MtnMax/Magniac
Well-Known Member
$619 Billion In Federal Spending Shown Missing
Posted 08/06/2014 06:54 PM ET
Big Government: When it comes to incompetence, it doesn't get much better than this: The federal website meant to make government spending more transparent was found to be missing $619 billion.
Seven years ago, the Office of Management and Budget launched USASpending.gov to let the public easily track how their tax dollars were spent on contracts, grants, loans and other spending. It was supposed to be a big win for open government.
Except when the Government Accountability Office checked to see how well it tracked spending in 2012, it found the site to be less than useless.
The audit found that out of the roughly $1 trillion federal agencies spent in these areas that year, $619 billion of it didn't get reported to the site.
The biggest offender was Health and Human Services, which failed to report $544 billion in spending on programs like Medicare. Veterans Affairs came in second with $64 billion in unreported spending. The Interior Department finished third at $5.3 billion.
The White House itself failed to report $247 million worth of 2012 spending. The drug czar's office, for example, thought HHS was doing that on its behalf.
In addition, the GAO found that only 2% to 7% of the reports that were filed contained complete and accurate data.
More astonishing still, the GAO often couldn't verify information reported to USASpending.gov because original agency records weren't available or reliable.
That includes award amounts, which the GAO says are unverifiable in as many as 7% of reports, and the location where money was spent, which couldn't be verified up to 31% of the time.
The reasons given for these rampant failures don't provide much comfort. Agencies blamed technical issues such as incompatible systems, ignorance of the reporting requirements and lack of internal oversight.
What does it say about a government so big and cumbersome that it can't even reliably tell the public where its money goes?
Keep in mind these are the same people now in charge of the nation's health care system. Makes you wonder.
Posted 08/06/2014 06:54 PM ET
Big Government: When it comes to incompetence, it doesn't get much better than this: The federal website meant to make government spending more transparent was found to be missing $619 billion.
Seven years ago, the Office of Management and Budget launched USASpending.gov to let the public easily track how their tax dollars were spent on contracts, grants, loans and other spending. It was supposed to be a big win for open government.
Except when the Government Accountability Office checked to see how well it tracked spending in 2012, it found the site to be less than useless.
The audit found that out of the roughly $1 trillion federal agencies spent in these areas that year, $619 billion of it didn't get reported to the site.
The biggest offender was Health and Human Services, which failed to report $544 billion in spending on programs like Medicare. Veterans Affairs came in second with $64 billion in unreported spending. The Interior Department finished third at $5.3 billion.
The White House itself failed to report $247 million worth of 2012 spending. The drug czar's office, for example, thought HHS was doing that on its behalf.
In addition, the GAO found that only 2% to 7% of the reports that were filed contained complete and accurate data.
More astonishing still, the GAO often couldn't verify information reported to USASpending.gov because original agency records weren't available or reliable.
That includes award amounts, which the GAO says are unverifiable in as many as 7% of reports, and the location where money was spent, which couldn't be verified up to 31% of the time.
The reasons given for these rampant failures don't provide much comfort. Agencies blamed technical issues such as incompatible systems, ignorance of the reporting requirements and lack of internal oversight.
What does it say about a government so big and cumbersome that it can't even reliably tell the public where its money goes?
Keep in mind these are the same people now in charge of the nation's health care system. Makes you wonder.
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