Following are the areas that the Republican leaders of the Home Oversight and Accountability Committee have mentioned they may make excessive precedence within the 2023-2024 Congress.
Lapsed Authorizations
The Committee will take into account lapsed authorizations in its jurisdiction within the 118th Congress, and work to enact essential authorizations and reforms. These embrace the Benefit Techniques Safety Board; the Nationwide Archives Historic Publications and Information Fee; the Workplace of Authorities Ethics; and the DC Tuition Help Grant Program.
Expiring Authorizations this Congress
The Committee will take into account expiring authorizations in its jurisdiction within the 118th Congress, and work to enact essential authorization and reforms. These embrace: the Scholarships for Alternative and Outcomes (SOAR) Act—which offers scholarships to college students in Washington, DC—expires September 30, 2023; the Workplace of Nationwide Drug Management Coverage (ONDCP), whose authorization expires September 30, 2023; and the Workplace of Particular Counsel (OSC), whose authorization expires September 30, 2023.
Waste, Fraud, Abuse, and Mismanagement
The Committee will proceed to look at cases of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement of the actions of the federal authorities, with an emphasis on spending. The Committee’s oversight will cowl all federal authorities departments, companies, and applications with a watch towards options for eliminating wasteful spending and abuse of authority. Moreover, the Committee will proceed to look at the scope of and causes for unprecedented ranges of fraud and improper funds in COVID-relief applications. It is going to provide focused legislative proposals that proactively tackle recognized waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.
The Federal Workforce
Because the authorizer of civil service guidelines beneath Title 5 of the US Code, the Committee will conduct oversight to make sure the federal workforce is working effectively and successfully and serves the wants of this nation. The Committee will guarantee expanded telework and distant work insurance policies don’t adversely have an effect on company efficiency and achievement of mission. The federal hiring course of should be aggressive, merit-based, technology-based, and carried out in an economical method.
Federal Regulation and the Regulatory Course of
Whereas some federal rules are essential to successfully implement the legal guidelines that Congress passes, federal rules may also impose important burdens on business, affecting the Nation’s financial progress. The Committee will place particular emphasis on oversight of the federal regulatory course of to make sure that federal regulators work to attenuate pointless burdens on small companies, job creation, financial progress, and competitiveness within the world market whereas sustaining protections for the American individuals.
The Authorities Accountability Workplace
Because the authorizer of the Authorities Accountability Workplace (GAO), the Committee will proceed to assist its mission. As well as, and as required by Home Rule X, clause 4(c)(1)(A), the Committee will proceed to obtain and look at GAO studies and undergo the Home such suggestions because it considers essential or fascinating in reference to the subject material of the studies.
In April 2023, the GAO will problem its biennial “Excessive Threat Checklist” report, which identifies authorities applications which can be significantly susceptible to waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement, or are in want of transformation. The Committee will present ongoing oversight of companies and applications included on the Excessive Threat Checklist by holding hearings, assembly with company officers chargeable for included applications, and monitoring companies’ corrective plans and actions.
Inspectors Normal
The Committee will proceed to work intently with the inspectors normal to make sure they’ve the instruments wanted to successfully carry out their necessary oversight and investigative work. The Committee intends to assist inspectors normal guarantee accountability from their respective companies. The Committee may even take into account the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), which is ready to terminate on September 30, 2025. The Committee will overview the potential want to increase the PRAC past that date, together with the present centralized information analytics unit throughout the PRAC—the Pandemic Analytics Middle of Excellence—to make sure continued efforts to forestall, determine, and fight fraud in federal applications.
GSA Actual Property Disposal
The administration of Federal actual property has been on GAO’s Excessive-Threat record since 2003 as a result of it could possibly take years to promote or in any other case eliminate unneeded authorities properties, which might require tens of millions of {dollars} of taxpayer funds to take care of. The Committee will look at the outcomes thus far of the pilot applications approved by the Federal Belongings Sale and Switch Act of 2016, which was supposed to attain value financial savings by expediting property gross sales by means of new mechanisms, together with a short lived Public Buildings Reform Board. With the Administration emphasizing everlasting, expanded telework and distant insurance policies, the Committee will make sure the federal actual property footprint aligns with evolving workforce wants and company mission calls for.
Whistleblower Safety
The Committee will preserve its efforts associated to the safety of whistleblowers within the federal authorities. The Committee will proceed to work immediately with whistleblowers, together with those that make disclosures of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement to the Committee. The Committee will proceed to advance insurance policies that defend federal workers’ rights, and people of federal contractors and different recipients of monetary help, to speak immediately with Congress and to make sure such workers are conscious of those rights, encouraging different whistleblowers to return ahead. The Committee will look at directives proscribing federal workers from speaking freely with Congress, in addition to allegations of retaliation or reprisal for speaking with Congress.
Federal Monetary Administration
The Committee will look at federal monetary administration. The Committee will give attention to company efforts to cut back improper funds, guarantee fee integrity and correct accounting practices, and obtain an unqualified audit opinion for the federal authorities. The CFO Act as amended requires federal companies to arrange agency-wide monetary statements that endure exterior audit. Up to now, GAO has been unable to problem an audit opinion on the consolidated, government-wide monetary statements, partly because of critical monetary administration issues on the Division of Protection. Specifically, the Committee will give attention to overseeing the Division of Protection’s monetary administration processes and its progress in the direction of changing into auditable.
