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Congress’s Government Accountability Office has done some good work over the years documenting federal fraud and waste. But unfortunately these days it’s a media favorite for the wrong reasons. GAO’s unelected staff can now be counted on to opine confidently that federal law requires the Trump administration to spend more money than it intends. GAO has shown remarkable energy in defending federal budgets against taxpayers. But how does this ostensible watchdog function when average Americans are the ones who require protection from abusive government? One very large recent example suggests that the GAO was as sleepy as our 46th president. As for its recent
activities, news consumers may be familiar with GAO’s opposition to President Trump’s use of so-called pocket rescission. In late August the White House detailed some of the items it was seeking to avoid funding. Most of them will not strike taxpayers as completely necessary: $24.6 million to build climate resilience in Honduras.
$38.6 million for biodiversity and low-emissions development in West Africa.
$60,000 for listening tours on local development in Timor-Leste.
$12,000 for “telling the USAID story” in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
$13.4 million for civic engagement in Zimbabwe… $4 million for the New Alliance for Global Equality to advance “global LGBTQI+ awareness.”
$3.9 million to promote “democracy” for LGBTQI+ populations in the Western Balkans.
$2 million for “Organizing for Feminist Democratic Principles” in Africa
$40 million to address “the needs, opportunities, and challenges identified by activists, and other civic actors engaged in nonviolent collective action” So far, the president has also been winning the legal argument. The Journal’s Lydia Wheeler reported late last month: The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s emergency request to allow it to withhold $4 billion in foreign-aid spending that had been approved by Congress.
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