This article is Part II of a five-part series that provides a brief history of the many efforts of DOGE-type commissions, both by Executive and congressional predecessors. DOGE stands for the Department of Government Efficiency, a creation of President-elect Trump. On November 12, 2024, President-elect Trump announced the establishment of DOGE to root out waste, fraud, and abuse (“WFA”) in the federal government. WFA concerns started as far back as the Civil War.
While Congress appropriates the funds, the Executive branch manages those funds, writes the checks, and implements the audit recommendations. Most of the time, when presidents claim they need additional authority to deal with WFA, it is a subterfuge for more spending, and the WFA is the customary offset. Since Herbert Hoover, every president has increased the national debt, notwithstanding being given additional powers to control the WFA occurring in agencies.
The historical context of WFA efforts is crucial to evaluating their success. Congressional efforts to address WFA started during the Civil War and have continued. A brief timeline of WFA activities establishes that Congress has granted the Executive substantial power to control WFA; however, such powers are not aggressively utilized, which is evidence that WFA is primarily used to enhance Executive power.
The WFA timeline.
The Anti-Deficiency Act of 1861 is a pivotal moment in the history of federal financial management. It was the first effort by Congress to rein in unauthorized spending. This landmark Act bars the Executive branch from disbursing funds before congressional approval and holds federal employees personally accountable for unapproved spending.
The General Accounting Act of 1921, also known as the Budget and Accounting Act, established the Federal Bureau of the Budget and the General Accounting Office, now the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”). This Act imposed a budgeting process in the Executive branch, as Congress lacked the institutional capacity to manage such a process, and established GAO as the arm of Congress that audits federal agencies, thereby enhancing the government’s financial oversight.
Joint Committee on Reduction of Non-Essential Federal Expenditures 1941 (“The Joint Committee”). On the eve of World War II, the federal debt was so high, and a world war was so certain that Congress needed to reduce its spending to address the needs of the military. Congress established a Joint House/Senate Committee to review all federal expenditures, identify all non-essential spending, and refer the non-essential expenditures to the appropriate House/Senate legislative and appropriations committees for action. The Joint Committee was eliminated by the 1974 Budget and Impoundment Control Act, and many of its functions were transferred to the appropriate congressional committees and the Congressional Budget Office (“CBO”).
The Joint Committee was a study committee with the power to recommend its findings to the appropriate committees of the respective houses of Congress. As a study committee, It is difficult to quantify its impact on reducing the size and cost of the federal government. However, the size of the national debt compared to the GDP decreased dramatically during the existence of the Joint Committee. In 1941, the national debt was $49 billion, with a 44% debt-to-GDP ratio. When the Joint Committee was terminated in 1974, the national debt was at $475 billion, but it was only a 31% debt-to-GDP ratio. That was the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio level the U.S. achieved between the Great Depression and today. The present national debt is $36 trillion, and the debt-to-GDP ratio is 122%, which is evidence that the Joint Committee likely had a significant impact on persuading Congress to reduce the cost and size of the federal government.
The Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, 1942, also known as the Truman Committee, was established to investigate profiteers manipulating U.S. resources and materials during World War II. The Senate directed the Truman Committee to investigate procurement and the waste of defense-related materials to address this stealing. The Truman Committee traveled the nation to investigate WFA. It uncovered plants making defective engines, companies creating artificial shortages, and ghost advisers. The successor to Truman’s committee, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, continues to perform similar oversight functions.
The Hoover Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch, 1947, made a significant impact in the fight against WFA. The purpose of the Hoover Commission was to organize the Executive branch of government and eliminate WFA and inefficiency by consolidating agencies and granting the President extensive new powers to control agency policy. It issued 273 recommendations in nineteen separate reports, each of which profoundly affected the government’s efficiency.
The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 dramatically imposed oversight responsibilities on all standing legislative committees of Congress, underscoring the gravity of their role in combating WFA. It created specific congressional committees to perform oversight of all federal government agencies. The Act also forced changes in House and Senate rules to require each standing committee to oversee all laws and agencies within their jurisdiction.
The Inspector General Act of 1978 established the Office of Inspector General in twelve agencies to audit and investigate fraud, report it to the head of the agency and Congress, and report criminal activity to the Attorney General for enforcement.
The Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (1982-1984), better known as “The Grace Commission.” The Grace Commission was the “Grand Daddy” of WFA investigations in the federal government. It was an outgrowth of President Reagan’s statement, “Drain the swamp.” This Commission comprised 161 corporate executives, 36 Task Forces, and 2000 volunteers, making 2,478 recommendations to reduce WFA. The Commission claimed the federal government lost two-thirds of all income taxes collected to WFA, and if its recommendations were implemented, the nation would save $424 billion in three years. While many of its findings were implemented, several agencies, including the CBO and the GAO, questioned many of the Commission’s findings.
