Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has drawn President Trump’s ire by criticizing the House reconciliation package’s $5 trillion increase to the federal government’s debt limit. The president argued Paul has not provided “practical or constructive ideas” for reducing spending. Paul should counter that accusation by offering a legislative proposal for cutting government waste.
During his three terms in office, Paul has consistently opposed unnecessary government spending. He routinely votes against spending bills, and his annual “Festivus” reports expose widespread government waste, including $1 trillion in unnecessary expenditures.
Yet, like most lawmakers of his generation, Paul has had limited opportunities to pass legislation shrinking the government. There are many reasons for the lack of cost-cutting legislation, not least of which are Senate leadership and limited opportunities for members to offer floor amendments.
But in the current Congress, Paul holds the chairman’s gavel of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC). This panel oversees government operations and has jurisdiction over various issues related to the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) work.
While Senate leaders consider the House reconciliation package, Paul could hold a markup for comprehensive government reform legislation aimed at increasing government efficiency, including measures to codify the DOGE’s work. For example, on June 5, DOGE Caucus chairs Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., introduced legislation to codify President Trump’s executive order on modernizing federal payment systems to prevent misspending.
Improper federal payments totaled $162 billion last year, and more than $900 billion during the Biden administration. Critically, the bill would provide legal authority to the Treasury Department to obtain information from other federal agencies to ensure the accuracy of a payment before it is made, preventing substantial misspending.
A comprehensive government efficiency bill could also include watchdog recommendations for improving efficiency. For example, at Congress’s direction, the Government Accountability Office has published annual reports identifying hundreds of billions of taxpayer savings that could be secured if federal agencies implemented open watchdog recommendations and if Congress heeded GAO’s government reform advice. There are also more than 14,000 open inspector general recommendations, providing many savings that could be included in a government efficiency package.
A comprehensive government efficiency bill could address other areas of significant waste. Paul could direct federal agencies to immediately dispose of federal real property, which could free taxpayers from some of the estimated $370 billion in projected maintenance and repair backlogs for federal buildings, many of which go unused in an era of remote work. The committee could also establish procedures for the federal government to streamline unnecessary regulations, including by using technologies as lawmakers in the Senate and House have recently proposed.
The committee could also reform civil service rules to give the administration greater flexibility to reform the federal workforce. The legislation could streamline acquisition rules, allowing federal agencies to terminate wasteful government contracts. The committee’s bill could include measures from other committees, including floor amendments, which could codify aspects of DOGE’s cost-cutting measures, such as ending specific government grants and contracts.
In the context of the reconciliation debate, Chairman Paul could secure a commitment from Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to allocate annual floor time for HSGAC-passed government reform packages aimed at achieving taxpayer savings.
Each year, Congress passes a national defense bill passed by the Armed Services Committees. The annual defense bill is considered must-pass legislation, one of the unique instances where congressional authorizing committees use legislation to oversee the executive branch. With a ballooning national debt and trillion-dollar deficits projected through the rest of the decade, the congressional committees that oversee government operations should similarly use their legislative authorities annually to trim unnecessary spending and increase government efficiency.
A comprehensive government reform package that trims government spending and improves efficiency should garner bipartisan support. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has a history of enacting bipartisan legislation, including to improve transparency about government spending, to modernize federal information technology acquisitions and improve federal cybersecurity. Paul could include legislative proposals Senate Democrats support to build bipartisan support and earn 60 votes.
Fiscal conservatives on Capitol Hill are right to raise concerns about the rising federal debt and unsustainable deficit spending. But voting no is not enough. Congress needs to use every tool available, and that means the bully pulpit of the committee chair to hold oversight hearings and to push through bills streamlining government and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.
Dr. Paul knows better than anyone where to place the scalpel. Now, he should put that knowledge into action.