. The agency, which started out with approximately 1,700 employees, soon found its ranks filled to 5,000. With the U.S. entry into World War II, military spending triggered a paperwork explosion that overwhelmed GAO’s ability to keep up with central voucher auditing. Even with a staff that grew to more than 14,000 by 1945, the agency still faced a backlog of 35 million unaudited vouchers.

 

After the war, GAO decided it could best serve Congress and the nation by doing broader, more comprehensive audits that examined the economy and efficiency of government operations. It soon cut the size of its workforce and changed its approach to doing its job. The agency began to shift away from the central auditing it had done for 25 years. GAO transferred some of its responsibilities, such as voucher checking, to the executive branch. Instead of scrutinizing every government fiscal transaction, GAO began to review financial controls and management in federal agencies.

 

Starting in the late 1940s, the GAO also worked with the Department of the Treasury and the Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget) to help executive branch agencies improve their accounting systems and controls over spending. With the move to comprehensive auditing, the agency further reduced the number of audit clerks and began to hire accountants. By 1951, when the GAO moved into its new headquarters across the street from the Pension Building, its staff numbered just under 7,000—less than half the number that had been on the payroll at the end of the war.

 

The 1950s saw a rise in government spending because of the Cold War and the build-up of American military forces in Europe and Asia. GAO’s work increasingly focused on defense spending and contract reviews. Although the agency first began doing field work in the 1930s, it formally established a network of regional offices in 1952. It also opened branches in Europe and the Far East. Various national crises affected the agency’s work in the 1960s and 1970s. During the Vietnam War, for example, the GAO opened an office in Saigon to monitor military expenditures and foreign aid. And in 1972, some GAO reviews touched on Watergate.

 

Congress also found that it needed more information on how well government programs were meeting their objectives. Congress asked the GAO to evaluate President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program in 1967. The agency also examined energy policy, consumer protection, the environment, and the economy. In 1974, Congress broadened the GAO’s evaluation role and gave it greater responsibility in the budget process. The agency’s staff, mostly accountants, began to change to fit the changing work. In the 1970s, it started to recruit scientists, actuaries, and experts in fields such as health care, public policy, and computers. In 1986, GAO assembled a team of professional investigators, many with law enforcement backgrounds, to look into allegations of possible criminal and civil misconduct.

 

During the last 20 years, the GAO has sought to improve accountability by alerting policymakers and the public to emerging problems throughout government. In the 1980s, for example, the agency reported on problems brewing in the savings and loan industry and repeatedly warned about the government’s failure to control deficit spending. It also worked with executive branch agencies to strengthen financial management. The GAO urged federal agencies to modernize outmoded financial systems, prepare yearly financial statements, and submit them for audit. As the 1990s drew to a close, the agency did important work on a range of issues, including computer security, conditions at nursing homes, and the choices posed by continuing budget surpluses.

 

The GAO generated a 2008 report that found that federal prosecutors exaggerated claimed terrorist convictions, a 2011 report (pdf) revealing that the U.S. government improperly spent $125 billion in FY 2010, and a 2011 study showing that nearly $200 million was spent by the U.S. military to remove and replace homosexuals serving in its ranks. It also took the EPA to task for abandoning child safety efforts during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration, and found that the $200 million spent in 2009 by the Transportation Security Administration on behavior detection (ability to identify terrorists based on observed behavior) was a waste of money.

 

In February 2009, a GAO study (pdf) disclosed that 36% of all arms sent to the Afghanistan government by the U.S.—87,000 weapons—are missing due to lapses in the U.S. inventory process. One September 2011 GAO report showed that in 2009, the federal government’s inspector generals discovered $43.3 billion in expenditures that could be done away with. Another report (pdf) that month revealed that the U.S. government has lost track of 17 tons of nuclear material that it has shipped to 27 different nations, enough to build hundreds of nuclear warheads.

 

As part of the GAO Human Capital Reform Act of 2004, the GAO’s legal name changed to the Government Accountability Office to better reflects the agency’s work. In addition to the name change, the law decoupled GAO from the federal employee pay system; established a compensation system that placed greater emphasis on job performance while protecting the purchasing power of employees who are performing acceptably; gave GAO permanent authority to offer voluntary early retirement opportunities and voluntary separation payments (buy-outs); provided greater flexibility for reimbursing employees for relocation benefits; allowed certain employees and officers with less than three years of federal service to earn increased amounts of annual leave; and authorized an exchange program with private sector organizations.

 

On September 19, 2007, a majority of GAO analysts voted to establish the first union in the agency’s history, choosing to affiliate with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), a member union of the AFL-CIO. Known as the IFPTE Local 1921, the GAO analysts’ union approved its first negotiated pay contract with management in February 2008.

GAO: Working for Good Government Since 1921

How GAO Built Its Dream House

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What it Does:

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the “Congressional watchdog,” the GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars by conducting audits and other types of investigations.

 

Headquartered in Washington D.C., the GAO has offices in 11 major cities across the country. Its staff includes economists, social scientists, accountants, public policy analysts, attorneys, and computer experts as well as specialists in fields ranging from foreign policy to health care. GAO’s workforce is organized largely by subject area, with most employees being in one of the following 14 teams:

 

The GAO produces a wide variety of documents available to the public including reports and testimonies, legal decisions, a Top 10 List, Month In Review, Comptroller General Presentations, the High-Risk Series, 21st Century Challenges: Reexamining the Base of the Federal Government and Federal Debt and the  Fiscal Outlook.

 

The head of the GAO, the Comptroller General of the United States, is appointed to a 15-year term by the President from a slate of candidates proposed by a congressional commission. The commission consists of the Speaker of the House, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, majority and minority leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate, chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The commission must recommend at least three individuals to the President, and the President may request that the commission recommend additional individuals.

 

The Office of General Counsel (GC) provides a wide variety of legal services. GAO attorneys assist Congress, federal agencies, and GAO analysts in interpreting the laws that govern the expenditure of public funds and the myriad of government programs and activities.

 

From the Web Site of the GAO

Agency-by-Agency Issues

Auditing and Accountability Resources

Career Opportunities

Contact Information

Email Update Subscriptions

FAQs

Fraud Reporting

GAO Products

High-Risk List

History

Key Resources

Legal Decisions

Month in Review

Offices

Organizational Telephone Directory (pdf)

Podcasts

Publication Orders

Publications

Reports and Testimonies

Resources

Strategic Planning, Performance, and Accountability

Topics in the News

Video Gallery

Workforce

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Where Does the Money Go:

As a legislative branch agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is not required to submit its contracting information for viewing on USAspending.gov, which is reserved for executive branches agencies. But the GAO does make available some data regarding companies and organizations its pays for goods and services.

