Surprise, surprise.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office indicates that the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education aren't enforcing a law that requires grant recipients to disclose how they spend federal dollars.
According to The Washington Free Beacon:
The Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) does not know how much taxpayer funding is going towards salaries for groups who receive grants, and the National Institutes of Health says it has difficulty calculating where taxpayer funding is going because research programs can have "multiple funding streams" and research portfolios of academics are "now more complex."
The three agencies accounted for over $500 billion in taxpayer-funded grants in fiscal year 2017. HHS alone handed out $455 billion in grants.[...]
The GAO said by not checking to see if its grant recipients are following the law, the government has no idea if violations are occurring.
"Without having processes to manage and administer their grantees' compliance with the Stevens Amendment, which is included in HHS's appropriations provisions, there is no way for HHS or its operating divisions to ensure that grantees are in full accordance with the statutory requirements of the Stevens Amendment appropriations provision and the agency-communicated conditions of the federal award," the report said.
For all the feds know, that grant money could be used for something else or just flushed down the toilet (but we repeat ourselves).
It's time to impose real accountability on a Congress that appears unwilling or unable to spend taxpayer money responsibly.
An Article V Convention of States allows the states to propose constitutional amendments that force Congress to be fiscally responsible. These amendments can mandate a balanced budget, cap taxation, and limit spending.
When Congress has to balance the budget every year without raising taxes, you can bet they'll be checking carefully how academics are using hard-earned taxpayer dollars.
Sign the Petition below to learn more!
