Hearings to examine from high-risk to high reward, focusing on implementing GAO recommendations for a more accountable government.
Senate Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management
2025-12-16
Source: Congress.gov
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Good morning, everyone. Welcome to today's subcommittee hearing to examine Government Accountability Office's recent reporting and their consistent annual reports on high risk for admitted overlapping and duplicative government programs that negatively impact the nation's fiscal health. Today, we're joined by Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who will be retiring at the end of this month after 52 and a half years of federal service. Gene, I was five years old when you started serving the nation. That is a remarkable service. There are very few people in the world who can say that they saved their nation billions of dollars based on their service, but you are one of those. And so from our committee and from myself and from my family, thank you for those decades of federal service that you gave to our nation to be able to help get our fiscal health back in order. Your work at GAO to increase transparency and to reveal fraud and waste and duplicative government functions and operations has been remarkable. So we thank you for that. The mission today is as vital as what we faced years ago. We have $37 trillion in federal debt and rising. Last year, with the help of the annual report from GAO, we saved taxpayers over $67 billion, bringing the total GAO savings during this federal report to $1.45 trillion saved since 2002. In the report that we will outline today, GAO has identified 38 high-risk areas with significant vulnerability to fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement. GAO has also found 148 new instances of fragmentation, overlap and duplication. Every time I talk to Oklahomans, They make it clear they want Washington to waste less and save more. They do not want to pay for fake Obamacare enrollees. They don't want to pay for unused federal office space.
They want us to eliminate the red tape and to be able to do the services they expect us to do in the most efficient way possible. Last year in my annual federal fumbles book, I reported how fragmented our disaster recovery process in this country has become. When people are going through the worst time in their lives after a bad storm, they don't want to have to parse through 30 different federal agencies to determine what they're eligible for or how to be able to go through benefits. They don't even have a desk to sit at anymore to work on that. They just need help. This is one of many examples of unacceptable government red tape that we need to eliminate. There are some very important questions that need to be asked today about how the government can fix these issues that GAO has identified. I want to thank the Comptroller General for taking time away from his very busy schedule. We do appreciate the opportunity to be able to hear this. I also want to be able to highlight one thing as well. Typically in this conversation on high risk and on government waste and fraud, we would have Senator Joni Ernst that would be seated here as well to be able to go through that. She is currently returning back through Germany, bringing back two Iowa National Guardsmen that were killed this past weekend in an attack in Syria. So she will not be at the dais today, but our hearts are with the Iowa folks and with their families and appreciative of Senator Ernst for her continued work on that. With that, I'd like to recognize Senator Fetterman for his opening remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. And thank you, Comptroller General. and your team and for your work for these reports, for your testimony today. This is the last time the Comptroller General will testify before he retires. Only the Senate would like to say thank you for inviting someone in the hearing to give sworn testimony. Gene is a yinzer, or am I wrong? Do you claim? Yeah.
Yeah. So that's part of Pittsburgh. So what actually was the community? I was born in Manessen, grew up in Belle Vernon. Manessen? Yes. Wow, Manessen, wow. Yeah, that's right down from here on the Mon.
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