During a recent testimony at the DOGE hearing, Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, director of government affairs at the Project on Government Oversight, emphasized the challenges of tracking federal spending. He described the existing system as a 'broken chain of data,' which complicates real-time monitoring of federal expenditures. Hedtler-Gaudette characterized this issue as an 'informational black hole,' where significant fiscal impropriety—such as waste, fraud, and abuse—occurs. He stressed the absence of a consistent method to understand how taxpayer dollars are utilized at their final destination, highlighting a crucial problem in government financial oversight.
We have an extraordinarily hard time tracking federal dollars from end to end. This is due in large part to a broken chain of data, collection of reporting information and the ability to monitor and track in real time what is happening with federal dollars.
It's an informational black hole where a lot of impropriety happens. It's where waste, fraud and abuse live, and yes, this is where improper payments often happens.
We also don't have a good, clear and consistent way of understanding what is happening with tax dollars at the end point.
The challenge with tracking federal spending underscores the urgent need for reform in data collection and reporting practices to ensure fiscal transparency.
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