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Category Archives: Budget and Spending
Following the Money: The Audit Trail
You may remember from your elementary school civics class (or our previous Watchblog posts) that Congress allocates the money that executive branch agencies use to carry out their work. But who makes sure these agencies are spending this money correctly? … Continue reading
National Save for Retirement Week
The U.S. population is changing and so is retirement. Boomers are aging, traditional pensions are shifting to voluntary contribution plans, and Social Security faces important financial challenges. Planning—and saving—for retirement is more important than ever. For National Save for Retirement … Continue reading
Funding What Works (infographic)
A new policy tool called “tiered evidence grantmaking” allows federal agencies to award smaller amounts of grant funding to test promising ideas, and larger amounts to replicate practices with a proven record of success. How exactly does that work? Scroll … Continue reading
Working toward Implementing the DATA Act
Federal agencies spend more than $3.7 trillion a year. But it’s not always easy to get reliable, useful, and consistent information about this spending—information that can help improve oversight, decision making, and transparency. So, Congress passed the Digital Accountability and … Continue reading
What You Need to Know about Tax Incentives and the Federal Budget (infographic)
The federal budget consists of revenue (mostly taxes, but also things like user fees and intragovernmental revolving funds) and spending. But not all spending looks the same. Spending through tax provisions—known as tax incentives or expenditures—is not as well-known as … Continue reading
Will “Hamilton” Win Big? Its Namesake Already Inspired a Lot of GAO Work
Alexander Hamilton has quite the legacy: he was the first Secretary of the Treasury; he created a plan for managing the national debt; and he is now the inspiration behind the Tony Award-nominated musical, Hamilton. In anticipation of this Sunday’s … Continue reading
Auditing the Government’s Books
Congress and the President need reliable, useful, and timely financial information so they can make difficult budget choices and deal with the nation’s long-term fiscal challenges. Each year, we audit the governmentwide financial statements to help make sure good information … Continue reading
The DATA Act Turns 2
The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014, known as the DATA Act, is 2 years old today. This law is supposed to make it easier to get reliable, standardized information on federal spending. Today’s WatchBlog explores what we’ve found … Continue reading
Understanding Sequestration
The 2013 budget cuts known as “sequestration” were the first of their kind in more than two decades—and they’ll be with us for years. In fact, sequestration in some form is scheduled to continue annually through 2025, in the hopes … Continue reading
Unused Federal Grant Dollars (infographic)
The federal government awards grants to states, nonprofits, universities, and others to help meet a variety of national goals. But not all of this grant money reaches its destination. So what happens to the hundreds of millions of unspent grant … Continue reading