 

According to GAO’s FY 2007 Contract and Small Business Subcontract Awards (pdf) information, approximately 150 companies were paid by the agency, including IBM, a division of Lockheed, and MCI.

 

Through GAO’s FY 2007 Small Business Procurement Information, aggregate data is made available. This report states that 341 contracts were awarded to small businesses during this time period, at a total cost of $53.4 million. Other findings include:

 

  • 22% of all contract awards were given to small businesses
  • 5% were given to women-owned businesses
  • 4% were given to small disadvantaged businesses
  • 1% were given to veteran-owned businesses
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Controversies:

Congress Cuts the Budget of Agency that Saves Billions of Dollars

Despite its history of saving more money than its consumes, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2011-2012 faced a substantial reduction in its budget, thanks to lawmakers “embarrassed” by the agency. In autumn 2011, the Senate proposed cutting the GAO’s budget by $50 million. This reduction would have amounted to a 9% chop in the watchdog’s funding.

 

Eventually, Congress backed off somewhat and cut the GAO’s budget by $35 million, which was going to force the agency to function with fewer than 3,000 full-time employees—something it hadn’t done since the Great Depression.

 

Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), a strong supporter of the GAO, said some lawmakers were happy to weaken the agency because its reports have often “embarrassed” them. Coburn opposed cutting the budget, noting “for every dollar they [the GAO] spend, we save 90 bucks,” which the senator added was a “pretty good return.”

Shrinking GAO Budget Concerns Employees, Oversight Advocates (by Jack Moore, Federal News Radio)

Congress Set to Cut GAO Budget 5% – Neutering Watchdog? (by Joyce Cordi, Reimagine America)

Agencies Anticipate Budget Cuts in FY2013, Request Less from Congress (by Debbie Siegelbaum, The Hill)

 

Army Claimed GAO Report Mischaracterized Combat System Costs and Technology

U.S. Army leaders took exception in 2009 to a GAO report that was critical of the service’s Future Combat Systems (FCS), then in its sixth year. The GAO report said the FCS program—the Army’s principal modernization plan, which included creating new brigades outfitted with new manned and unmanned vehicles connected by a new battlefield network—was over budget and that its technology lacked development and testing.

 

Lt. Gen. Ross Thompson, military deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, objected to the GAO’s conclusion that the FCS had experienced $21 billion in cost increases. “One of the things we have to get addressed with GAO is the basis in which they calculated that,” Thompson said. “I can’t explain their $21 billion.”

 

Thompson insisted overages were only 6.5% of the total program cost of about $159 billion (or $10.3 billion). By 2009, the Army had spent approximately $19 billion of the funds. He also said of the 44 key technologies in the FCS, 35 were moving toward “demonstrated readiness,” according to the testing methodology employed by the Army.

 

That bit of progress, wasn’t enough to save the program—Robert Gates, then-Secretary of Defense, ordered it canceled later in 2009, telling Defense News in 2011 that “the fundamental design [of the overall plan] . . . was flawed.”

 

Cost estimates at the time of cancellation approached $200 billion. FCS program contractors — including Boeing and SAIC — weren’t happy, and are charging termination fees that will cost taxpayers nearly half a billion dollars.

GAO Report Mischaracterizes Army Efforts on FCS (by C. Todd Lopez, U.S. Army)

System Development and Demonstration (GlobalSecurity.org)

Army to Pay $500M for Future Combat Systems Termination (by Amber Corrin, Federal Computer Week)

 

 

GAO Unsuccessfully Sues Bush Administration Over Energy Notes

One of the first actions George W. Bush took as president was to create a 14-member National Energy Policy Development Group to be headed by Vice President Dick Cheney and to include eight cabinet members. The executive branch would ultimately fight a four-year court battle to keep secret the names of people who met with this task force and what was discussed at meetings of the group. On May 17, 2001, Cheney’s task force issued a report calling for expanded drilling on public lands, industry-backed tax breaks and weaker regulatory barriers to the building of new nuclear power plants. The GAO requested documents relating to the work of the energy task force as part of their inquiry into how the Enron Corporation, the leading contributor to George W. Bush’s presidential campaign, influenced the formation of government policy. Cheney refused to comply. 

 

David M. Walker, the head of the GAO, accused the executive branch of making Cheney the head of the National Energy Policy Development Group for the very reason that he could claim executive privilege and thus avoid congressional oversight. In February 2002, the GAO filed suit against Cheney for refusing to turn over his records. It was the first time in its 80-year history that the GAO had sued a member of the executive branch.  They were not alone. The conservative public-interest group Judicial Watch had already requested the documents through the Freedom of Information Act, while the more liberal Natural Resources Defense Council had filed suit over related documents held by the Department of Energy. As court rulings see-sawed between Cheney’s side and that of the document seekers, the Bush administration became nervous and acknowledged that Enron executives had met six times with members of the task force, and that one of those meetings was a one-on-one session between Vice President Cheney and Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay on April 17. When a federal judge forced the Energy Department to reveal some documents, they showed that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham had refused a request to meet with a coalition of 30 environmental groups because of his “busy schedule.” However, in the days that followed, he did find the time to meet with the executives of a half-dozen oil and gas companies, a half-dozen nuclear power corporations, and a half-dozen utility companies.

 

Eventually, John D. Bates, a Bush-appointed federal district judge, dismissed the GAO’s suit on the basis that only a house of Congress or a congressional committee could file such a claim. Prior to becoming a federal judge, Bates served as a Whitewater prosecutor in the mid-1990s, arguing in a federal appeals court that White House lawyers’ notes of conversations with Hillary Clinton must be turned over to a federal grand jury.

 

The suit brought by Judicial Watch, which was later joined by the Sierra Club, was accepted by the Supreme Court, but not without controversy. It seems that between the time the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and the time it actually came before the court, Vice President Cheney went duck hunting with one of the Supreme Court justices, Antonin Scalia. Scalia refused to recuse himself from the case, claiming that he “never hunted in the same blind with the vice-president.” Scalia voted with the majority to send the case back to an appeals court, which, in May 2005, ruled unanimously that Cheney’s involvement with the task force was part of his role as vice-president and so he could keep secret the details of his meetings.

 

In the wake of Walker v. Cheney, Congressman Henry Waxman introduced legislation in 2008 to bolster the legal stature of the GAO (see Suggested Reforms).

