Senators Hassan, Braun Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Reduce Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in the Federal Government

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan, Chair of the HSGAC Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight, and Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) introduced a bipartisan bill to create a system for identifying and eliminating wasteful federal programs.

“Too often, there are duplicative or wasteful programs in the federal government that go on for years without anyone taking action to end them,” said Senator Hassan. “This commonsense, bipartisan bill would call on agencies to identify wasteful programs, and then would have agencies and Congress work together to eliminate or consolidate those programs. I am pleased to work with Senator Braun to save Granite Staters’ taxpayer dollars and make government more efficient.”

“Transparency is the key to a more responsible government, and for far too long the federal government has recklessly spent taxpayer money on wasteful programs,” said Senator Braun. “This bill will help root out ineffective spending in the federal government and eliminate these wasteful programs.”    

The bipartisan Wasteful Federal Programs Reduction Authorization Act would create a system to facilitate agency identification of wasteful programs and develop legislation to eliminate those programs. This system would require the following steps:

• First, agencies identify wasteful or duplicative programs to potentially eliminate, and present that list to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB),
• Next, OMB works with Congress to determine whether the program should continue or not, and
• OMB then proposes legislation to eliminate or consolidate the programs identified.

This bill is part of Senator Hassan’s ongoing efforts to cut waste, fraud, and abuse and save taxpayer dollars. The 2020 funding bill included the Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, which Senator Hassan cosponsored, to curb federal improper payments to the deceased and save taxpayer dollars. Last year, the Senator worked to pass into law the bipartisan Taxpayers Right to Know Act, which compiles a public database detailing the costs and purposes of government programs, which enables Congress to increase transparency and curb wasteful spending. Furthermore, in 2019, former President Trump signed into law bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Hassan and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to close a loophole in the Medicaid rebate program that results in big pharmaceutical companies overcharging taxpayers. The bipartisan legislation will save taxpayers approximately $3.1 billion over the next 10 years.

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