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High-ranking lawmakers on both sides of the aisle called
on President-elect Barack Obama to use the website of the Government
Accountability Office to aid in his transition to the presidency. GAO, as part of its required role under the Presidential
Transition Act, established a website detailing major and minor issues for
incoming and continuing policymakers.
Sens. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and George Voinovich
(R-Ohio) and retiring Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) urged Obama on Thursday to use the
GAO website as he and his key advisers begin to hold strategic discussions with
the incoming Congress.
“Every president takes office with a huge set of
priorities and challenges,” Davis said. “Having key information compiled in
this easy-to-use format will help significantly. I hope the new administration
takes advantage of this.”
The website highlights 13 “urgent issues” in need of
oversight and attention. Oversight of financial institutions and markets,
defense readiness and spending, food safety, protecting the homeland, and
transitioning to digital TV are some of the detailed topics.
“This site provides valuable information on our long-term
fiscal challenges and areas of critical risk to our government,” said Voinovich,
the leading Republican on the Oversight of Government Management, the Federal
Workforce, and the District of Columbia subcommittee.
“In the 11 weeks until Inauguration Day, I hope
President-elect Obama and his key advisers will work with Congress to develop a
strategic plan to confront these issues, which demand immediate attention.”
In preparing the website, Gene Dodaro, the acting
comptroller general of the GAO, said the agency drew from the hundreds of
reports and testimonies it issues every year. The site also lists issues by
agency, recommends opportunities for potential cost savings and projects a
long-term financial outlook for the country.
“For this transition, we’ve drawn from our rich body of
work and institutional knowledge of governing to highlight urgent,
agency-specific and government-wide issues,” Dodaro said. “Our goal for this
website is to provide policymakers with a comprehensive portrait of the
operations of the federal government and the challenges ahead.”
Obama is scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 20, marking the
nation’s first presidential transition since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 and
the first presidential wartime transition in 40 years.
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