Suit Against Cheney Task Force Dismissed (by Pete Yost, Associated Press)

GAO Statement on Lawsuit (pdf)

Fact Sheet on GAO Suit (pdf)

 

GAO Comptroller Doesn’t Mince Words

While leading the GAO, and after, David Walker has never been afraid to tell it like it is. In 2007, Walker wrote a piece for The Futurist, in which he accused the United States of being too short-sighted in its fiscal behavior. “Too many individuals tend to focus on their next paycheck. Too many company executives focus on their next quarterly earnings report. Too many politicians focus on the next election cycle rather than the next generation,” wrote Walker.

 

That same year, Walker barnstormed the country like a presidential candidate, but instead of asking Americans to vote for him, he warned them about the single biggest issue facing the United States: the national debt. Walker visited college campuses, spoke to lawmakers in Washington, and toured 19 states over a year and a half.

 

He said he hoped the candidates for the White House seriously heeded his warnings.

“If [the candidates] don't make [the debt] one of their top three priorities, in my opinion, they don’t deserve to be president and we can’t afford for them to be president,” he told CNN. “The fact is that we could eliminate the Iraq war tomorrow. We could eliminate every dime of pork-barrel spending. And we wouldn’t come close to solving our problem,” he said.

 

Walker said it was necessary to balance the budget within the next five years, make a down payment on the $50 trillion imbalance and begin reforming government programs.

“It’s going to take us probably 20 years to do all the things that need to be done,” he said. “But we need to get started now because the clock is ticking and time is working against us.”

 

After leaving the GAO, Walker continued to issue dire warnings about the current housing and mortgage crises. While the Bush administration proposed shoring up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a $300 billion line of credit, and Congress contemplated another economic stimulus, the question arose: Who will bail out the government?

 

“People seem to think the government has money,” said Walker. “The government doesn't have any money.”

 

“The factors that contributed to our mortgage-based subprime crisis exist with regard to our federal government’s finances,” said Walker, former head of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and now founder and CEO of the Comeback America Initiative, a group devoted to promoting fiscal responsibility in the U.S. “The difference is that the magnitude of the federal government’s financial situation is at least 25 times greater.”

Concern grows over a fiscal crisis for U.S. (by Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle)

One man's campaign against federal debt (by Kyle Almond, CNN)

Foresight for Government (by David M. Walker, The Futurist)

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Suggested Reforms:

Waxman Seeks More Powers for GAO

House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-California) and 18 other committee chairs introduced legislation in 2008 to strengthen the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and restore its authority to pursue litigation if documents are improperly withheld from the agency. The bill passed in the House by voice vote in July of that year, but did not become law.

 

“At a time when our budget deficits are soaring to record levels, we cannot afford to waste billions on poorly managed contracts and bloated federal programs,” said Waxman. “We need a strong GAO to root out waste and corruption.”

 

One key provision of the legislation repudiated a district court decision in Walker v. Cheney and reaffirmed GAO’s authority to go to court when agencies or the White House refuse to provide access to records.

 

Other provisions of this bill would have given the GAO authority to interview federal employees and administer oaths; affirmed GAO’s right to obtain records from three agencies (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Federal Trade Commission) that have sometimes thwarted GAO oversight by denying access to documents; and created a reporting mechanism so that Congress will be informed when federal agencies do not cooperate with GAO.

 

The Government Accountability Office Act of 2008 also would have:

 

  • Established an Office of the Inspector General in GAO who would report semiannually to the Comptroller General.

 

  • Required the Comptroller General’s annual report to Congress to assess the overall degree of federal agency cooperation with GAO audits.

 

  • Required any executive agency (or component) that prepares an audited financial statement to reimburse GAO the cost of any GAO audit of such statement.

 

  • Amended the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to revise the coverage of certain GAO officers and employees under its financial disclosure requirements.

 

  • Revised the highest basic pay rate for GAO personnel from GS-15 to Executive Level III.

 

  • Increased from 15 to 20 the number of experts and consultants whose services the Comptroller General may procure for renewable three-year terms at rates up to level IV of the Executive Schedule.

 

  • Made funds appropriated to GAO for salaries and expenses also available for recruitment-related meals and entertainment.

 

  • Revised provisions governing GAO voluntary separation incentive payments.

 

  • Required specified minimum percentage pay increases and lump sum back payments for certain GAO officers and employees.

Government Accountability Office Act of 2008

House Passes Government Accountability Office Improvement Act (The Gavel)

H.R. 6388: Government Accountability Office Improvement Act of 2008, bill status (Govtrack.us)

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Former Directors:

