To: Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
From: National Taxpayers Union
Date: December 1, 2025
Subject: NTU’s Views on December 2, 2025, Committee Markup
I. Introduction and Key Taxpayer Considerations
On behalf of National Taxpayers Union (NTU), the nation’s oldest taxpayer advocacy organization, we write to express our views on several measures slated for consideration before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on December 2, 2025. NTU applauds the Committee for your continued efforts to advance legislation that improves government efficiency, protects whistleblowers, enhances transparency, and shields taxpayers from wasteful spending. As such, NTU strongly urges Committee members to support H.R. 143, H.R. 5578, H.R. 5749, and the Information Quality Assurance Act.
II. Legislation NTU Supports at December 2 Markup
H.R. 143 - Unauthorized Spending Accountability Act - Support. This legislation sponsored by Rep. Cammack (R-FL) would create a process to end zombie programs. The Unauthorized Spending Accountability Act would phase out appropriations for programs operating under lapsed authorizations. In the first year after an authorization lapses, the program’s funding would face an automatic 10% sequester. This would be followed by an additional 15% reduction in the second year. By the end of the third unauthorized year, the program would be terminated unless Congress acts to reauthorize it. The bill’s budgetary reduction schedule begins in fiscal year 2026 and includes provisions to ensure that programs with expired authorizations before that year are also subject to the same phase-out process. These pre-2026 programs would be treated as if their authorizations expire in 2026, starting their three-year countdown at that point. Lawmakers would rely on CBO’s annual “Expired and Expiring Authorizations of Appropriations” report to identify these programs. The goal of this bill is not simply to reduce wasteful spending, but also to encourage lawmakers to invigorate the oversight role of Congress through regular legislative review.
H.R. 5578 - Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act - Support. This legislation, introduced by Ranking Member Garcia (D-CA) and Chairman Comer (R-KY), would significantly strengthen whistleblower protections for federal contractors. It closes longstanding loopholes in current law that leave contractor employees vulnerable to retaliation after reporting waste, fraud, or abuse within federal agencies. These gaps not only discourage honest workers from coming forward, but also allow those who engage in retaliation to avoid meaningful accountability. With trillions of taxpayer dollars flowing through federal contracts, employees deserve clear, enforceable protections when they speak up to safeguard the integrity of public funds.
H.R. 5749 – Official Time Reporting Act – Support. This legislation, introduced by Reps. Foxx (R-NC), Comer (R-KY), and Palmer (R-AL), would require the Office of Personnel Management to compile an annual report about the use of official time by federal employees. Federal law currently allows federal employees “official time” to engage in collective bargaining activities. While on official time, federal employees are paid by the government to negotiate collective bargaining agreements, file and litigate grievance complaints, participate in labor–management discussions, lobby Congress, and do other union-related work. A 2018 investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs found “nearly one thousand [federal] employees . . . spend at least half their working hours as union representatives, meaning many employees ‘are being paid for work they were not hired to do without doing work they were hired to do.’” Thankfully, this legislation would help shine a light on the extent of this practice and better quantify the overall cost to taxpayers.
No Bill Number – Information Quality Assurance Act of 2025 – Support. This legislation, sponsored by Rep. McClain (R-MI), would require federal rulemakings to utilize the most accurate and up-to-date information possible. Specifically, it ensures that federal agencies rely on the best reasonably available scientific, technical, demographic, economic, and statistical information and evidence to develop, issue, or inform the public of the nature and bases of federal agency rules and guidance, and for other purposes. As we’ve seen over the past decade, some agencies have politicized rulemakings to go after industries using incomplete or biased information to push their preferred regulations. This legislation would help to end that process.
III. Contact Information
Should you have any questions about the recommendations in this memo, please do not hesitate to reach out to Thomas Aiello at taiello@ntu.org