The Committee may even proceed to research improper funds distributed by federal companies. Beneath the 2002 Improper Funds Data Act (IPIA), federal companies are required to yearly overview all applications and actions to determine these entities inclined to important improper funds.
Authorities Contracting
Controlling federal authorities contract spending is critically necessary. The federal authorities buys all kinds of products and companies, from pens to classy weapons methods to cybersecurity instruments and companies. The Committee will conduct oversight of company contracting to make sure there’s acceptable administration of taxpayer funds and companies are successfully utilizing acquisition methods to attain coverage objectives and guarantee programmatic and mission success. Additional, the Committee will conduct oversight that features a give attention to contract administration and determine areas the place the federal government has not successfully optimized business finest practices or is just not instituting mechanisms to make sure enough competitors. The Committee may even promote the institution of transparency necessities on the level of award to attain the mandatory ranges of oversight all through the life cycle of federal contracts to forestall waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.
Grant Reform
The Committee will proceed to conduct oversight of federal grants, together with grant applications and actions. The Committee will look at the effectivity, equity, and transparency of the grant-making course of, and consider alternatives to reform and streamline the grant-making course of throughout the federal authorities. The Committee may even give attention to making certain larger effectivity for the post-award reporting necessities of recipients of federal monetary help and higher visibility into using federal monetary help so as to fight fraud and abuse.
Cybersecurity and Knowledge Privateness
The Committee will proceed to conduct oversight of the rising variety of cyberattacks impacting federal companies and the personal sector. The Committee intends to look at methods to make sure that companies and company entities take acceptable steps to guard private- and public-sector networks and data methods which can be essential to the nation’s infrastructure and safety, and the non-public info of all People. The Committee additionally will proceed its oversight of government-wide cybersecurity requirements, insurance policies, methods, and instruments established or carried out by the Government Department to guard federal info methods.
Data Know-how and Administration
The Committee will overview the federal authorities’s IT acquisition and administration insurance policies to make sure that taxpayers are getting the utmost return for his or her cash. The Committee will intently monitor the manager department’s efforts to deal with IT methods and tasks that aren’t reaching their supposed goal, streamline these which can be wasteful, rework these which can be failing to ship worth on time and beneath finances, and work to make sure that pricey, failing legacy methods are decommissioned. The Committee will discover legislative reforms to make sure that federally maintained info expertise will be readily tied to company funding accounts and related contract awards, in addition to company applications and strategic mission objectives that are supported by these IT investments.
Open Authorities and Transparency
The Committee will proceed to advocate for data-driven options for rising transparency and accountability all through the federal authorities. The Committee will consider attainable laws to set coverage objectives that higher harmonize reporting obligations and obtain data-driven transparency round federal company programmatic group and efficiency, regulatory procedures and data collections, spending and monetary administration, and evidence-informed policymaking.
United States Postal Service
The Committee will monitor implementation of the not too long ago enacted Postal Service Reform Act (PSRA), which was supposed to facilitate the flexibility of the U.S. Postal Service to attain long-term operational independence and monetary sustainability within the wake of declining mail quantity. The Committee will proceed to trace the monetary efficiency of the Postal Service, to see if the legislation is working as supposed. It is going to additionally oversee OPM’s administration of the brand new Postal Service Well being Profit program created by the PSRA, which is to be created throughout the Federal Staff Well being Advantages (FEHB) program. As well as, the Committee will proceed to watch the Postal Service’s potential to ship the mail expeditiously.
Authorities of the District of Columbia
The Committee will overview the District of Columbia’s use of federal {dollars} to fund its actions. As well as, the Committee will overview District expenditures on native applications to make sure that the expenditures are in keeping with Congressional mandates and federal legislation. The Committee may even proceed its oversight of the District per its plenary authority granted by the Structure.
Nationwide Archives and Federal Information
The Committee will proceed its oversight of the Nationwide Archives and Information Administration’s (NARA) administration of presidency data and ongoing data processing backlogs. This oversight contains how NARA preserves data, together with labeled data, on the finish of a presidential administration.
Workplace of Authorities Ethics
The Committee will proceed its oversight and assist of the Workplace of Authorities Ethics (OGE). The company’s mandate is to steer and oversee government department ethics applications by making and deciphering ethics legal guidelines and rules, advising on and deciphering ethics legal guidelines, supporting ethics coaching, and monitoring compliance. The Committee will proceed to make sure OGE operates in a fashion per its mission of offering clear and neutral ethics steering to federal companies. The Committee may even take into account reauthorization of OGE, whose statutory authorization lapsed in 2007.
Choose Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
H. Res. 5 units forth the oversight jurisdiction of the Choose Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Matters for oversight embrace, however aren’t restricted to, the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and the way the federal authorities responded to the coronavirus pandemic in order that the US can stop and put together for future pandemics.
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