Wasteful Spending Bills Introduced

U-S Senator Gary Peters is co-sponsoring legislation that would help reduce wasteful government spending and cut the deficit.

The Michigan Democrat says the two-bill package will save taxpayer dollars and make government more effective and efficient by helping to eliminate duplicative or overlapping programs and requiring Congress to debate and vote on spending cuts proposed in the president’s annual budget.

The Congressional Oversight to Start Taxpayer Savings Resolution (COST Savings Resolution) would require congressional committees to hold oversight hearings on a Government Accountability Office Annual Report and a GAO High Risk List.

Peters says that 2014 GAO annual report identified 26 areas across the federal government where Congress could eliminate duplicative programs and improve efficiency and effectiveness, as well as 15 areas where Congress could reduce the cost of government operations.

Meantime the 2015 GAO High Risk List identified 32 areas that are at high risk due to vulnerabilities for fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement, or are most in need of transformation. All of those recommendations were ignored by Congress.

Peters says the Expedited Consideration of Cuts, Consolidations and Savings report for fiscal year 2016 identifies more than $14 billion in possible cuts and reductions in federal spending by the president that were also ignored. He says if cuts and consolidations on this year’s list had passed, they would save a projected $110 billion by 2025.