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Source: Congress.gov
Participants
Transcript
The subject of today's hearing is the fiscal year 2026 budget request for the Government Accountability Office, GAO, the Government Publishing Office, the GPO, and the Congressional Budget Office, the CBO. I'd like to thank Ranking Member Espaillat, our committee members, Comptroller General Dodaro, Director Halpern, and Director Swagle for being here today. I'd also like to thank each and every one of your staff for the work they do to help Congress and the entire government function in an effective and efficient manner. The Government Accountabilities Office fiscal year 2026 budget request totals nearly $934 million, a 15 percent increase from enacted fiscal year 2025 CR. The U.S. Government Publishing Office requests $135 million for fiscal year 2026, a modest increase of 2.6 percent. And the Congressional Budget Office's fiscal year 2026 request is $75.8 million, an increase of 8.2 percent. Can we close that back door? Close it. Thank you again for joining us today, and I look forward to hearing your testimonies and learning more about your budget priorities for fiscal year 2026. I now recognize my ranking member, Espaillat, for his opening remarks.
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Unknown (SPEAKER_09)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all, Mr. Dodaro. Is that right? Okay. Coming from Espaillat, I can feel your pain. But Mr. Swagel and Halpern, thank you all for being here today. And I commend each of you and your staff for your efforts reinforcing Congress' constitutional power and role of the power of the purse that we have here and dedicating your resources to keep up with that constitutional mandate. Mr. Dodaro, it is my understanding that your term ends in December. So your commitment to government and the GAO has been unwavering.
We commend you for your efforts, your work, and we hope that you enjoy and you kick up your feet and feel the tropical breeze somewhere. But also for fiscal year 2026, the GAO has requested, as was said, $933 million, an increase of 15%. We look forward to hearing about that. The Congressional Budget Office has requested $75.8 million, representing an 8.2% increase. We spoke about that already, and we hope to hear more about that. And the Government Publishing Office has requested $135 million, an increase of 2.6%. And we look forward to talking about that. I hope that we have a good discussion to understand where these proposals are going and the impact that it will have on the American people and the districts that we represent. But we thank you all for your service.
You're back, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Espiat. I now recognize Comptroller General Dodaro. Your full testimony has been submitted for the record, and you are now recognized to provide a summary of your testimony. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Espelot, members of the subcommittee.
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The Honorable Hugh Halpern
Very pleased to be here today to discuss GAO's 2026 budget request. I appreciate the support this committee has given us in the past. We've returned handsomely on that investment. Last year, as a result of implementation of our savings over $68 billion, and financial benefits accrued to the government. Over the last six years, we've returned $123 for every dollar that you've given us at the GAO. This year, for example, we updated our high-risk list, which we keep of areas we believe to be at risk of fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, or in need of broad-based transformation. That work has saved over $760 billion over the years, about $40 billion a year.
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