David M. Walker, 1998–2008

Charles A. Bowsher, 1981–1996

Elmer B. Staats, 1966–1981

Joseph Campbell, 1955–1965

Lindsay C. Warren, 1940–1954

Fred Herbert Brown, 1939–1940

John Raymond McCarl, 1921–1936

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Comments

Catherine Radecki 5 years ago
I'm sure many citizens would like to know why those who have DHS contracts for providing services to children in those horrible detention centers and who are charging $700+ a day per child are not providing diapers, toothbrushes/paste,soap and a bed. Congress was just forced to allocate billions and I hope there will be an effort to ensure contractors are providing what they are supposed to provide.
Samantha white 6 years ago
How do I report fraud by a Hyundai car dealership? In the federal in truth lending box they never put my 1000 down payment in. Also in other boxs my downpayment was left 0.They aldo damaged my original vehicle that was used as a trade in . They are also with holding 689 dollars of my 1000 downpayment.Thanks for any help you all can give.
Susan Goette 7 years ago
Just writing to let you know I support your intention to examine the conduct of the Department of Health and Human Services for possible lawbreaking specifically the use of HHS’s official Twitter accounts to attack the ACA and promote the GOP replacement, as well as whether HHS is using taxpayer funds to produce video testimonials of people criticizing the ACA, which would violate the prohibition on an agency “engaging in covert propaganda.”
Daniel Fidler 7 years ago
Glad to read today that the GAO is questioning the Trump expenses for the Florida White House. Even more important are the billions of dollars that came in for the inaugural expenses. It is possible that more than one billion dollars of the total was siphoned off into private hands, and I think America deserves a GAO investigation into this corruption.
Mike McCarthy 8 years ago
For all of us that are on a fixed, retirement income. You may already know your fate for any Cost of Living Adjustment for 2017. For those who DON'T know, here is what our illustrious Obama Government did to us. I got my 2017 SSA payment today. The net is the same amount I have had for the PAST TWO YEARS! I was finally able to reach SSA who explained to me that we did not get a 3% increase for 2017, we got 3/10ths of a percent increase. For me that means a increase of $6.00!!! But wait, there's more! To avoid having to pay me my OWN money, they approved Medicare an increase in their cost by, get ready for this, 3/10ths of a percent!!! This means ALL THEY DID was take $6.00 from me give it to Medicare in the amount of $6.00!!! We all got F*CKED! So my net IS EXACTLY THE SAME FOR 2017 AS IT HAS BEEN SINCE 2015!!! We MUST get rid of these ass hats in Washington and GET OUR MONEY BACK!! I want ALL my money I paid into SSA back in one lump sum! I did not approve the Government raiding MY FUNDS to pay Obama's vacations and ransom money to Iran! It's time ALL OF US ON SSA GET PISSED AND CONTACT OUR SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN AND TELL THEM THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!! Then we GET THEM THE HELL OUT OF WASHINGTON!!
Jan 8 years ago
Why not audit the Fed, and Defense department, you could possibly fund universal health care for eternity just by stopping some of the fraud.
Linda Sweet 8 years ago
Quit making the VA HOSPITAL INTO THE WINCHESTER HOUSE I NEED PYSCOLIGIST WHY IS THE VA LOSING THERE DR'S PLEASE HELP
Joe Bialek 11 years ago
Over 50 years ago the United States and the Soviet Union {as well as the World} came face-to-face with the possibility of nuclear annihilation due to risky political and military brinkmanship. So too today the country is now embroiled in yet another risky political, economic and social game of chicken and whistling Dixie; the likes of which bears a strong threat to the survival of our republic as well as what it means to be a government of the people, for the people and by the people. The issues before the American People are clear; according to the United States Treasury the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling must be raised by October 17, 2013 to avoid a potential default on the U.S. debt. The ramifications of this would be a economic Armageddon for the entire planet. We are already witnessing the effects of this shutdown on our country whether it be through government furloughs all the way to the stoppage of government services not to mention the exponential effect on the private sector. The "sticking point" that appears to be the cause of the impasse between the President, Senate Democrats and House Republicans is the issues surrounding the Affordable Care Act also known as "Obamacare." I don't know if this is the first time that a government shutdown was used as leverage to challenge legislation {that is now the law of the land} at the risk of putting the country and the world in serious jeopardy but it certainly seems very foolish to do so. In retrospect the goal of extending health care to all Americans should have been the result of expanding Medicaid and not this monstrosity of legislation to overhaul many parts of the health care system that simply don't need fixing. The Affordable Care Act was not presented well from the beginning and should have been passed with bi-partisan agreement not rammed down the throats of the opposition party. Regardless of the pure intentions it should have taken second priority to what has been {and is} really ailing America; unemployment. Job 1 for the President and Congress beginning on January 1, 2009 should have been developing the means to getting this country moving again by helping to unleash America's most powerful machine; it's economy. Bailing out Wall Street and the "banks too big to fail" was one of the dumbest policy decisions made by the President and Congress. The Federal Government should have seized control of these financial institutions {much like the FDIC did with banks that defaulted} and then facilitated the selling off of parts to medium size banks that did not engage in the behaviors that resulted in the "mortgage meltdown." Too late now. As for getting people back to work the solution is not as complicated as it may appear to be. We need to bring back a agency similar {but not identical} to the Work Progress Administration {WPA} which should take a two-pronged approach. One is the most obvious; hire people to perform the very services {and more} that the private sector will never engage in simply because it is not profitable to do so. The second approach is a wee bit more complicated but can be successful by utilizing private-public partnerships. Let the governments {at all levels} develop a plan to share {temporarily} in the salary expense of unemployed people so that they could work full time, re-gain their lost skills and eventually retain a full time position paid by the private company. This would result in a immediate restoration of lost government revenues as well as help to “prime the pump” for the new found consumer demand. Increasing demand will result in the need for increased supply and hence a increase in production which will result in increased employment. You could think of this “stimulus” plan as a rocket booster that slowly fades away as the economy picks up. Isn’t this what government is supposed to do beyond providing safety for it’s citizens? Is it too late now? I hope not; but to continue to waste time over which side wins {while the rest of the country goes to hell} risks moving America’s dissatisfaction with government to the disbelief of the legitimacy of those who do govern. The question before us all is this: how far down must this country sink before it becomes clear and apparent that current government officials have forfeited their right to govern? Time is running out folks; now do the job you were elected to do and end this shutdown before it reaches a point of calamity that breaks our country and unleashes total anarchy. It’s up to you. Let’s put an end to the whistles of October.
MARK PATRICK SEYMOUR 12 years ago
yes indeed i am aknowledging everything to every one now that the cat is out of the bag mark patrick seymour cannot wait to implement his sixteen year plan to get america out of debt and let me tell you i have plans on being the best president america has seen since it began cause i really truly honestly care for all my fellow americans i earned my way there it was not given to me i had to fight for it with my mind building a group of friends and believers like you would not believe...

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Founded: 1921
Annual Budget: $526.2 million (FY 2013 Request)
Employees: 3,037 (FY 2013 Estimate)
Official Website: http://www.gao.gov/
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Dodaro, Gene
Comptroller General
On September 22, 2010, President Barack Obama named Gene L. Dodaro to serve as Comptroller General of the United States. Dodaro had served as Acting Comptroller General since March 13, 2008. He was confirmed by the Senate on December 22, 2010.
 
Dodaro received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Dodaro has worked for GAO for more than 30 years. Until 1999, he headed GAO’s Accounting and Information Management Division. His significant accomplishments included providing leadership to help government confront the Year 2000 computing challenge by working with the Congress and the President’s Y2K Conversion Council to provide a smooth transition in government operations and services. He also directed the first-ever audit of comprehensive financial statements covering all federal departments and agencies for fiscal year 1997—one of the largest and most complex audits in history. Additionally, he helped conceive GAO’s strategy for improving computer security throughout government and led the updating of standards for internal control in the federal government.
 
Dodaro was then promoted to chief operating officer, the number two leadership position in the agency, which he held until being appointed acting comptroller.
 
 
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Overview:

An arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) serves as a “fiscal watchdog” that seeks to improve the financial performance of the federal government and ensure its accountability to Congress and the American people. Over the years, the agency has earned a reputation for fact-based, nonpartisan reviews of government activities while uncovering serious accounts of mismanagement and waste by such key government operations as the Defense Department, Medicare, and education. In 2002, the GAO took on the Bush White House when it filed suit to obtain records pertaining to an energy task force led by Vice President Dick Cheney. The watchdog agency lost that legal battle when a federal judge ruled the GAO did not have the legal stature to force the executive branch to release documents deemed sensitive. The ruling left the GAO’s power in doubt and led some Democrats to sponsor legislation to try to reinvigorate the agency’s capabilities.

