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Requires the Government Accountability Office to review bills reported by congressional committees for risks that the bills would create new programs or offices that duplicate existing federal efforts. If GAO identifies a potential duplication, it must tell the committee and the Director of the Congressional Budget Office, cite the prior GAO report documenting the overlap, and publish the finding online; CBO may include GAO’s information as a supplement to its cost estimate. Sets the law’s start date to the earlier of two triggers tied to an Office of Management and Budget website update or the start of a new Congress more than one year after enactment.
Adds a new subsection (i) to section 719 of title 31, United States Code to require assessments of reported bills by GAO.
Defines "covered bill or joint resolution" as a bill or joint resolution of a public character reported by any committee of Congress (including the Appropriations and Budget Committees of either House).
Defines "Director" to mean the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Defines "existing duplicative or overlapping feature" as an element of the Federal Government previously identified as an area of duplication, overlap, or fragmentation in a GAO duplication and overlap report.
Defines "GAO duplication and overlap report" as each annual report prepared by the Comptroller General under section 21 of the Joint Resolution approved February 12, 2010 (referencing 31 U.S.C. 712).
Who is affected and how:
Congressional committees and committee staff: They will face an added layer of review when reporting bills. GAO notifications could prompt committees to reconsider or revise provisions that would duplicate existing federal activities, or at least to document reasons for creating new programs.
Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Comptroller General: GAO will take on additional review responsibilities for committee‑reported bills and must prepare and publish findings with citations to prior GAO work. This increases GAO’s workload modestly and requires tracking and web publication.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and its Director: CBO may receive GAO’s duplication findings and can incorporate them as supplements to cost estimates; CBO may issue such supplements after original estimates if GAO information arrives later. This could lengthen or alter the cost‑estimation record for some bills.
Federal agencies and existing program offices: Agencies may be named in GAO citations as the existing entities that new proposals would duplicate. That could draw congressional attention to program overlaps and may affect legislative drafting and oversight inquiries.
Legislative transparency and oversight: The public will gain access to GAO findings via GAO’s website, helping stakeholders and lawmakers spot duplication before new programs are established.
Net budgetary and operational effects are likely small and procedural: the bill does not appropriate funds, change substantive authorizations, or directly alter agency operations, but it may slow legislative progress on some measures and lead to more preemptive consolidation or clarification in proposed statutes.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Introduced September 8, 2025 by Rand Paul · Last progress September 8, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Introduced in Senate