After the Grace Commission report was issued in 1984, the national debt increased every year from $1,142 trillion and a 34% debt-to-GDP ratio to today’s national debt of $36 trillion and a 129% debt-to-GDP ratio in 2020, the highest in our history, even exceeding WII’s ratio of 119% in 1946. Today, the GDP ratio to debt is 122%.
The Chief Financial Officers Act of 1992 is a significant legislative measure that has played a crucial role in enhancing the financial management of federal agencies. Its importance cannot be overstated. This Act mandates the implementation of robust accounting systems, financial management practices, and internal controls to ensure the accuracy of financial information and deter any misuse of government resources. As a result, thousands of internal controls have been put in place, significantly reducing the risk of FWA.
National Partnership for Reinventing Government, 1993. This effort is better known as “Reinventing Government.” President Clinton’s Executive Order aimed to make government more efficient, less complacent, and more innovative. The final report was a product of consultations with agencies and contained 2000 pages of proposals. The report estimated it would save the federal government $108 billion with a smaller bureaucracy, program changes, and streamlining government procurement. Many of its proposals required legislation. In 1993, Congress rejected many of the proposals. Vice President Gore claimed it eliminated 24,000 federal employees. Congress, however, did not eliminate any significant departments. In the 104th Congress, Republicans took control, and the Reinventing Government effort languished.
Improper Payments Information Act of 2002. It requires the heads of all executive branch agencies to review their programs and identify those most susceptible to significant improper payments, misestimate the amounts paid, report such amounts, and reduce the improper payments. Since 2003, agencies have identified $2.7 trillion in improper payments, with Medicare, Medicaid, and unemployment insurance being the worst offenders with fraudulent payments between $233 to $521 billion annually.”
GAO began aggressively identifying WFA in 2015. “Since 2015, GAO has made over 40 recommendations for agencies to use data analytical capabilities to help manage fraud risk, such as verifying self-reported data and identifying fraud-related improper payments.” More than half of GAO’s recommendations still need to be fully implemented. GAO estimates the federal government loses between $233 and $521 billion annually to fraud. Additionally, federal agencies reported an estimated $236 billion in improper payments in FY 2023.
GAO established FraudNet (1979—present). FraudNet is a hotline that supports accountability across the federal government and receives complaints about WFA or mismanagement of federal funds. FraudNet refers the complaints to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.
GAO creates a high-risk list of federal programs that are vulnerable to WFA. GAO estimates that by flagging the most serious high-risk programs, the government has saved more than $ 626 billion between 2006 and 2021. GAO estimates that the federal government could save billions of dollars by making the recommended changes in the 37 areas remaining on its High-Risk List. The high-risk areas are a group of diverse activities, such as reducing federal excess property, the failure to share terrorism information, interagency contracting abuses, and the management of excess DOD support infrastructure.
In GAO’s most recent High-Risk List, “There are 37 areas on our High-Risk List in April 2023. Overall, 16 areas on our list improved, the most since we began rating high-risk areas 8 years ago. These improvements have resulted in approximately $100 billion in financial benefits since the last update two years ago. One area—DOD’s business systems modernization—regressed. And we removed two existing areas—the 2020 decennial census and pension benefit programs.”
On November 18, 2024, the Pentagon announced it had failed its seventh audit in a row and could not provide a full accounting of its $824 billion budget.
GAO established a congressional relations office on Capitol Hill to assist Congress directly. The GAO Capitol Hill office provides designated subject matter experts for every House and Senate Committee and an email contact sheet for easy contact. The experts can advise Congress on all issues it addresses, which are many since GAO issues 1000 reports a year to Congress.
Conclusion. The amount of information developed by WFA commissions is massive. Moreover, over decades, Congress has granted many new authorities to the President to address WFA. Yet, federal agencies have not addressed many of the recommendations. Indeed, presidents complain about WFA but have not ordered the agencies under their management to address the recommendations. Worse, a group of agencies continue to fail audits. It is not a question of a lack of presidential power to address WFA. Presidents hold a massive amount of power to address WFA. Instead, it is the failure of presidents to prioritize the use of the power in light of their many other urgent, time-consuming duties. This fact presents a compelling case for devolving many federal domestic functions to the states. The federal government is just too big and complex to be managed. By returning the domestic powers to the states, a President can focus on the essential duties of protecting the nation. In contrast, state and local officials can better administer programs closer to the people they are to serve.
Part I: When DOGE Meets Political Chaos