 
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History:

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) began in 1921 as the General Accounting Office. That year, the Budget and Accounting Act transferred auditing responsibilities, accounting, and claims functions from the Treasury Department to the new GAO. The agency was created because federal financial management was in disarray after World War I. Wartime spending had driven up the national debt, creating a need for more information and better control over expenditures. The act made the GAO independent of the executive branch and gave it a broad mandate to investigate how federal dollars are spent. The act also required the President to prepare an annual budget for the federal government. Later legislation clarified or expanded GAO’s role, but the Budget and Accounting Act continues to serve as the basis for its operations.

 

Until the end of World War II, the GAO primarily checked the legality and adequacy of government expenditures. The agency issued decisions on payment questions and helped process financial claims for and against the government. GAO employees reviewed individual financial transactions by checking expenditure vouchers. They also audited and reconciled disbursing officers’ accounts. The work was done centrally, which meant that government agencies had to send their fiscal records to the GAO. Legions of audit clerks worked in the great hall of the Pension Building—GAO’s home from 1926 to 1951—reviewing stacks of paperwork documenting government expenditures.

 

During President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s, federal money poured into recovery and relief efforts to fight the Great Depression. More government programs meant more paperwork for the GAO to examine. The agency, which started out with approximately 1,700 employees, soon found its ranks filled to 5,000. With the U.S. entry into World War II, military spending triggered a paperwork explosion that overwhelmed GAO’s ability to keep up with central voucher auditing. Even with a staff that grew to more than 14,000 by 1945, the agency still faced a backlog of 35 million unaudited vouchers.

 

After the war, GAO decided it could best serve Congress and the nation by doing broader, more comprehensive audits that examined the economy and efficiency of government operations. It soon cut the size of its workforce and changed its approach to doing its job. The agency began to shift away from the central auditing it had done for 25 years. GAO transferred some of its responsibilities, such as voucher checking, to the executive branch. Instead of scrutinizing every government fiscal transaction, GAO began to review financial controls and management in federal agencies.

 

Starting in the late 1940s, the GAO also worked with the Department of the Treasury and the Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget) to help executive branch agencies improve their accounting systems and controls over spending. With the move to comprehensive auditing, the agency further reduced the number of audit clerks and began to hire accountants. By 1951, when the GAO moved into its new headquarters across the street from the Pension Building, its staff numbered just under 7,000—less than half the number that had been on the payroll at the end of the war.

 

The 1950s saw a rise in government spending because of the Cold War and the build-up of American military forces in Europe and Asia. GAO’s work increasingly focused on defense spending and contract reviews. Although the agency first began doing field work in the 1930s, it formally established a network of regional offices in 1952. It also opened branches in Europe and the Far East. Various national crises affected the agency’s work in the 1960s and 1970s. During the Vietnam War, for example, the GAO opened an office in Saigon to monitor military expenditures and foreign aid. And in 1972, some GAO reviews touched on Watergate.

 

Congress also found that it needed more information on how well government programs were meeting their objectives. Congress asked the GAO to evaluate President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program in 1967. The agency also examined energy policy, consumer protection, the environment, and the economy. In 1974, Congress broadened the GAO’s evaluation role and gave it greater responsibility in the budget process. The agency’s staff, mostly accountants, began to change to fit the changing work. In the 1970s, it started to recruit scientists, actuaries, and experts in fields such as health care, public policy, and computers. In 1986, GAO assembled a team of professional investigators, many with law enforcement backgrounds, to look into allegations of possible criminal and civil misconduct.

 

During the last 20 years, the GAO has sought to improve accountability by alerting policymakers and the public to emerging problems throughout government. In the 1980s, for example, the agency reported on problems brewing in the savings and loan industry and repeatedly warned about the government’s failure to control deficit spending. It also worked with executive branch agencies to strengthen financial management. The GAO urged federal agencies to modernize outmoded financial systems, prepare yearly financial statements, and submit them for audit. As the 1990s drew to a close, the agency did important work on a range of issues, including computer security, conditions at nursing homes, and the choices posed by continuing budget surpluses.

 

The GAO generated a 2008 report that found that federal prosecutors exaggerated claimed terrorist convictions, a 2011 report (pdf) revealing that the U.S. government improperly spent $125 billion in FY 2010, and a 2011 study showing that nearly $200 million was spent by the U.S. military to remove and replace homosexuals serving in its ranks. It also took the EPA to task for abandoning child safety efforts during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration, and found that the $200 million spent in 2009 by the Transportation Security Administration on behavior detection (ability to identify terrorists based on observed behavior) was a waste of money.

 

In February 2009, a GAO study (pdf) disclosed that 36% of all arms sent to the Afghanistan government by the U.S.—87,000 weapons—are missing due to lapses in the U.S. inventory process. One September 2011 GAO report showed that in 2009, the federal government’s inspector generals discovered $43.3 billion in expenditures that could be done away with. Another report (pdf) that month revealed that the U.S. government has lost track of 17 tons of nuclear material that it has shipped to 27 different nations, enough to build hundreds of nuclear warheads.

 

As part of the GAO Human Capital Reform Act of 2004, the GAO’s legal name changed to the Government Accountability Office to better reflects the agency’s work. In addition to the name change, the law decoupled GAO from the federal employee pay system; established a compensation system that placed greater emphasis on job performance while protecting the purchasing power of employees who are performing acceptably; gave GAO permanent authority to offer voluntary early retirement opportunities and voluntary separation payments (buy-outs); provided greater flexibility for reimbursing employees for relocation benefits; allowed certain employees and officers with less than three years of federal service to earn increased amounts of annual leave; and authorized an exchange program with private sector organizations.

 

On September 19, 2007, a majority of GAO analysts voted to establish the first union in the agency’s history, choosing to affiliate with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), a member union of the AFL-CIO. Known as the IFPTE Local 1921, the GAO analysts’ union approved its first negotiated pay contract with management in February 2008.

GAO: Working for Good Government Since 1921

How GAO Built Its Dream House

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What it Does:

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the “Congressional watchdog,” the GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars by conducting audits and other types of investigations.

 

Headquartered in Washington D.C., the GAO has offices in 11 major cities across the country. Its staff includes economists, social scientists, accountants, public policy analysts, attorneys, and computer experts as well as specialists in fields ranging from foreign policy to health care. GAO’s workforce is organized largely by subject area, with most employees being in one of the following 14 teams:

 

The GAO produces a wide variety of documents available to the public including reports and testimonies, legal decisions, a Top 10 List, Month In Review, Comptroller General Presentations, the High-Risk Series, 21st Century Challenges: Reexamining the Base of the Federal Government and Federal Debt and the  Fiscal Outlook.

 

The head of the GAO, the Comptroller General of the United States, is appointed to a 15-year term by the President from a slate of candidates proposed by a congressional commission. The commission consists of the Speaker of the House, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, majority and minority leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate, chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The commission must recommend at least three individuals to the President, and the President may request that the commission recommend additional individuals.

