Government Audit and Accountability of Federally Funded State- Administered Programs Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate your abilities at short stop, as well.

I thank Mr. Ro Khanna for his kind words. I have never heard the words ``extraordinary leadership'' attached to the named Tim Burchett before, and I thank the gentleman for that. I thank the gentleman also for including me in this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise, of course, in support of the bipartisan Government Audit and Accountability of Federally Funded State- Administered Programs Act.

This bill directs the Comptroller General, or our good friends at the Government Accountability Office, to produce recurring assessments of federally funded State-administered programs.

This report will compare trends across States and identify programs and administrative practices most vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse in State and local administration of Federal funds.

Every year, approximately $1.1 trillion of taxpayer dollars are administered by State and local governments. The money is administered with little or no oversight from the Federal Government.

How many times have we heard that we need to audit those folks? This does just that. By requiring the GAO to monitor and report on trends across States, we will begin to see which administrative practices are most vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse.

Recently, I have seen fraud run rampant at all levels of government. It is time that we mandate oversight so that the American people know where their taxpayer dollars are going.

Mr. Speaker, we have an obligation to our constituents to protect their hard-earned money. We have an obligation to make sure that government is working for the people. We have an obligation to actually do something, dadgummit, to rid government of waste, fraud, and abuse. It starts today with voting ``yes'' on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend Representative Ro Khanna for his support in rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, and I urge my colleagues to pass this bipartisan piece of legislation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source