Weekly Spotlight: Real Solutions for Protecting Your Tax Dollars

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Waste and fraud in government spending is absolutely a critical issue. The government needs to be a responsible steward of hard-earned taxpayer dollars and ensure that these resources are dedicated to the public good, not special or nefarious interests.

But politically motivated “solutions” like gutting the federal workforce and purging inspectors general are counterproductive, and they could in fact make things worse.

POGO was founded on the mission of exposing waste and fraud, and we’ve led the charge on protecting taxpayer dollars for over 40 years. We have plenty of actionable proposals for rooting out waste, and we took them to Congress this week.

On Wednesday, our director of government affairs, Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, spoke in defense of taxpayers and presented real reforms to the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency at their inaugural hearing on the “war on waste.”

The concrete and commonsense solutions he shared include conducting meaningful oversight of the bloated Pentagon budget and protecting the independence of inspectors general, who are indispensable allies in identifying and rooting out waste.

Despite our support of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) purported mission of rooting out waste, we have concerns about the myriad conflicts of interest at DOGE. And, as POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian shared in a statement, Elon Musk’s response to the hearing underscores the need for discussion and work toward real solutions to these issues.

POGO is ready to work with anyone willing to implement substantive reforms to target and prevent government waste.

TESTIMONY

POGO Calls for Focus on Real Reforms to Improve Federal Spending Accountability and Transparency

Testimony Before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The firings remove our systems of checks and balances at a time when the wealthiest man in the world is operating inside the government with vast and unprecedented financial conflicts of interest.”

Caitlin MacNeal, Communications Director, in CBS News

ONE LINERS

“Congress should further solidify inspector general independence by providing for-cause removal protections. This will further insulate inspectors general from political pressure and enhance their ability to fulfill their independent watchdog function.”

Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Director of Government Affairs, in Scripps News

“It’s completely anathema to any stated mission to find cost savings and to root out waste, fraud and abuse, to fire inspectors general and to undermine them. It makes no sense. Those two things do not add up.”

Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Director of Government Affairs, in Huffington Post

“It’s inappropriate for the federal government to purposely hide the identities of senior officials who are shaping the policies and servicing the public.”

Scott Amey, General Counsel, in the The Guardian

“I think it is a deliberate strategy to overwhelm and to come at all of the bulwarks against fraud and waste and ethics concerns all at once.”

Faith Williams, Director of the Effective and Accountable Government Program, in Federal News Network