 

The Office of General Counsel (GC) provides a wide variety of legal services. GAO attorneys assist Congress, federal agencies, and GAO analysts in interpreting the laws that govern the expenditure of public funds and the myriad of government programs and activities.

 

From the Web Site of the GAO

Agency-by-Agency Issues

Auditing and Accountability Resources

Career Opportunities

Contact Information

Email Update Subscriptions

FAQs

Fraud Reporting

GAO Products

High-Risk List

History

Key Resources

Legal Decisions

Month in Review

Offices

Organizational Telephone Directory (pdf)

Podcasts

Publication Orders

Publications

Reports and Testimonies

Resources

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Topics in the News

Video Gallery

Workforce

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Where Does the Money Go:

As a legislative branch agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is not required to submit its contracting information for viewing on USAspending.gov, which is reserved for executive branches agencies. But the GAO does make available some data regarding companies and organizations its pays for goods and services.

 

According to GAO’s FY 2007 Contract and Small Business Subcontract Awards (pdf) information, approximately 150 companies were paid by the agency, including IBM, a division of Lockheed, and MCI.

 

Through GAO’s FY 2007 Small Business Procurement Information, aggregate data is made available. This report states that 341 contracts were awarded to small businesses during this time period, at a total cost of $53.4 million. Other findings include:

 

  • 22% of all contract awards were given to small businesses
  • 5% were given to women-owned businesses
  • 4% were given to small disadvantaged businesses
  • 1% were given to veteran-owned businesses
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Controversies:

Congress Cuts the Budget of Agency that Saves Billions of Dollars

Despite its history of saving more money than its consumes, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2011-2012 faced a substantial reduction in its budget, thanks to lawmakers “embarrassed” by the agency. In autumn 2011, the Senate proposed cutting the GAO’s budget by $50 million. This reduction would have amounted to a 9% chop in the watchdog’s funding.

 

Eventually, Congress backed off somewhat and cut the GAO’s budget by $35 million, which was going to force the agency to function with fewer than 3,000 full-time employees—something it hadn’t done since the Great Depression.

 

Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), a strong supporter of the GAO, said some lawmakers were happy to weaken the agency because its reports have often “embarrassed” them. Coburn opposed cutting the budget, noting “for every dollar they [the GAO] spend, we save 90 bucks,” which the senator added was a “pretty good return.”

Shrinking GAO Budget Concerns Employees, Oversight Advocates (by Jack Moore, Federal News Radio)

Congress Set to Cut GAO Budget 5% – Neutering Watchdog? (by Joyce Cordi, Reimagine America)

Agencies Anticipate Budget Cuts in FY2013, Request Less from Congress (by Debbie Siegelbaum, The Hill)

 

Army Claimed GAO Report Mischaracterized Combat System Costs and Technology

U.S. Army leaders took exception in 2009 to a GAO report that was critical of the service’s Future Combat Systems (FCS), then in its sixth year. The GAO report said the FCS program—the Army’s principal modernization plan, which included creating new brigades outfitted with new manned and unmanned vehicles connected by a new battlefield network—was over budget and that its technology lacked development and testing.

 

Lt. Gen. Ross Thompson, military deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, objected to the GAO’s conclusion that the FCS had experienced $21 billion in cost increases. “One of the things we have to get addressed with GAO is the basis in which they calculated that,” Thompson said. “I can’t explain their $21 billion.”

 

Thompson insisted overages were only 6.5% of the total program cost of about $159 billion (or $10.3 billion). By 2009, the Army had spent approximately $19 billion of the funds. He also said of the 44 key technologies in the FCS, 35 were moving toward “demonstrated readiness,” according to the testing methodology employed by the Army.

 

That bit of progress, wasn’t enough to save the program—Robert Gates, then-Secretary of Defense, ordered it canceled later in 2009, telling Defense News in 2011 that “the fundamental design [of the overall plan] . . . was flawed.”

 

Cost estimates at the time of cancellation approached $200 billion. FCS program contractors — including Boeing and SAIC — weren’t happy, and are charging termination fees that will cost taxpayers nearly half a billion dollars.

GAO Report Mischaracterizes Army Efforts on FCS (by C. Todd Lopez, U.S. Army)

System Development and Demonstration (GlobalSecurity.org)

Army to Pay $500M for Future Combat Systems Termination (by Amber Corrin, Federal Computer Week)

 

 

GAO Unsuccessfully Sues Bush Administration Over Energy Notes

One of the first actions George W. Bush took as president was to create a 14-member National Energy Policy Development Group to be headed by Vice President Dick Cheney and to include eight cabinet members. The executive branch would ultimately fight a four-year court battle to keep secret the names of people who met with this task force and what was discussed at meetings of the group. On May 17, 2001, Cheney’s task force issued a report calling for expanded drilling on public lands, industry-backed tax breaks and weaker regulatory barriers to the building of new nuclear power plants. The GAO requested documents relating to the work of the energy task force as part of their inquiry into how the Enron Corporation, the leading contributor to George W. Bush’s presidential campaign, influenced the formation of government policy. Cheney refused to comply. 

 

David M. Walker, the head of the GAO, accused the executive branch of making Cheney the head of the National Energy Policy Development Group for the very reason that he could claim executive privilege and thus avoid congressional oversight. In February 2002, the GAO filed suit against Cheney for refusing to turn over his records. It was the first time in its 80-year history that the GAO had sued a member of the executive branch.  They were not alone. The conservative public-interest group Judicial Watch had already requested the documents through the Freedom of Information Act, while the more liberal Natural Resources Defense Council had filed suit over related documents held by the Department of Energy. As court rulings see-sawed between Cheney’s side and that of the document seekers, the Bush administration became nervous and acknowledged that Enron executives had met six times with members of the task force, and that one of those meetings was a one-on-one session between Vice President Cheney and Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay on April 17. When a federal judge forced the Energy Department to reveal some documents, they showed that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham had refused a request to meet with a coalition of 30 environmental groups because of his “busy schedule.” However, in the days that followed, he did find the time to meet with the executives of a half-dozen oil and gas companies, a half-dozen nuclear power corporations, and a half-dozen utility companies.

 

Eventually, John D. Bates, a Bush-appointed federal district judge, dismissed the GAO’s suit on the basis that only a house of Congress or a congressional committee could file such a claim. Prior to becoming a federal judge, Bates served as a Whitewater prosecutor in the mid-1990s, arguing in a federal appeals court that White House lawyers’ notes of conversations with Hillary Clinton must be turned over to a federal grand jury.

