Description:
S. 780 would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review all legislation that has been reported by any Congressional committee to determine if that legislation includes programs that would duplicate or overlap with programs identified in GAO’s annual reports on duplicative and overlapping programs. The bill also would require GAO to post that information on its website and to provide the information to the Congressional Budget Office. CBO also reviews all bills ordered reported by a Congressional committee as part of our statutory requirement to provide cost estimates of those bills. CBO currently reviews about 700 bills a year that have been ordered reported by a Congressional authorizing committee. On that basis and using information from GAO about the number of people needed for GAO to also review those bills, CBO estimates that the additional work under S. 780 would cost more than $500,000 annually starting in 2024; for GAO those costs would total about $3 million over the 2023-2028 period and for CBO those costs would be insignificant over the same period. Any additional spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.