Sen. Rand Paul Says Key to Reducing Government Waste Is Congressional Will to Cut Spending

Comptroller General Gene Dodaro of the Government Accountability Office testifies during a hearing before the Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee of House Oversight and Reform Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 26, 2020. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is glad the Government Accountability Office publishes its High Risk List of agencies and programs that need reform. But, he said it’s a useless exercise if the work stops there.

“What’s really needed is Congressional will,” said Paul, the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

On Thursday, the committee heard testimony about the 2023 High Risk List from GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro.

Committee Chairman Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said the GAO’s report had saved taxpayers more than $675 billion over the past eight years by exposing “fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement” in various agencies, and forcing those agencies to reform.

“The High Risk List and GAO important oversight has been a vital resource for this committee to identify problems and work on bipartisan legislation to improve the way that the federal government works each and every day,” he said.

Peters said the one overarching issue that influences all the areas listed is cybersecurity.

The government needs to adequately address the problem of cybersecurity by hiring qualified experts to ensure government IT systems are up to speed on the latest security threats, he said.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks in Washington on Dec. 20, 2022. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

According to the GAO website, this year’s list includes 37 areas. Of those, 16 have shown improvement.

Dodaro told the committee that two had been removed from the list.

He said the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation Multi-Employer Pension Program was set to be insolvent in 2026. Improvements in the program and Congressional funding have pushed that date back to 2051.

Also, the 2020 Census implemented some cybersecurity measures and improved its efficiency to the point that it is considered solvent and was removed from the list. However, Dodaro said the programs are still subject to oversight.

“Just because they come off the list they are not out of sight,” Dodaro said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) building is seen in Washington, on July 22, 2019. Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images

He told the committee that three areas had been added to the list.

According to Dodaro, the pandemic showed that the Department of Health and Human Services was unprepared for a major health emergency. Many of the areas on the list were exacerbated by the pandemic, and HHS was a great example.

HHS is no more prepared “for the next emergency than the last one,” Dodaro said.

The Department of Labor’s Unemployment Insurance program paid a minimum of $60 billion in fraudulent claims. This was due to another shortcoming aggravated by the pandemic, Dodaro said.

The sudden surge in requests overloaded state-level staff, who often needed updated and efficient computer systems. In addition, removing oversight in the process made fraudulent claims even more challenging to prevent. Dodaro said the pandemic is not an excuse.

The federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind., on Aug. 28, 2020. Michael Conroy/File Photo via AP

“It was occurring even before the pandemic,” he said.

The third area in need of immediate attention is the Bureau of Prisons. Dodaro said staffing levels, security, and recidivism are all issues that must be addressed to get spending under control.

Paul thanked Dodaro for his work and highlighted many areas that must be addressed. But Paul, who publishes his annual list of wasteful programs, said the problem goes deeper than fraudulent claims and overloaded systems.

Paul said the problem is “bipartisan.”

He said that even as Congress faces a “$31 trillion mountain of debt ... both parties continue to propose new spending.”

An exterior view of building one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) inside Bethesda campus, in Bethesda, Md., on Nov. 21, 2020.  grandbrothers/Shutterstock

According to Paul, Congress gave the National Institutes of Health $1.1 million to study the effects of alcohol on mice.

“Apparently we’re not aware of what happens when you drink too much,” Paul said.

Congress also funded a project to inject beagle puppies with cocaine to the tune of $2.3 million and paid $3 million to watch hamsters on steroids fighting. Paul said the government’s response to the pandemic is emblematic of the problem.

He pointed out that Medicare and Medicaid programs suspended all oversight functions. So, he said, it should be no surprise that Medicare made $46 billion in questionable payments, and Medicaid almost doubled that with $81 billion in improper payments. Paul said the reason for the overpayments is apparent.

“All of the so-called rules for looking for abuse just went out the window,” Paul said.

It’s a Bipartisan Problem

Paul said this is not a problem confined to one party. He said the Department of Defense (DOD), generally considered a favorite of Republicans, has become a “behemoth of spending.” He told the committee that the DOD had been a financial management risk since at least 1995.

“Unfortunately, not much has changed since then, other than the checks keep getting bigger and bigger,” Paul said.

Unless Congress stops funding pet projects and rewarding its political allies, Paul said everything would stay the same. Until then, the problem will continue to grow with the debt as Congress does what it always does.

“Congress sticks its head in the sand and crosses its fingers and hopes the problem will fix itself,” he said.