 

The suit brought by Judicial Watch, which was later joined by the Sierra Club, was accepted by the Supreme Court, but not without controversy. It seems that between the time the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and the time it actually came before the court, Vice President Cheney went duck hunting with one of the Supreme Court justices, Antonin Scalia. Scalia refused to recuse himself from the case, claiming that he “never hunted in the same blind with the vice-president.” Scalia voted with the majority to send the case back to an appeals court, which, in May 2005, ruled unanimously that Cheney’s involvement with the task force was part of his role as vice-president and so he could keep secret the details of his meetings.

 

In the wake of Walker v. Cheney, Congressman Henry Waxman introduced legislation in 2008 to bolster the legal stature of the GAO (see Suggested Reforms).

Suit Against Cheney Task Force Dismissed (by Pete Yost, Associated Press)

GAO Statement on Lawsuit (pdf)

Fact Sheet on GAO Suit (pdf)

 

GAO Comptroller Doesn’t Mince Words

While leading the GAO, and after, David Walker has never been afraid to tell it like it is. In 2007, Walker wrote a piece for The Futurist, in which he accused the United States of being too short-sighted in its fiscal behavior. “Too many individuals tend to focus on their next paycheck. Too many company executives focus on their next quarterly earnings report. Too many politicians focus on the next election cycle rather than the next generation,” wrote Walker.

 

That same year, Walker barnstormed the country like a presidential candidate, but instead of asking Americans to vote for him, he warned them about the single biggest issue facing the United States: the national debt. Walker visited college campuses, spoke to lawmakers in Washington, and toured 19 states over a year and a half.

 

He said he hoped the candidates for the White House seriously heeded his warnings.

“If [the candidates] don't make [the debt] one of their top three priorities, in my opinion, they don’t deserve to be president and we can’t afford for them to be president,” he told CNN. “The fact is that we could eliminate the Iraq war tomorrow. We could eliminate every dime of pork-barrel spending. And we wouldn’t come close to solving our problem,” he said.

 

Walker said it was necessary to balance the budget within the next five years, make a down payment on the $50 trillion imbalance and begin reforming government programs.

“It’s going to take us probably 20 years to do all the things that need to be done,” he said. “But we need to get started now because the clock is ticking and time is working against us.”

 

After leaving the GAO, Walker continued to issue dire warnings about the current housing and mortgage crises. While the Bush administration proposed shoring up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a $300 billion line of credit, and Congress contemplated another economic stimulus, the question arose: Who will bail out the government?

 

“People seem to think the government has money,” said Walker. “The government doesn't have any money.”

 

“The factors that contributed to our mortgage-based subprime crisis exist with regard to our federal government’s finances,” said Walker, former head of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and now founder and CEO of the Comeback America Initiative, a group devoted to promoting fiscal responsibility in the U.S. “The difference is that the magnitude of the federal government’s financial situation is at least 25 times greater.”

Concern grows over a fiscal crisis for U.S. (by Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle)

One man's campaign against federal debt (by Kyle Almond, CNN)

Foresight for Government (by David M. Walker, The Futurist)

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Suggested Reforms:

Waxman Seeks More Powers for GAO

House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-California) and 18 other committee chairs introduced legislation in 2008 to strengthen the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and restore its authority to pursue litigation if documents are improperly withheld from the agency. The bill passed in the House by voice vote in July of that year, but did not become law.

 

“At a time when our budget deficits are soaring to record levels, we cannot afford to waste billions on poorly managed contracts and bloated federal programs,” said Waxman. “We need a strong GAO to root out waste and corruption.”

 

One key provision of the legislation repudiated a district court decision in Walker v. Cheney and reaffirmed GAO’s authority to go to court when agencies or the White House refuse to provide access to records.

 

Other provisions of this bill would have given the GAO authority to interview federal employees and administer oaths; affirmed GAO’s right to obtain records from three agencies (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Federal Trade Commission) that have sometimes thwarted GAO oversight by denying access to documents; and created a reporting mechanism so that Congress will be informed when federal agencies do not cooperate with GAO.

 

The Government Accountability Office Act of 2008 also would have:

 

  • Established an Office of the Inspector General in GAO who would report semiannually to the Comptroller General.

 

  • Required the Comptroller General’s annual report to Congress to assess the overall degree of federal agency cooperation with GAO audits.

 

  • Required any executive agency (or component) that prepares an audited financial statement to reimburse GAO the cost of any GAO audit of such statement.

 

  • Amended the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to revise the coverage of certain GAO officers and employees under its financial disclosure requirements.

 

  • Revised the highest basic pay rate for GAO personnel from GS-15 to Executive Level III.

 

  • Increased from 15 to 20 the number of experts and consultants whose services the Comptroller General may procure for renewable three-year terms at rates up to level IV of the Executive Schedule.

 

  • Made funds appropriated to GAO for salaries and expenses also available for recruitment-related meals and entertainment.

 

  • Revised provisions governing GAO voluntary separation incentive payments.

 

  • Required specified minimum percentage pay increases and lump sum back payments for certain GAO officers and employees.

Government Accountability Office Act of 2008

House Passes Government Accountability Office Improvement Act (The Gavel)

H.R. 6388: Government Accountability Office Improvement Act of 2008, bill status (Govtrack.us)

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Former Directors:

