Ayotte Presses Budget Director to Get "Aggressive" on Eliminating Wasteful Spending
Press Release
At a Senate Budget Committee hearing today, U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) encouraged the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to be "more aggressive" when it comes to identifying wasteful and duplicative spending. Senator Ayotte noted that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued numerous reports on eliminating overlapping federal programs, but those reports too often "sit on the shelf."
"I'm the cosponsor of the "Duplication Elimination Act,' which is bipartisan. It would require the executive branch when a GAO report is issued, within a certain timeframe, to make legislative recommendations to Congress on implementing them," said Ayotte. "We've seen duplication in areas of the Pentagon and we've seen duplication in areas of even drug prevention, which is a very important mission, but you've got multiple agencies doing a lot of the same work. There are lists of these areas," said Ayotte.
Ayotte continued: "I'm hoping you'll be more aggressive on that in terms of making proposals that will help us really review which programs are effective and which aren't and to make it easier to deal with the federal government on important issues."
With the nation over $17 trillion in debt, Senator Ayotte has said that duplicative federal programs are an obvious place to find savings. Last year, she introduced the "Duplication Elimination Act," which would require the President to submit a proposed joint resolution to Congress each year on how to carry out recommendations outlined in the GAO's Annual Report on Fragmentation, Overlap and Duplication.
Within 90 days of the GAO report's release, the President would be required to provide Congress with the draft proposal and a report that explains which GAO recommendations are excluded and why they are not included. Both chambers of Congress would be required to vote on the proposal within ten days, and any savings achieved would be used for deficit reduction.
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