Senator Carper Calls for Increase in Efficient Use of American Taxpayer Dollars

Today, at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) hearing “GAO’S 2023 High Risk List: Recommendations for Reducing Waste, Fraud, And Abuse,” U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del), a senior member of the Committee, highlighted how the Government Accountability Office (GAO) can address improper payments and cybersecurity. During the hearing, Comptroller General Gene Dodaro testified to how the GAO will serve its mission to continue reducing waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government.

At the start of his remarks during the hearing, Senator Carper highlighted the need to address improper payments and fraud.

“As we’ve learned, payments made through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in improper payments. While this emergency relief helped thousands of small business owners across the country cope with adverse economic conditions, these programs remain susceptible to high levels of improper payments and fraud. In the 116th Congress, I worked with Senator Kennedy, Senator Peters, Senator Paul, and others on this committee to pass legislation that would stop improper payments to dead people and require data sharing among federal agencies to ensure these payments are reduced and eventually eliminated.”

Senator Carper continued by urging the GAO to help establish a government-wide cyber workforce plan.

“The cyber threat posed by hostile nations and groups around the world cannot be overstated. We continue to see cyber threat actors evolve and advance their technics in ways that pose a threat to businesses, health care facilities, critical infrastructure, and put at risk the financial and personal safety of our countrymen and women. Unfortunately, the cyber threat landscape is not getting less volatile, it’s actually getting more volatile.” 

A video of Senator Carper’s remarks at today’s hearing can be found here.  

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