When the watchdog won’t bark 

The downgrade of the U.S. government’s credit rating by Fitch Ratings, from AAA to AA+, shouldn’t have shocked Washington. The federal government’s top auditor, Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, has been warning Congress and the president for years that the nation’s fiscal path is “unsustainable.” Yet there’s been little appetite for real fiscal compromise at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Discouraged budget hawks have had to look hard to find any reasons for optimism. But one encouraging trend has been growing bipartisan interest on Capitol Hill to trim waste from the federal budget by implementing open recommendations from the Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan watchdog led by Mr. Dodaro. Now, actually leveraging this nonpartisan oversight will require the normally risk-averse auditors to become more aggressive in helping Congress find ways to cut government spending.

Each year, GAO issues more than a thousand recommendations for ways to make the federal government work better. The congressional watchdog agency estimated that its work saved taxpayers $56 billion last year. But GAO’s recommendations are often unanswered for years; nearly 5,000 remain open today. To reduce these delays, Congress enacted two reporting requirements last year aimed to help Congress and federal agencies act on GAO’s recommendations in a timely manner. 

Legislation sponsored by Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) and former Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) passed as part of the annual defense bill in December requiring GAO to “publish any known costs of unimplemented priority recommendations” and streamlining reporting about open recommendations for Congress. That month, the appropriations committees also created a similar mandate for GAO to estimate “the cost savings that could be achieved if agencies acted on GAO’s open recommendations organized by agency” in the accompanying text of the omnibus spending bill.

Together, these new reporting requirements gave the congressional watchdog agency a historic mandate. Congress directed the Comptroller General to tell Congress just how much the federal government could save if all of GAO’s recommendations were answered. In other words, Dodaro had an opportunity to show Congress and the American people the real value of GAO’s work and provide a clear roadmap to help lawmakers begin to correct the nation’s unsustainable fiscal path. 

Unfortunately, the congressional watchdog ducked the opportunity. In a June report answering the Appropriations Committee’s reporting request, GAO provided only a ballpark estimate, reporting that implementing all of its open recommendations “could produce $92 billion to $182 billion in financial benefits,” based on a statistical simulation. For example, GAO’s simulation indicates that the Defense Department could save between $22 and $53 billion if its 1,200 open recommendations were implemented. 

But the report describes that the simulation doesn’t account for potential savings of specific open recommendations, such as a change to Medicare payment rates that could save $141 billion. Moreover, the watchdogs did not analyze each open recommendation to highlight for Congress what reforms would yield the biggest savings.

Furthermore, last month, GAO showed its usual risk aversion in its report answering the Improving Government for America’s Taxpayers Act included in the defense bill by summarizing previously issued “matters for Congressional consideration.” The report includes few specific examples of potential taxpayer savings that could be achieved if Congress enacted GAO’s recommendations. 

It is not surprising that GAO wouldn’t seize the opportunity to provide Congress with a detailed roadmap for cost-savings reforms. The office has a reputation for risk aversion. There’s a joke among staffers that GAO should change its motto to “progress made, challenges remain” since most of its reports use that even-handed framing.

But it was a missed opportunity, nonetheless. GAO had a bipartisan mandate to provide Congress with a roadmap for reform that would begin to trim the budget with specific examples of cost savings that could be implemented this year. 

Addressing the nation’s long-term fiscal challenges will require the nation’s leaders and parties to step out of their comfort zone. Republicans must be open to tax increases. Democrats must be open to reforming entitlement programs. Nonpartisan government watchdogs must be open to making clear recommendations about areas to cut government programs, even if those recommendations may disappoint certain stakeholders.

Facing credit downgrades and a rising federal debt, Congress can’t afford to have a watchdog that won’t bark. In 2025, the president and Congress will have the responsibility to appoint and confirm the next Comptroller General to a 15-year term. Taxpayers should hope they choose someone who is committed not only to warning of the nation’s fiscal challenges but also helping Congress solve them. 

Dan Lips is head of policy at Foundation for American Innovation.