Senators Hassan, Paul Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Save Taxpayer Dollars and Cut Waste in the Federal Government

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Chair of the Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight Subcommittee, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced bipartisan legislation to save taxpayer dollars and cut waste by eliminating duplicative government programs.

The bipartisan Acting on the Annual Duplication Report Act of 2022 follows Senator Hassan’s subcommittee hearing in June, which focused on the Government Accountability Office’s most recent annual report detailing duplication, overlap, and fragmentation in federal programs and ways for Congress and federal agencies to address these issues.

“New Hampshire has a proud tradition of fiscal responsibility, and this bipartisan legislation reflects that,” said Senator Hassan. “Our citizens expect us to do everything that we can to ensure that their taxpayer dollars are being spent efficiently, and this legislation will help us cut wasteful spending.”

“Our nation cannot continue to pile debt on top of debt, mortgaging our children’s future for wasteful spending today. Our bipartisan legislation will lead to real savings right away by cutting wasteful and duplicate spending and programs, which is something everyone should agree on,” Senator Paul said.

Highlights of the legislation include:

• Implementing a national coordination strategy to streamline the 200 separate efforts, that exist across 21 agencies, aimed at curbing diet related chronic health conditions, a strategy which could help strengthen program effectiveness and address duplication;
• Establishing a task force to provide consistent federal policies and goals for programs exploring alternatives to radiation technologies. These technologies are used for industrial and medical purposes and may be safer and less expensive than traditional radioactive material; and
• Enabling the implementation of a critical Department of Energy pilot program that is examining an alternative, less costly, and equally as safe method of disposing nuclear waste.  If adopted, this use of this method could save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

Senator Hassan has focused on fiscal responsibility and cutting waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars in the federal government – working across the aisle to cut hundreds of billions in wasteful spending and reduce the debt. For instance, in 2019, 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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