Oversight

Recommendations to Strengthen GAO’s Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics Program

April 15, 2021 | Zach Graves

This post was co-authored by Zach Graves and Dan Lips. The FY2022 appropriations process is underway. While it represents a small fraction of overall spending, one of the most important challenges on Congress’s agenda is meeting the funding needs for the Legislative Branch, and providing resources for key support agencies like the Government Accountability Office

April 12, 2021 | Dan Lips

An Interview with Deloitte Analysts William Eggers and Steve Berman The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office issues more than a thousand recommendations to Congress and executive agencies each year to improve operations and increase fiscal efficiency. According to the Comptroller General’s annual estimates, the Congressional watchdog agency routinely achieves a return-on-investment of more than $100

March 19, 2021 | Dan Lips

Days before Congress passed the $1.9 trillion emergency spending package, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued a grim snapshot of the nation’s fiscal condition. CBO warned that the “growing debt burden could increase the risk of a fiscal crisis and higher inflation as well as undermine confidence in the U.S. dollar, making it more costly to finance public and private

November 10, 2020 | Dan Lips

An extra $76 million in funding for GAO could yield $7 billion in savings based on recent performance The lame-duck session is underway. As the clock winds down on the 116th Congress, lawmakers have a busy agenda for its final weeks–from considering a new emergency spending bill to NDAA and a December 11th deadline to

October 23, 2020 | Dan Lips

GAO’s Work Has Yielded $1.1 Trillion in Taxpayer Savings Since 1999. But Congress Can Do More to Leverage Them. The United States faces growing governance and fiscal challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic is exposing the federal government’s limited ability to manage a national crisis. The Congressional Budget Office warns that the national debt will eclipse GDP

June 24, 2020 | Dan Lips

On Thursday, Senator Chuck Grassley and nine bipartisan co-sponsors introduced legislation to protect federal watchdogs’ independence. The “Securing Inspector General Independence Act of 2020” comes at a critical time of declining public confidence in government and demonstrates Congressional commitment to independent oversight. in a recent article for The Hill, my former colleague Keith Ashdown and

Congress Must Protect Federal Watchdogs

June 15, 2020 | Dan Lips

By Keith Ashdown, former Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee staff director and Dan Lips, Director of Cyber and National Security Policy President Trump recently fired several of the federal government’s most respected inspectors general–prompting a rare outcry of bipartisan criticism of the White House. Congressional Democrats were instinctively quick to condemn the president’s actions.

April 22, 2020 | Dan Lips

Removing regulatory barriers to allow federal and state agencies to work together is a good start Writing in the Wall Street Journal this weekend, Andy Kessler described how wasted tax dollars and outdated IT systems are hindering the nation’s ability to address the COVID-19 pandemic, pointing to alarming examples at the state and federal level.

April 7, 2020 | Dan Lips

By Maggi Molina and Dan Lips Congress faces major challenges in 2020—including the Coronavirus pandemic and addressing its significant disruptions to our way of life. With the Congressional Budget Office already forecasting trillion dollar federal deficits through 2030, lawmakers may have less flexibility to authorize new spending to address these problems. One way for Congress

March 30, 2020 | Dan Lips

Former Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) passing this weekend marked a rare moment of unity in this highly partisan era with an outpouring of tributes from liberal Sens. like Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and conservative senators like Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) praising their former colleague. Why? Read the rest of the article at The Hill.

December 31, 2019 | Dan Lips

In a new op-ed in The Hill, Lincoln Network’s Garrett Johnson and R Street Institute’s Tony Mills explain why taxpayers should support strengthening the Government Accountability Office—pointing to the auditors’ estimated return-on-investment of $338 for each tax dollar spent in FY2019. Since 2010, GAO has delivered hundreds of billions in taxpayer savings, including by identifying

November 25, 2019 | Dan Lips

Government Watchdogs Can Use Data Analytics to Identify Billions in Taxpayer Savings While impeachment hearings and the 2020 election dominate the political headlines, several encouraging bipartisan efforts to reform Washington and improve governance are making progress below the radar. The result could be billions in taxpayer savings. This month, the House of Representatives extended the

October 21, 2019 | Will Upton

To further our vision for bridging the gap between Silicon Valley innovators and Washington, DC, policymakers, Lincoln Network has expanded its policy team with a key new hire. Lincoln Network welcomes Dan Lips as Director of Cyber and National Security Policy. Prior to Lincoln, Lips served as Assistant Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs