Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Request:
U.S. Government Accountability Office
GAO-06-418T: Published: Apr 26, 2006. Publicly Released: Apr 26, 2006.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
- Accessible Text:
Contact:
(202) 512-3000
contact@gao.gov
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov
We are pleased to appear before the Congress today in support of the fiscal year 2007 budget request for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). This request will help us continue our support of the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and will help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. Budget constraints in the federal government grew tighter in fiscal years 2005 and 2006. In developing our fiscal year 2007 budget, we considered those constraints consistent with GAO's and Congress's desire to "lead by example." In fiscal year 2007, we are requesting budget authority of $509.4 million, a reasonable 5 percent increase over our fiscal year 2006 revised funding level. In the event Congress acts to hold federal pay increases to 2.2 percent, our requested increase will drop to below 5 percent. This request will allow us to continue making improvements in productivity, maintain our progress in technology and other transformation areas, and support a full-time equivalent (FTE) staffing level of 3,267. This represents an increase of 50 FTEs over our planned fiscal year 2006 staffing level and will allow us to rebuild our workforce to a level that will position us to better respond to increasing supply and demand imbalances in areas such as disaster assistance, the global war on terrorism, homeland security, forensic auditing, and health care. This testimony focuses on our budget request for fiscal year 2007 to support the Congress and serve the American people and on our performance and results with the funding you provided us in fiscal year 2005.
Our fiscal year 2007 budget request will provide us the resources necessary to achieve our performance goals in support of the Congress and the American people. This request will allow GAO to improve productivity and maintain progress in technology and other transformation areas. We continue to streamline GAO, modernize our policies and practices, and leverage technology so that we can achieve our mission more effectively and efficiently. These continuing efforts allow us to enhance our performance without significant increases in funding. Our fiscal year 2007 budget request represents a modest increase of about $25 million (or 5 percent) over our fiscal year 2006 revised funding level--primarily to cover uncontrollable mandatory pay and price level increases. This request reflects a reduction of nearly $5.4 million in nonrecurring fiscal year 2006 costs used to offset the fiscal year 2007 increase. This request also includes about $7 million in one-time fiscal year 2007 costs, which will not recur in fiscal year 2008, to upgrade our business systems and processes. As the Congress addresses the devastation in the Gulf Coast region from Hurricane Katrina and several other major 2005 hurricanes, GAO is supporting the Congress by assessing whether federal programs assisting the people of the Gulf region are efficient and effective and result in a strong return on investment. In order to address the demands of this work; better respond to the increasing number of demands being placed on GAO, including a dramatic increase in health care mandates; and address supply and demand imbalances in our ability to respond to congressional interest in areas such as disaster assistance, homeland security, the global war on terrorism, health care, and forensic auditing, we are seeking Congress's support to provide the funding to rebuild our staffing level to the levels requested in previous years. We believe that 3,267 FTEs is an optimal staffing level for GAO that would allow us to more successfully meet the needs of the Congress. In preparing this request and taking into account the effects of the fiscal year 2006 rescission, we revised our workforce plan to reduce fiscal year 2005 hiring and initiated a voluntary early retirement opportunity for staff in January 2006. These actions better support GAO's strategic plan for serving the Congress, better align GAO's workforce to meet mission needs, correct selected skill imbalances, and allow us to increase the number of new hires later in fiscal year 2006. Our revised hiring plan represents an aggressive hiring level that is significantly higher than in recent fiscal years, and it is the maximum number of staff we could absorb during fiscal year 2006. These actions will also position us to more fully utilize our planned FTE levels of 3,217 and 3,267 in fiscal years 2006 and 2007, respectively.
Dec 15, 2020
-
The Nation's Fiscal Health:
Information on the Spending and Revenue Implications of Potential Debt TargetsGAO-21-211: Published: Dec 15, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 15, 2020.
Oct 7, 2020
-
The Nation's Fiscal Health:
A Long-Term Plan Is Needed for Fiscal SustainabilityGAO-21-161T: Published: Oct 7, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 7, 2020.
Sep 23, 2020
-
The Nation's Fiscal Health:
Effective Use of Fiscal Rules and TargetsGAO-20-561: Published: Sep 23, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 23, 2020.
Jan 23, 2020
-
Federal Trust Funds and Other Dedicated Funds:
Fiscal Sustainability Is a Growing Concern for Some Key FundsGAO-20-156: Published: Jan 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 23, 2020.
Dec 19, 2019
-
State and Local Governments' Fiscal Outlook:
2019 UpdateGAO-20-269SP: Published: Dec 19, 2019. Publicly Released: Dec 19, 2019.
Nov 14, 2019
-
Certificated Expenditures:
Executive Office of the President FY 2018 Certificated Expenditures Were Spent for Authorized PurposesGAO-20-139R: Published: Nov 14, 2019. Publicly Released: Nov 14, 2019.
Oct 16, 2019
-
Civilian Personnel:
Additional Guidance and Consistent Data Reporting Could Help Improve the Marine Corps' Budget ManagementGAO-20-148: Published: Oct 16, 2019. Publicly Released: Oct 16, 2019.
Jun 26, 2019
-
The Nation's Fiscal Health:
Actions Needed to Achieve Long-Term Fiscal SustainabilityGAO-19-611T: Published: Jun 26, 2019. Publicly Released: Jun 26, 2019.
Apr 10, 2019
-
The Nation's Fiscal Health:
Action Is Needed to Address the Federal Government's Fiscal FutureGAO-19-314SP: Published: Apr 10, 2019. Publicly Released: Apr 10, 2019.
Mar 27, 2019
-
Fiscal Exposures:
Federal Insurance and Other Activities That Transfer Risk or Losses to the GovernmentGAO-19-353: Published: Mar 27, 2019. Publicly Released: Mar 27, 2019.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here