Blog Posts and Analysis / Revenue & Spending

GAO: Recovery Act Reporting Getting Better, But Still Room for Improvement

When Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) in early 2009, the legislation's transparency provisions represented a significant step forward for government openness. While select agencies and programs have been using recipient reporting for years, the Recovery Act represented the first time such reporting had been attempted across all agencies at once and presented to the public online. Thus, bumps in the road toward transparency and accountability, including data quality problems, were inevitable. A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report shows that while there are fewer reporting errors as time passes, there is still room for improvement in both data quality and implementation details.

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Senate Passes Limited "Audit the Fed" Amendment

During the ongoing Senate debate on the financial reform bill, Federal Reserve transparency briefly took center stage. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced an "Audit the Fed" amendment to the bill during the week of May 16, which the Senate approved in a 96-0 vote after the amendment was greatly scaled back. The amendment would instruct the Government Accountability Office to "conduct a one-time audit of all loans and other financial assistance provided during the period beginning on December 1, 2007 and ending on the date of enactment of this Act."

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Amendments Bring Policy Debates to the Budget Resolution

On April 22, the Senate Budget Committee approved its Fiscal Year 2011 budget resolution, moving the chamber one step closer to setting spending limits for the coming appropriations process. The resolution provoked controversy, as it would cut spending levels below those in President Obama's budget request, which itself mandated a significant spending freeze on discretionary spending outside of defense and homeland security. The measure also frequently attracts contentious, policy-related amendments, and the current resolution is no exception.

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Commentary: Fiscal Hawks Shaping Focus of Debt Commission

On April 27, President Obama’s fiscal commission convened its first meeting, kicking off a seven-month discussion among 18 panelists on ways the federal government can reduce the federal budget deficit and shrink the national debt. The next day, many of those same panel members, including co-chairs Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY), attended a "Fiscal Summit" organized by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation to discuss the same issues. Talk about how to overcome deficits and the debt at the Peterson event, which centered on eviscerating the nation's social safety net, mirrored discussion at the commission meeting.

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GAO: Contractors Overseeing Other Contractors in a Contingency Environment Problematic

Of the $38.6 billion worth of contracts and grants obligated to Iraq and Afghanistan during fiscal year 2008 and the first half of fiscal year 2009 by the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of State (State), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), roughly $1 billion went to contractors to help administer some of the contracts and grants. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds that DOD, State, and USAID often enter into these administration contracts haphazardly without checking for potential conflicts of interest or ensuring adequate oversight.

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Commentary: The Rocky Path toward a Budget Resolution

Regardless of which party is in power, springtime in the nation's capital always means one thing: budget debates. After the president submits his budget proposal in February, Congress has until April 15 to pass a budget resolution, a non-binding plan for the spending and revenue levels that congressional appropriations committees are to follow when creating the spending bills for the coming fiscal year. However, in election years, members of Congress are reluctant to go on record as increasing the federal budget deficit, especially since budget resolutions are not absolutely necessary to fund the federal government.

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Treasury's Rush to Sell Citigroup Shares Could Cost Taxpayers

On March 29, the Treasury Department announced that it would begin selling the 7.7 billion Citigroup shares it owns, which represent the government's 27 percent stake in the company. The move is the most significant step Treasury has taken so far in the long process of winding down the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Since selling the stock will generate more than $30 billion, a profit of at least $7 billion, many news reports are claiming it proves the bailout was a "great business" for the government. However, Treasury’s sale may be in conflict with one of TARP’s statutory goals: maximizing taxpayer returns.

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