Follow WatchBlog via Email
-
Recent Posts
- We’ve Moved! Continue following the WatchBlog at GAO.gov/blog
- What is the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and How Does It Protect Consumers from Hazards?
- The 2021 High Risk List—Which Programs Are At High Risk of Fraud, Waste, and Abuse? (videos)
- Pregnant Women in Federal Custody—A Uniquely Vulnerable Population
- Medicaid in Times of Crisis, and An Introduction to Our New Special Product—The Health Care Capsules
- How the Small Business Administration Partners with Historically Black Colleges and Universities
- Rural Hospital Closures Create More Distance Between Residents and Care
- Vaccine Distribution, Supply Chain, Testing Still Present Challenges in Federal Pandemic Response
- Move Over! How Are Governments Trying to Protect First Responders From Roadside Crashes? (video)
- How GAO’s Recommendations Can Help the New Congress and President
Categories
- About GAO
- Agriculture and Food
- Auditing and Financial Management
- Budget and Spending
- Business Regulation and Consumer Protection
- Collections
- Communications
- Coronavirus
- disaster assistance
- Disaster Assistance
- Duplication and Cost Savings
- Economic Development
- Education
- Employment
- Energy
- Equal Opportunity
- Financial Markets and Institutions
- Fiscal Outlook and The Debt
- Fraud
- Government Operations
- Graphic
- Health Care
- High Risk List
- Homeland Security
- Housing
- Human Capital
- Infographic
- Information Management
- Information Security
- Information Technology
- Interactive graphic
- International Affairs
- Justice and Law Enforcement
- Key Issues
- Mission Team
- National Defense
- Natural Resources and Environment
- OGC
- Podcast
- Quick Look
- Racial Disparities
- Recovery Act
- Retirement Security
- Science and Technology
- Space
- Tax Policy and Administration
- Technology Assessment
- Topics
- Trade
- Transportation
- Veterans
- Video
- Worker and Family Assistance
Tag Archives: federal spending
Improper Payments on the Rise
Increasingly, the federal government is making payments it shouldn’t. Improper payments are when the federal government overpays, underpays, or makes payments to ineligible recipients. In FY 2019, federal agencies reported about $175 billion in estimated improper payments—up from $151 billion … Continue reading
The DATA Act: Checking in on Spending Transparency
Federal agencies spend over $4 trillion a year. But how that money is spent isn’t always easy to track. That’s one reason why Congress passed the DATA Act—requiring agencies not only to publicly report spending data on USAspending.gov, but also … Continue reading
Posted in Auditing and Financial Management, Budget and Spending, Government Operations
Tagged Budget data, Data elements, Data integrity, data quality, Defense procurement, Federal funding accountability, Federal procurement, federal spending, Federal spending transparency, Financial accountability, Financial Management and Assurance, FMA, Medicare spending, Michelle Sager, Office of Management and Budget, Paula Rascona, SI, strategic issues
Leave a comment
Federal Government Contracting for Fiscal Year 2018 (infographic)
With tax season over, now is a good time to look at how the government uses your tax dollars. About 40% of the government’s discretionary spending goes to contracts for goods and services covering everything from health care to hand … Continue reading
Posted in Budget and Spending, Government Operations, Homeland Security, Infographic, National Defense, Science and Technology
Tagged Bill Woods, budget, CNSA, competitive bids, contracting, defense spending, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, DOD, federal spending, government contracting, high risk list, NASA, small business
Leave a comment
The Nation’s Precarious Fiscal Future
The United States faces a highly challenging fiscal future. Absent change in policy, the federal fiscal path is unsustainable—debt is growing faster than the economy (GDP). This springs from the continuing gap between the amount of money the federal government … Continue reading
Posted in Budget and Spending, Fiscal Outlook and The Debt, Graphic, Podcast, Video
Tagged Dawn Simpson, federal debt, federal spending, fiscal future, fiscal health, FMA, GDP, Robert Dacey, SI, simulation, Susan Irving
Leave a comment
Trends in Federal Contracting
In fiscal year 2015, the federal government spent more than $430 billion on contracts for goods and services—almost 40 percent of all discretionary spending. These contracts covered everything from products such as major weapons systems and IT equipment, to services … Continue reading
Working toward Implementing the DATA Act
Federal agencies spend more than $3.7 trillion a year. But it’s not always easy to get reliable, useful, and consistent information about this spending—information that can help improve oversight, decision making, and transparency. So, Congress passed the Digital Accountability and … Continue reading
Posted in Auditing and Financial Management, Budget and Spending, Government Operations
Tagged DATA Act, deadline, Department of the Treasury, Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014, federal spending, FMA, implementation plans, Office of Management and Budget, OMB, Treasury, Treasury Department
Leave a comment
Understanding Sequestration
The 2013 budget cuts known as “sequestration” were the first of their kind in more than two decades—and they’ll be with us for years. In fact, sequestration in some form is scheduled to continue annually through 2025, in the hopes … Continue reading
Posted in Budget and Spending, Fiscal Outlook and The Debt, Government Operations
Tagged 101, deficit reduction, explainer, federal spending, FY14, Office of Management and Budget, OMB, reducing the deficit, saving money, sequester, sequestration, SI, spending cuts, what did sequestration do?, what is sequestration?
Leave a comment
Budget Day Is Around the Corner
The 2017 President’s Budget is scheduled to be released next week. The president’s proposal is the result of work that started last spring at the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, and executive branch agencies—from Agriculture to Veterans … Continue reading
Tracking Federal Spending with the DATA Act (infographic and podcast)
The federal government spends more than $3.5 trillion dollars a year. But how that money is spent is not always easy to track. Enter the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014. Known as the “DATA Act,” this law is … Continue reading
Video on our Duplication and Cost Savings Work
In light of today’s challenging fiscal environment, improving government efficiency and effectiveness is important. Our work has identified hundreds of specific actions that the federal government can take–or in some cases, has already taken–to reduce or better manage fragmentation, overlap, and … Continue reading
Posted in About GAO, Budget and Spending, Duplication and Cost Savings, Government Operations, Video
Tagged about GAO, agencies, budget, cost savings, duplication, federal spending, fragmentation, government accountability office, government operations, overlap, revenue, revenue enhancement, spending, usgao, video
Leave a comment