Bipartisan Hassan-Backed Bills to Strengthen Government Accountability, Save Taxpayer Dollars Pass Committee

To watch Senator Hassan’s remarks, click here.

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), on which Senator Maggie Hassan serves, approved several bipartisan bills that Senator Hassan co-sponsored to save taxpayer dollars and improve government accountability and transparency.

The Committee also voted to approve bipartisan legislation cosponsored by Senator Hassan to target deepfake technology – new misinformation technology that generates and distorts videos, images, or audio clips to make a person appear to say or do something that they did not or to depict events that did not actually occur.

“As a member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, I am committed to working across the aisle in order to improve government accountability and cut wasteful spending,” Senator Hassan said. “I am pleased that the Committee voted today to approve a number of bipartisan bills that I have cosponsored to advance these priorities.”  

Hassan-backed measures that the Committee today voted to approve include:

• The bipartisan Duplication Scoring Act of 2019, which Senator Hassan introduced with Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to help assess if new legislation creates duplicative or overlapping features of existing government programs.

• The bipartisan Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act, which Senator Hassan introduced with Senator James Lankford (R-OK) and others to compile a public database detailing the costs and purposes of government programs, enabling Congress to increase transparency and curb wasteful spending.

• The bipartisan Deepfake Report Act of 2019, which Senator Hassan cosponsored to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to publish annual reports assessing the usage of deepfake technology- including usage by foreign governments, their proxies and networks - to commit fraud, to cause harm, or to violate civil rights recognized by federal law.

As Ranking Member of the HSGAC subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management, Senator Hassan is focused on strengthening fiscal responsibility and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse. Earlier this year, Senator Hassan joined in introducing the bipartisan Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act to end erroneous payments the federal government makes to deceased individuals, as well as the Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act to modernize the reporting system for recipients of federal grants, helping to strengthen fiscal responsibility by better tracking the use of taxpayer dollars.

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