David M. Walker, 1998–2008

Charles A. Bowsher, 1981–1996

Elmer B. Staats, 1966–1981

Joseph Campbell, 1955–1965

Lindsay C. Warren, 1940–1954

Fred Herbert Brown, 1939–1940

John Raymond McCarl, 1921–1936

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Comments

Catherine Radecki 5 years ago
I'm sure many citizens would like to know why those who have DHS contracts for providing services to children in those horrible detention centers and who are charging $700+ a day per child are not providing diapers, toothbrushes/paste,soap and a bed. Congress was just forced to allocate billions and I hope there will be an effort to ensure contractors are providing what they are supposed to provide.
Samantha white 6 years ago
How do I report fraud by a Hyundai car dealership? In the federal in truth lending box they never put my 1000 down payment in. Also in other boxs my downpayment was left 0.They aldo damaged my original vehicle that was used as a trade in . They are also with holding 689 dollars of my 1000 downpayment.Thanks for any help you all can give.
Susan Goette 7 years ago
Just writing to let you know I support your intention to examine the conduct of the Department of Health and Human Services for possible lawbreaking specifically the use of HHS’s official Twitter accounts to attack the ACA and promote the GOP replacement, as well as whether HHS is using taxpayer funds to produce video testimonials of people criticizing the ACA, which would violate the prohibition on an agency “engaging in covert propaganda.”
Daniel Fidler 7 years ago
Glad to read today that the GAO is questioning the Trump expenses for the Florida White House. Even more important are the billions of dollars that came in for the inaugural expenses. It is possible that more than one billion dollars of the total was siphoned off into private hands, and I think America deserves a GAO investigation into this corruption.
Mike McCarthy 8 years ago
For all of us that are on a fixed, retirement income. You may already know your fate for any Cost of Living Adjustment for 2017. For those who DON'T know, here is what our illustrious Obama Government did to us. I got my 2017 SSA payment today. The net is the same amount I have had for the PAST TWO YEARS! I was finally able to reach SSA who explained to me that we did not get a 3% increase for 2017, we got 3/10ths of a percent increase. For me that means a increase of $6.00!!! But wait, there's more! To avoid having to pay me my OWN money, they approved Medicare an increase in their cost by, get ready for this, 3/10ths of a percent!!! This means ALL THEY DID was take $6.00 from me give it to Medicare in the amount of $6.00!!! We all got F*CKED! So my net IS EXACTLY THE SAME FOR 2017 AS IT HAS BEEN SINCE 2015!!! We MUST get rid of these ass hats in Washington and GET OUR MONEY BACK!! I want ALL my money I paid into SSA back in one lump sum! I did not approve the Government raiding MY FUNDS to pay Obama's vacations and ransom money to Iran! It's time ALL OF US ON SSA GET PISSED AND CONTACT OUR SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN AND TELL THEM THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!! Then we GET THEM THE HELL OUT OF WASHINGTON!!
Jan 8 years ago
Why not audit the Fed, and Defense department, you could possibly fund universal health care for eternity just by stopping some of the fraud.
Linda Sweet 8 years ago
Quit making the VA HOSPITAL INTO THE WINCHESTER HOUSE I NEED PYSCOLIGIST WHY IS THE VA LOSING THERE DR'S PLEASE HELP
Joe Bialek 11 years ago
Over 50 years ago the United States and the Soviet Union {as well as the World} came face-to-face with the possibility of nuclear annihilation due to risky political and military brinkmanship. So too today the country is now embroiled in yet another risky political, economic and social game of chicken and whistling Dixie; the likes of which bears a strong threat to the survival of our republic as well as what it means to be a government of the people, for the people and by the people. The issues before the American People are clear; according to the United States Treasury the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling must be raised by October 17, 2013 to avoid a potential default on the U.S. debt. The ramifications of this would be a economic Armageddon for the entire planet. We are already witnessing the effects of this shutdown on our country whether it be through government furloughs all the way to the stoppage of government services not to mention the exponential effect on the private sector. The "sticking point" that appears to be the cause of the impasse between the President, Senate Democrats and House Republicans is the issues surrounding the Affordable Care Act also known as "Obamacare." I don't know if this is the first time that a government shutdown was used as leverage to challenge legislation {that is now the law of the land} at the risk of putting the country and the world in serious jeopardy but it certainly seems very foolish to do so. In retrospect the goal of extending health care to all Americans should have been the result of expanding Medicaid and not this monstrosity of legislation to overhaul many parts of the health care system that simply don't need fixing. The Affordable Care Act was not presented well from the beginning and should have been passed with bi-partisan agreement not rammed down the throats of the opposition party. Regardless of the pure intentions it should have taken second priority to what has been {and is} really ailing America; unemployment. Job 1 for the President and Congress beginning on January 1, 2009 should have been developing the means to getting this country moving again by helping to unleash America's most powerful machine; it's economy. Bailing out Wall Street and the "banks too big to fail" was one of the dumbest policy decisions made by the President and Congress. The Federal Government should have seized control of these financial institutions {much like the FDIC did with banks that defaulted} and then facilitated the selling off of parts to medium size banks that did not engage in the behaviors that resulted in the "mortgage meltdown." Too late now. As for getting people back to work the solution is not as complicated as it may appear to be. We need to bring back a agency similar {but not identical} to the Work Progress Administration {WPA} which should take a two-pronged approach. One is the most obvious; hire people to perform the very services {and more} that the private sector will never engage in simply because it is not profitable to do so. The second approach is a wee bit more complicated but can be successful by utilizing private-public partnerships. Let the governments {at all levels} develop a plan to share {temporarily} in the salary expense of unemployed people so that they could work full time, re-gain their lost skills and eventually retain a full time position paid by the private company. This would result in a immediate restoration of lost government revenues as well as help to “prime the pump” for the new found consumer demand. Increasing demand will result in the need for increased supply and hence a increase in production which will result in increased employment. You could think of this “stimulus” plan as a rocket booster that slowly fades away as the economy picks up. Isn’t this what government is supposed to do beyond providing safety for it’s citizens? Is it too late now? I hope not; but to continue to waste time over which side wins {while the rest of the country goes to hell} risks moving America’s dissatisfaction with government to the disbelief of the legitimacy of those who do govern. The question before us all is this: how far down must this country sink before it becomes clear and apparent that current government officials have forfeited their right to govern? Time is running out folks; now do the job you were elected to do and end this shutdown before it reaches a point of calamity that breaks our country and unleashes total anarchy. It’s up to you. Let’s put an end to the whistles of October.
MARK PATRICK SEYMOUR 12 years ago
yes indeed i am aknowledging everything to every one now that the cat is out of the bag mark patrick seymour cannot wait to implement his sixteen year plan to get america out of debt and let me tell you i have plans on being the best president america has seen since it began cause i really truly honestly care for all my fellow americans i earned my way there it was not given to me i had to fight for it with my mind building a group of friends and believers like you would not believe...

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Founded: 1921
Annual Budget: $526.2 million (FY 2013 Request)
Employees: 3,037 (FY 2013 Estimate)
Official Website: http://www.gao.gov/
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Dodaro, Gene
Comptroller General
On September 22, 2010, President Barack Obama named Gene L. Dodaro to serve as Comptroller General of the United States. Dodaro had served as Acting Comptroller General since March 13, 2008. He was confirmed by the Senate on December 22, 2010.
 
Dodaro received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Dodaro has worked for GAO for more than 30 years. Until 1999, he headed GAO’s Accounting and Information Management Division. His significant accomplishments included providing leadership to help government confront the Year 2000 computing challenge by working with the Congress and the President’s Y2K Conversion Council to provide a smooth transition in government operations and services. He also directed the first-ever audit of comprehensive financial statements covering all federal departments and agencies for fiscal year 1997—one of the largest and most complex audits in history. Additionally, he helped conceive GAO’s strategy for improving computer security throughout government and led the updating of standards for internal control in the federal government.
 
Dodaro was then promoted to chief operating officer, the number two leadership position in the agency, which he held until being appointed acting comptroller.
 
 
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