The head of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has packaged numerous government reform bills passed by that panel into one measure, S-3011, saying the Senate’s Republican leadership has committed to bringing it to a floor vote.
Handling the bills as a set could substantially improve chances of passage in a legislative year already running short on time. Several senators have put legislative holds on some of them, said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., but the consolidation could cause them to lift those holds out of desire to see others they favor enacted.
Most of the measures are bipartisan and many implement recommendations from GAO and other audits, he added.
Areas of focus of the bills include reducing improper payments and other wasteful spending, requiring the disposition of unneeded federal properties and improving property management, addressing duplication among federal programs, requiring more efficient personnel investigations and use of administrative leave, strengthening agency IG offices and GAO, and boosting protections for whistleblowers while increasing training for supervisors.
