Summary: One of the basic statutory mandates of GAO is to make recommendations to the Congress "looking to greater economy and efficiency in public expenditures." Congressional action on GAO recommendations resulted in a large portion of the $2.5 billion in measurable savings attributed to GAO. In addition, the agencies take action on GAO recommendations which improve the economy, efficiency, or effectiveness of their operations. The legislative recommendations are based on examinations of individual programs. The proposals are carefully reviewed within GAO. GAO generally endorses the recent Congressional Budget Office report on strategies for reducing the Federal budget. The Federal Government has used indexing as a means of compensating for inflation. Two problems with indexing are the problem of choosing an appropriate indexing formula and difficulty in controlling the Federal budget. Concerning controllability, GAO believes that Congress should take a broader and longer-term approach, since there are varying degrees of control depending upon the nature of the basic commitment of the Government. The reconciliation process, as currently mandated, would be a more effective if legislative savings were set in the first concurrent resolution rather than the second. Finally, increased emphasis on multiyear planning and budgeting is desirable and will be necessary to achieve significant legislative savings.
