The letter comes shortly after the GAO—acting in its capacity as an overseer of government appropriations—ruled that the Transportation Department violated the Impoundment Control Act. Image: Mark Van Scyoc/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffOMB has pulled back from cooperating with GAO, saying that moving forward it will only “do so in a manner that ensures that the burdens of such engagements do not unduly impede OMB’s ability to implement the President’s agenda and comply with OMB’s other legal duties.”
A letter to the GAO said that “Over the years, OMB has struggled to keep up with the tens of dozens of annual GAO engagements,” some of which are duplicative or closely follow a completed one on the same subject. GAO further “almost always seeks information that is predecisional and deliberative . . . In sum, GAO’s requests are voluminous, burdensome, and inappropriately invasive.”
Reports from GAO, a legislative branch agency, typically are initiated at the request of one or more members of Congress, a committee or through language in appropriations bills—in many cases, with bipartisan support—to assess potential new policy options or how well executive branch agencies are complying with existing laws and policies.
The letter comes shortly after the GAO—acting in its capacity as an overseer of government appropriations—ruled that the Transportation Department violated the Impoundment Control Act by suspending spending obligations for electric vehicle infrastructure that was funded by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
During the first Trump administration, the GAO had issued several rulings saying that agencies had violated the Antideficiency Act by keeping open operations for which spending authority had lapsed in the late 2018-early 2019 government shutdown.
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