Increase oversight of agencies, GAO chief tells Congress

Congress should exercise more vigorous oversight of government spending to root out waste and inefficiency, General Accounting Office chief David Walker told the House Budget Committee Thursday.

Regardless of the record budget surpluses both the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget are now forecasting, Budget Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, pledged the panel's renewed commitment to ferreting out waste, fraud and abuse in agencies.

Budget ranking member John Spratt, D-S.C., added that members of Congress "ought to look at ourselves" as sources of wasteful government spending as well, and cited the proliferation of funding earmarks in appropriations bills, complicated procurement rules set for the Defense Department and lax oversight of executive branch compliance with new self-auditing requirements as examples of how Congress has contributed to the problem.

Walker said, "More needs to be done by both the executive branch, including OMB, and the Congress in order to achieve lasting improvements," and added that "vigilant congressional oversight will be absolutely critical ... to resolving these problems."

Walker went on to say that with budget deficits at least temporarily turned into surpluses and the Cold War fought and won, "this is an opportune time" for Congress to redouble its oversight activities.

While Walker testified about several government programs at "high risk" for fraud and overspending, including Medicare, Medicaid and housing subsidies, the focus largely was on the Defense Department, which Walker said should get a "D+ in the area of economic efficiency" for systemic and persistent "financial management problems," as well as "continued overpayment" of defense contractors and "fundamental problems" with the acquisition of weapons systems and non-combat items.

For example, Walker said DoD bought 6,700 trailers at a cost of $10,000 each that cannot be used, and that would cost "several hundred to $1,000 each" to repair.