Federal workers’ resistance to reform—plus congressional fears of complaints by civil service workers back home in their states or districts—are two main obstacles to achieving President Donald Trump’s plans to reduce the size and costs of the federal government, according to House Oversight and Accountability Committee (HOAC) Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.).
There are 74 IGs who, under the Inspectors General Act of 1978, are appointed by the president but answer to Congress.
Once described by former President Ronald Reagan as the government’s “junkyard dogs,” IGs are the first line of defense against waste, fraud, and abuse in government. Among Trump’s first acts as chief executive was to fire 17 IGs, some of whom he previously appointed during his first term in the White House.
“Congress needs to pay attention,” Comer told The Epoch Times in a recent interview when asked about the thousands of open recommendations. “On my committee, we read the IG reports because we deal with the IGs, but I don’t think very many members of Congress even know what an IG report is.”
When asked why that is the case, Comer said, “You’ve got a lot of Members of Congress who have been here a long time, they are on certain committees ... they love to spend money, but it’s no fun cutting spending.”
“If I'd never filed my stop teleworking bill, I wouldn’t have gotten those calls.”
Comer said that for longtime House members “whose first priority is not the American taxpayers, but self-preservation, it’s best to not say anything.”
“They want to go along to get along, they’re not willing to rock the boat,” he said.
That reality was compounded during the four years of former President Joe Biden’s tenure in the Oval Office, Comer said, because waste, fraud, and abuse “didn’t seem ... to be any concern in the Biden administration.”
Comer told The Epoch Times that he will convene a HOAC hearing in February on the huge backlog of cost-saving recommendations agencies have failed to implement. Gene Dodaro, GAO’s comptroller general, will be the lead witness.
The Kentucky Republican said he expects Trump to make stopping waste, fraud, and abuse a top priority.
“We’re in communication with people in the Trump administration who seem sincere in wanting to work with us to eliminate wasteful spending,” Comer said. “That’s a breath of fresh air because that hasn’t been the case during the past four years.”
Asked about Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by billionaire Elon Musk, Comer said: “I think that Musk has learned a lot over the last two months because he’s obviously very intelligent. You can’t just walk in and on the first day terminate a third of the federal workforce.”
Comer noted that Musk—the key figure behind Tesla electric automobiles and SpaceX retrievable rocket boosters—has “kind of stepped back on some of the stuff,” referring to early estimates by the entrepreneur that federal spending could be slashed by $2 trillion without compromising essential services.
The DOGE effort is not a federal department but is operating as a private entity. Its cost-cutting recommendations will go to the Office of Management and Budget, which can reform federal operations.
Those recommendations are expected to include eliminating duplicative federal programs, reducing the career civil service workforce from its present level of 2.3 million people, eliminating thousands of regulations that impose added costs on businesses, and streamlining the way government operates on a daily basis.
Critics of DOGE sued in federal court during Trump’s inauguration activities, saying the cost-cutting initiative should be classified as a federal advisory commission, which would make it subject to the Freedom of Information Act and multiple ethics and other regulations.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), chairman of the Permanent Investigations Subcommittee of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, told The Epoch Times it is “inexcusable but sadly not surprising” that government agencies have been allegedly disregarding suggestions to cut waste.
“When the federal government ignores thousands of cost-saving and efficiency recommendations from the IG and GAO, they are stealing from the taxpayers and borrowing from future generations to do so,” Johnson said.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), co-chairman of the Senate DOGE Caucus, told The Epoch Times that “when those ideas are not even considered or implemented, that is a double waste of taxpayer dollars.”
“The American people want the government to waste less and save more,” he said. “Agencies and Congress should start with the most obvious areas of efficiency and then keep going to find even more.”
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), co-chairman of the House DOGE Caucus, told The Epoch Times that saving taxpayer money “should be a goal of every federal agency.”
The lawmaker said that congressional oversight “should explore ways to hold agencies accountable that fail to implement IG and GAO recommendations.”
Congressional Democrats who did not respond by publication time to The Epoch Times’ inquiry about the outstanding IG and GAO recommendations included Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), and HOAC Ranking Member Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).
