Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Request: U.S. Government Accountability Office

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We are grateful to the Congress for providing us with the support and resources that have helped us in our quest to be a world-class professional services organization. We are proud of the work we accomplish as we continue to provide our congressional clients with professional, objective, fact-based, non-partisan, non-ideological, fair, balanced, and reliable information in a timely manner regarding how well government programs and policies are working and, when needed, recommendations to make government work better. We believe that investing in GAO produces a sound return and results in substantial benefits to the Congress and the American people. In the years ahead, our support to the Congress will likely prove even more critical because of the pressures created by our nation's current and projected budget deficit and long-term fiscal imbalance. These fiscal pressures will require the Congress to make tough choices regarding what the government should do, how it will do its work, who will help carry out its work in the future, and how government will be financed in the future. We summarized the larger challenges facing the federal government in our recently issued 21st Century Challenges report. In this report, we emphasize the critical need to bring the federal government's programs and policies into line with 21st century realities. Continuing on our current unsustainable fiscal path will gradually erode, if not suddenly damage, our economy, our standard of living, and ultimately our national security. We, therefore, must fundamentally reexamine major spending and tax policies and priorities in an effort to recapture our fiscal flexibility and ensure that our programs and priorities respond to emerging security, social, economic, and environmental changes and challenges in the years ahead. We believe that GAO can be of invaluable assistance in helping the Congress address these challenges. This testimony focuses on our (1) performance and results with the funding you provided us in fiscal year 2004, (2) streamlining and management improvement efforts under way, and (3) budget request for fiscal year 2006 to support the Congress and serve the American people.