Recommendations for Congress: Action Can Cut Costs, Reduce Waste, and Improve Services
Fast Facts
In this Q&A report, we estimate that if Congress acts on the matters we've raised for their consideration, they could achieve tens of billions of dollars in financial benefits and improve federal program effectiveness across government.
Since 2000, we have recommended that Congress consider over 1,150 matters to address significant federal challenges. As of April 2026, 277 of these matters remained open.
For example, one recommendation to consider directing Medicare to equalize payment rates across health care settings could save almost $157 billion over 10 years.
The United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Highlights
What GAO Found
Matters for congressional consideration are recommendations that GAO makes to Congress to address findings from GAO’s work. Since 2000, GAO has recommended that Congress consider more than 1,150 matters, and nearly 80 percent of them have closed. Addressing these can result in savings. GAO previously identified financial benefits totaling $66 billion from fiscal year 2001 to March 2024 resulting from addressing matters where Congress was a contributing entity (GAO-24-107146). As of April 9, 2026, 277 matters remained open.
Action to address certain open matters can produce tens of billions of dollars in future financial savings. Specifically, GAO identified 53 open matters that could result in financial benefits. Thirteen of these each have the potential to provide financial benefits of $1 billion or more (see table for some examples).
Examples of Open Matters with Potential Financial Benefits
|
Potential Financial Benefits |
GAO Report |
Recommendation Description |
|---|---|---|
|
$156.9 billion over 10 years |
Medicare: Increasing Hospital-Physician Consolidation Highlights Need for Payment Reform (GAO-16-189) |
Congress should consider directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to equalize payment rates between medical settings for evaluation and management office visits and other services that the Secretary deems appropriate. The associated savings would be returned to the Medicare program. |
|
$15 billion over 15 years |
Public-Safety Broadband Network: Congressional Action Required to Ensure Network Continuity (GAO-22-104915) |
Congress should consider reauthorizing FirstNet, including different options for its placement, and ensure key statutory and contract responsibilities are addressed. |
|
$2.2 billion over 10 years |
2014 Annual Report: Additional Opportunities to Reduce Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication and Achieve Other Financial Benefits (GAO-14-343SP) |
Congress should consider passing legislation to require the Social Security Administration to offset Disability Insurance benefits for any Unemployment Insurance benefits received in the same period. |
Source: GAO. | GAO-26-108896
The remaining open matters have the potential to provide numerous other benefits. Actions on these matters can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of federal agencies and programs and help position the nation to address ongoing and future challenges. For example, as GAO recommended in July 2025, congressional action requiring major agencies to develop IT modernization plans could help decrease the likelihood of program failure that could expose agencies to security threats and performance issues (GAO-25-107795).
Many of these matters could be addressed by legislation Congress is considering. As of February 2026, bills introduced in the 118th and 119th Congresses would have fully or partially addressed 103 (about 37 percent) of the 277 open matters. Of these, GAO identified legislation related to 21 matters that, if enacted, could cumulatively result in financial benefits to the government of tens of billions of dollars.
As shown in the figure below, GAO cataloged the open matters, which span a wide range of topics and involve many parts of the federal government. Topic areas include defense, economic development, energy, federal financial management, health, IT, and others.
Open Recommendations to Congress by Topic, as of April 9, 2026
Note: Percentages do not add to 100 due to rounding.
aExamples of topics in the “Other” category include consumer protections, financial regulation, and identity theft insurance.
Of the 277 open matters, 123 (about 44 percent) have been open for 5 years or less. The oldest open matter is almost 25 years old and remains highly relevant to addressing one of the issues on GAO’s High-Risk List—Improving Federal Oversight of Food Safety.
Why GAO Did This Study
GAO issued this report in response to a provision in the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023. In producing this report, GAO used information from its internal system for tracking recommendations and matters for congressional consideration.
For more information, contact Jessica Lucas-Judy at LucasJudyJ@gao.gov.