GAO: Suggested Areas for Oversight for the 110th Congress

November 17, 2006

Congressional Leadership:

As I publicly announced in early September, I am pleased to offer three sets of recommendations, based on the work of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), for your consideration for the agenda of the 110th Congress. The first suggests targets for near-term oversight; the second proposes policies and programs that are in need of fundamental reform and re-engineering; and the third lists governance issues that should be addressed to help ensure an economical, efficient, effective, ethical, and equitable federal government capable of responding to the various challenges and capitalizing on related opportunities in the 21st century. Details on each of these recommendations can be found in the enclosure.

As you know, GAO has three key roles to play in making a difference for the Congress and the American people: oversight, insight, and foresight. The attached lists reflect those missions and represent an effort to synthesize GAO’s institutional knowledge and special expertise for the benefit of you and your colleagues in your planning efforts. In this regard, I believe that to be effective, congressional oversight needs to be constructive. For example, related hearings and other activities should offer opportunities for leading federal agencies to share best practices and facilitate governmentwide transformation. They should also hold people accountable for delivering positive results in an economical, efficient, effective, ethical, and equitable manner. This balanced approach is likely to help accelerate progress while avoiding a further erosion of the public’s trust and confidence in government.

We at GAO stand ready to assist the 110th Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities, just as we have assisted the 109th Congress. For example, during fiscal year 2006, GAO witnesses testified at 240 hearings and provided 17 additional statements for the record. As you know, we are preparing updates of our Strategic Plan and High-Risk List for publication early in calendar year 2007. However, I also wanted to offer these sets of recommendations in order to give you and other leaders a jump-start on your planning for the next Congress.

There are two general themes that support our recommendations. First, we cannot afford to continue business as usual in Washington, given our current deficit and
growing long-term fiscal challenges. Second, most of the federal government’s current policies, programs, functions, and activities are based on conditions that existed decades ago, are not results-based, and are not well aligned with 21st century realities. Therefore, there is a need to engage in a fundamental review, reprioritization, and re-engineering of the base of government. These themes provided the foundation for our February 2005 report 21st Century Challenges: Re-examining the Base of the Federal Government (GAO-05-325SP).

I would be pleased to discuss these recommendations with you and other members of the leadership team at your earliest convenience. GAO’s Office of Congressional Relations will be contacting your staff to schedule a meeting. In the meantime, I will be sharing these ideas with your colleagues on both sides of the aisle in both chambers.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Sincerely yours,
David M. Walker
Comptroller General
of the United States

(The rest of the report is here.)