Sponsors (2)
The bill increases visibility for lawmakers, budget scorers, and the public into potential federal program duplication—helping reduce overlap and improve cost context—while imposing extra GAO workload, creating timing-and-trigger risks that could delay implementation or legislative decisions, and leaving a risk that duplication findings might be used to block legitimate new programs.
Congressional committees and budget scorers (CBO) will receive GAO assessments about potential program duplication, giving lawmakers clearer evidence to avoid overlapping programs and helping CBO incorporate duplication context into cost estimates.
The public and stakeholders will have greater transparency because GAO assessments will be published on GAO's website, improving oversight by watchdogs, nonprofits, and taxpayers.
Federal agencies and staff get a clear, predictable timeline for when the amendment takes effect (with a backstop tied to the start of a new Congress), aiding agency planning and compliance.
If GAO must review every committee-reported bill, GAO workload will increase, which could require more GAO resources and may delay other GAO work and reviews.
Timing mismatches—if GAO information arrives after CBO's initial estimate—could delay or complicate timely legislative decisions and leave early CBO scores lacking GAO context, affecting lawmakers and taxpayers.
Making the amendment's effectiveness depend on an administrative action (an OMB website update) could postpone the amendment for up to a year and reduces immediate legal certainty for individuals and entities until the trigger occurs.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Introduced September 8, 2025 by Rand Paul · Last progress September 8, 2025
Requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to check bills and public joint resolutions reported by congressional committees for the risk of creating new duplicative or overlapping federal programs, offices, or initiatives. GAO must share findings with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director and the reporting committee and publish the results online. The CBO Director may add GAO’s findings as a supplement to the CBO cost estimate. The requirement applies to bills and public joint resolutions reported by any committee. The amendment becomes effective on a conditional schedule tied to an upcoming OMB website update or the start of a future Congress.