[Comments on H.R. 3887]
Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO commented on H.R. 3887, which would require that the President's annual budget include information on the accuracy of inflation estimates with respect to the prior year's budget. The Department of Defense (DOD) Authorization Act currently requires DOD to submit several reports to Congress on excess funds attributable to inflation savings. GAO found that neither the current DOD reports nor the reporting requirements in H.R. 3887 provide for adequate reporting of inflation information to Congress. GAO believes that legislation is needed which requires: (1) that DOD monitor dividends or shortfalls and report the most recent information to Congress at the critical stages of the budget deliberation process; (2) a report at the beginning of the fiscal year which shows the total authority available for obligation to cover inflation during the year and outyears, broken down by appropriation account; and (3) subsequent reports which document by appropriation accounts all monies appropriated to DOD that are in excess or fall short of sums needed to cover inflation.