Few Available Targets

The process of requiring authorizing committees to find savings, called “reconciliation,” allows those committees to identify where cuts are to be made. However, the Government Reform and Governmental Affairs committees are mainly oversight bodies and control relatively little direct spending. The two main budget items under their control are the federal retirement program and the Federal Employees Health Benefits program. While “reconciliation” has not been used in the past several years, it previously was a nearly annual exercise. In prior years the panels-in the House’s case, the now-defunct Civil Service Committee–looked primarily to those to programs to find the savings they were ordered to achieve. The House Budget Committee plan orders authorizing committees to find their savings from “waste, fraud and abuse,” although the definition of what constitutes such spending is a matter of much debate. Employee unions have expressed concern that the money will come directly from benefits, although civil service leaders in Congress are saying they will work to protect benefits.