{"id":6025,"date":"2011-10-04T00:41:19","date_gmt":"2011-10-04T07:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=6025"},"modified":"2011-10-04T00:41:19","modified_gmt":"2011-10-04T07:41:19","slug":"gao-on-the-chopping-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/gao-on-the-chopping-block\/","title":{"rendered":"GAO on the chopping block"},"content":{"rendered":"

You might think that the last agency, whose funding people concerned about deficits would want to cut, is one that has successfully saved taxpayers billions by ferreting out fraud and waste.  You might, but if you did, you\u2019d be wrong.  In the House, that is easy enough to explain.  Republicans love fraud and waste as long as it benefits the rich.  But in the Senate, the trouble is that a DINO, worse than even Joe LIEberman, chairs the subcommittee responsible for that agency.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\"4NelsonDinoHat\"The nation\u2019s most prominent federal watchdog, often credited with identifying potential taxpayer savings<\/strong>, may soon fall victim to steep government spending cuts.<\/p>\n

The Government Accountability Office<\/a>, the congressional investigative agency, stands to lose up to $50 million in funding this year that its defenders say would force widespread layoffs and the closure of its regional offices<\/strong>. Current budget proposals also would force the agency to detail the costs and manpower used to publish each of its reports, a task that supportive lawmakers fear could politicize the nonpartisan office.<\/p>\n

GAO publishes more than 1,000 reports and audits annually, and agency officials frequently testify before congressional committees to detail their findings. Despite its relatively spot-free reputation and the billions of dollars in potential savings it has identified in recent years, House and Senate appropriators responsible for drafting the legislative branch budget seem determined to force the GAO to reduce, as part of a 5.2 percent drop in all congressional spending.<\/p>\n

As Washington seeks ways to cut back, \u201cthe buck shrinks here,\u201d said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee on the legislative branch<\/strong>. He said his proposed cuts \u201care real and will force Congress and the agencies on Capitol Hill to live with less<\/strong>.\u201d\u2026 [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Washington Post<\/a>><\/p>\n

I trust that some will be pleased that I finally put the tinfoil hat on a Democrat, but if Nelson is a Democrat, pigs fly.  He sounds like a Republican, votes like a Republican, goose-steps with Republican, and is responsible for weakening healthcare and finance reform more than any other Democrat, and as much as any Republican.  He should be stripped of his subcommittee chair.  He should receive no funding for support from the party.  When he next stands for reelection, she should be challenged by a progressive in the primary, whom the party should fund and support.<\/font><\/p>\n

The GAO is too valuable not to fully fund it.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You might think that the last agency, whose funding people concerned about deficits would want to cut, is one that has successfully saved taxpayers billions by ferreting out fraud and waste.  You might, but if you did, you\u2019d be wrong.  In the House, that is easy enough to explain.  Republicans love fraud and waste as […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}