Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Request: U.S. Government Accountability Office

In fiscal year 2008, GAO delivered advice and analyses to the Congress in response to requests from all of the standing committees of the House and the Senate, as well as over 80 percent of their subcommittees. The hard work of our staff yielded significant results across the government, including expert testimony at over 300 congressional hearings, hundreds of improvements in government operations, and billions in financial benefits. GAO submits for congressional consideration a request for a fiscal year 2010 appropriation of $567.5 million to support 3,250 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff. This request represents an increase of $36.5 million, or 6.9 percent, over our fiscal year 2009 funding level, which would support a 3.5 percent increase over our 2009 FTE level. Importantly, almost 70 percent of our requested increase is needed for mandatory pay and uncontrollable cost increases. While our fiscal year 2009 funding level allows us to make progress in responding to new congressional requests sooner, our fiscal year 2010 request would enable GAO to make greater progress in addressing the issues of greatest interest to the Congress and the American public during these challenging times, which is our highest priority. GAO is also requesting authority to use $15.2 million in offsetting collections, as detailed in our budget submission.