On Thursday, the Republican Study Committee (RSC) released its Government Efficiency, Accountability, and Reform (GEAR) Task Force report, with over 100 ideas to improve federal government operations.
The report is chock full of great proposals, and it’s impossible to go through all 113 in short form. (Indeed, the RSC’s report is 67 pages!) However, it is worth highlighting some of the strongest ideas in the report, several of which NTU has supported in recent years.
The GEAR Task Force breaks its recommendations out across three broad goals: 1) Reform Government Power Structures; 2) Reform Government Practices; 3) Reform Government Personnel Policies. Here are some of our favorite ideas from each bucket.
Reform Government Power Structures
Enact the REINS Act: This legislation would flip the script on the overly burdensome regulatory state by requiring Congress to affirmatively approve regulations that have a major impact on the economy. Current law only gives Congress the power to disapprove of already-issued regulations within a certain time frame. As NTU wrote in 2017, “[t]he REINS Act would begin the process of ensuring that regulatory agencies hew more closely to Congress’ intent; it is a crucial component in the effort to reform our nation’s regulatory system and restoring the separation of powers at the heart of our American experiment.”
Enact the Article I Restoration Act: This bill would require any regulation to sunset three years after it goes into effect unless Congress specifically reauthorizes the regulation. The Article I Restoration Act would significantly boost Congressional oversight of the federal bureaucracy, and would allow Congress to regularly affirm that the executive branch is following the legislative branch’s intent.
Enact the Article I Regulatory Budget Act: In March 2016, a coalition of taxpayer and consumer advocates urged Congress to “pass a budget that includes [a] regulatory budget.” Legislation introduced later in 2016 would have done just that, requiring both Congress and the President to develop and submit a regulatory budget that details the (current and estimated) costs of complying with current and future federal regulations. This legislation has not been introduced in the 116th Congress, but would be a valuable addition to the conversation.
Enact the Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act: For anyone who has tried to parse a proposed or final rule on regulations.gov, this bill will sound like a commonsense reform. It would require federal agencies submitting proposed rules “to include a link to a 100-word plain language summary of the proposed rule.” It’s a small and simple suggestion, but one that would better connect agencies and their missions to the citizens they work for.
Enact the Guidance Out of Darkness (GOOD) Act: NTU has noted before that federal agency guidance - distinct from proposed and final regulations - can wittingly or unwittingly inspire confusion and inefficiency in government practices. While lots of agency guidance is available online, the GOOD Act would ensure that no agency can bury important guidance - which can include memos, press releases, blog posts, and more - away from quick and easy taxpayer access.
Reform the National Emergencies Act (NEA): The RSC points out that 33 of 56 NEA declarations since 1979 remain in effect, and not one has been “successfully overriden by congressional disapproval.” Clearly, something needs to change. The RSC GEAR Task Force would chip away at these perpetual “emergencies” by requiring a short-term “initial expiration date” mere months from the start date of a national emergency, with affirmative Congressional approval required to continue the emergency. They would also “impose a cap of some specific amount on new emergency spending,” preventing limited tax dollars from flowing to unilaterally imposed presidential emergencies.
Reform Government Practices
Utilize Excess Federal Office Space: Imagine being a building owner who’s unable to lease an empty office space because of arbitrary requirements. That’s what happens to federal agencies now, due to a law that requires the General Services Administration (GSA) to verify federal office space cannot be used by another agency before it can be sold or leased. According to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report cited by the RSC, in FY2016 the federal government owned 3,120 vacant buildings and 7,859 underutilized buildings. The Task Force wants to allow agencies to sell their unused offices (making government more efficient and bringing in revenue) and to expand agencies’ enhanced leasing authority.
Stop Paying Dead People: This one seems like the most obvious recommendation on the list, but the data underscores the need for reform: according to the RSC, the Social Security Administration (SSA) Inspector General estimated in 2016 that the SSA paid $37.7 million to 746 dead veterans. Better coordination between federal, state, and local agencies could reduce these improper payments, and ensure that Americans are not funneling millions of dollars into these black holes.
Consolidate Department of Energy (DOE) Applied Energy Programs Into an Office of Energy Innovation: One of the most frequent refrains from leaders of both political parties is the need for an “all-of-the-above” energy policy. Lawmakers should follow through on that commitment by allowing DOE’s various research and development programs to compete with one another under one roof. As the Task Force points out, under current law these programs are split by the type of energy source, encouraging wasteful and inefficient government spending.
Pass the Taxpayers Right to Know Act: Not only is this a strong recommendation, but it is a timely one: the House passed the bill this week. It would compel the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to develop and publish a federal programs inventory, a crucial undertaking given no one knows how many federal programs even exist. As NTU wrote, “[i]t is past time that OMB work on developing such an inventory, which will help citizens and taxpayer advocates identify duplicative or overlapping federal programs."
Reform Government Personnel Policies
Reform Federal Retirement Plans: The private sector is moving away from the defined-benefit pension model because it is risky and cost-prohibitive for companies large and small. The federal government should do the same. The GEAR Task Force would take steps to phase out the Federal Employment Retirement System (FERS) pension model, and move federal employees to a 401(k) model known as the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). This merely aligns federal employees with their private sector counterparts when it comes to retirement offerings, giving them greater portability and saving taxpayers billions of dollars in the process.
Promote Responsible Federal Employee Health Insurance Plans: The RSC points out that under the current Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program, “participants choose from a range of plans and pay about 30 percent of premiums, with the federal government covering the remaining 70 percent.” In so doing, the federal government runs the risk of employees choosing inefficient, overly generous health insurance plans that outpace employees’ needs, since the federal match is the same no matter what plan an employee chooses. Instead, the GEAR Task Force would transition “to a premium support system under which the government would offer a standard, flat federal contribution,” better controlling costs while maintaining a significant degree of choice for federal employees.
Conclusion
The above recommendations are just the tip of the iceberg in this report. NTU looks forward to seeing progress on the other 101 proposals, which would collectively save taxpayers billions of dollars and make the government more efficient and accountable in the process. It’s time for lawmakers in both chambers to kick this plan into gear.