Heitkamp, Lankford Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Improve Transparency at More Than 70 Federal Agencies

Press Release

U.S. Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and James Lankford (R-OK) introduced a bipartisan bill to require offices of inspectors general at federal agencies and establishments to publicly post their recommendations online. The bill would fill a gap in federal management and help Congress do a better job overseeing 73 federal agencies -- from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to the Office of Personnel Management -- where inspectors general conduct audits to combat waste, fraud, and abuse at their agencies.

As leaders of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs & Federal Management, Heitkamp and Lankford have worked to make the federal government more efficient and effective. Posting inspectors general recommendations publicly on their websites would give Congress, agencies, and the public the ability to better keep tabs on the problems that have been identified at agencies -- and keep track of whether or not those problems have been resolved.

For every dollar invested in inspectors general, there is the potential for $18 in savings for taxpayers, as the U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified at a December 2015 U.S. Senate hearing. Heitkamp and Lankford's bipartisan bill would improve federal management by helping make sure the valuable recommendations by inspectors general are implemented.

"Inspectors general do extensive work uncovering waste, fraud, and other problems at their agencies -- and recommending improvements. Our bill would help make sure that once those recommendations are made, federal agencies follow through and make needed fixes," said Heitkamp. "This bipartisan legislation would fill a gap Chairman Lankford and I saw in federal management at a Senate hearing we led last year. Posting inspectors general recommendations online will give agencies, Congress, and the public more opportunities for oversight, and help inspectors general save taxpayers even more money."

"Federal agency Inspectors General do important work and often offer ideas to make government more effective and efficient, but these ideas do no good if they are ignored," said Lankford. "The Inspector General Recommendation Transparency Act is important to ensure accountability and transparency for the reform proposals made by agencies' Inspectors General. With a massive $19 trillion federal debt, the American public should be aware of all proposals to eliminate waste and reduce spending, especially from our Inspectors General."

In December 2015, Heitkamp and Lankford led a Subcommittee hearing on how federal departments and agencies implement recommendations from the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the offices of inspectors general. The federal government invests billions of dollars each year so inspectors general can create valuable recommendations for agencies, and the senators expressed concern about the need for more transparency and visibility in agencies' efforts to resolve issues of waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement as identified by inspectors general.

The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General is among only a handful of the 73 federal agencies with inspectors general to currently post open or unresolved recommendations publicly online. Under Heitkamp and Lankford's bill, agencies would have to post a list online of all recommendations that have been open for more than a year -- including details on which recommendations remain open and details on the current status of the recommendations. Agencies would have to update the list every six months, and the list would include information from the inspector general about why open recommendations are unresolved.

In March 2015, Heitkamp and Lankford launched their #CutRedTape Initiative to gather stories about how federal regulations are impacting Americans across the country every day, and work to improve these regulations by reducing waste, stopping backlogs, and cutting red tape.

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