welcome, supervisor david chiu to gao on this item. i'd like to see if you have any opening remarks on item number 2. >> thank you, chair, thank you, colleagues. i want to thank the members of the public and city staff who are here to talk about this legislation i have proposed along with mayor lee about open data. i'm very excited about today's discussion. we all know that openness and transparency are fundamental to a successful government and in the internet age the release of government data and an improved partnership between government and our citizens, including many folks here in our room today, has led to numerous suck is hees in improving our government and local governments, international government around the country. and this comes about oftentimes we harness the talent and ideas of the public as government data is analyzed to help lead to innovations in both the government and in our local communities. in 2010 three years ago i was happy to work with mayor newsome to pass our city's first open data ordinance. and from my

it came from the gao office just last year, seven years after this. with that in mind, recognizing, as u as you point out, may fe tuntil 1 2015 than we are to believe today. have you considered that in your support of the brac? >> i have not seen the actual figures or the study you refer to, senator. i know. ly respond to your question. but i think from i don't know if it was the same gao report or another one, that note order the 2005 brac round in our facility. i'm going ask mr. hale to respond quickly. i know you read the report i refer to. i ask you share that with secretary hagel, which i'm sure you'll want to look at. i would only ask you consider that because those reasons for my opposition to seven years ago, eight years ago now are probably more true today. when the chairman talked about the missile defense thing, i was very pleased when he made the decision to increase back up to 44. on the west coast. automatic the things happening in north korea. i was over there recently i talked to you from other there, and i realized that this is someth

the gao is a bargain. you get about $106 back in implemented savings for every dollar they spend. >> do they need the extra work to do reports, to try to figure out what was wasted so we can use last year's? >> they in fact build on last year. greta, you're exactly right. if we cannot get to where this is what guess on instead of sequestration, the american people have a right to be fed up. truth is that many of the cuts that people are upset about are cuts across the board that only slightly touch bad and duplicate programs. in fact, we could save a tremendous amount. a good example is, in fact, the department of defense and those unifoermts. what's the point of having a secretary of defense and a staff if in fact he lets little fiefdoms in parts of the military do their thing again and again? it isn't sexy, but what's interesting is how many times we bought the same mapping programs simply because one agency didn't bother to see if somebody else was already essentially mapping the world. >> or they could

gerri: to gao came out with a report.et me show you some of the other ways in the justice department. tom, i know you're already familiar with this. fifty-six of the dot grants are more than 20% of grant funds for victim assistance and related research. so money that is spent, and also duplicated, nobody is paying attention. how is this possible, and why does this continue, particularly when we are facing such a huge deficit and are spending debt is $63. >> $33 billion since 2005. a lot of money. of course, the overlap is obvious when you have 56 programs for victims assistance. the justice department claims they were all a little bit different. the gao issued a report in july of last year. updated at it just this week. they said the justice department has started to look at us. gerri: starting to look at it -- it's their department. normal organization would tolerate this duplication. tom, thank you for coming in tonight. an important story, i'm so glad we told people about it. gerri: now we want to know what you think.

this is that the gao said in their report. few years back we asked report on border security and misses some of what they said in their report. historically the united states has focused attention and resources with mexico, which continues to experience higher levels of chart trafficking in illegal immigration in the u.s. canadian border. however, the gao says the dhs reports the terrorist threat on the northern border is higher, given the large expansive area for minutes on first enforcement coverage. there's also a great deal of trade and travel across the border, illegal atreides predominate presents networks of illicit criminal act candidate smuggling of drugs, currency, people and weapons between the two countries. is a huge gap in terms of the resources allocated to the northern border versus the southwest border. there is growth in the last 10 years in terms of the number of border patrol agents, which nearly doubled in the southwest area, which nearly doubled 10,000 to 21,000 in this concentrated on the southwest borde

i think every group within gao has produced a report. we have been able to pull together a number of reports the issue of the last decade or so. we have been highlighting these issues of overlap fragmentation and duplication but we did was hold them together and put them in one place for policymakers to consider. help organize3 to our work, we spend a systematic approach where we started with a budget, a rate that information across the agencies. by doing that in sort of graphic sense we can check to see whether there is tensions of fragmentation. we took budget documents, agency documents, went out into the field, interviewed people, went out and observe the progress of actions to further conduct our work on these issues. host: freeport, florida. alex -- go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i had a couple of questions for nicole clowers. the two undercover any kind of underhanded doings in your research? -- did you uncover any kind of underhand dealings in your research? to do research the fed or u.s. treasury? have one big c

but this isn't. >> reporter: the gao reports hits that nail on the head. they said it's very difficult to determine where the legal line is here because what, for example, is political intelligence gathering for a hedge fund versus what's journalism. what i do all day is try to get information out of congress. >> we don't pay you nearly as much. >> reporter: that is certainly true. but we're doing that all day long. is that journalism, are we informing investors, is that trading activity. what is that? >> thank you. here now is information clinton white house aide david goodfriend and with me on set ed butowski and ed rogers. david goodfriend what do you think? >> insider trading is insider trading. it undermines markets when people use nonpublic information to execute a trade. whether you're the tipper or tippee if there's an inside trade it kills free market. it should be illegal. now your reporter made an excellent point which is here in washington people hire folks like me i'm a lawyer lobbyist. i walk around congress all day. i talk to government agen

this is part of the gao, the gao is not going to make a decision whether renewables are good, whetherar energy is good but they will see where the process is wasteful. to be honest they call out both the executive branch and congress. the executive branch for not implementing what they could, congress not forcing reorganization, not mandating some reconsolidations, and to be candid we need to do both. neil: we had david stockman here, congressman this, is, i would assume, part of this, part and parcel of the big spending where the numbers get so out of control this sort of stuff is routine. and, there is going to be hell to pay. both parties will pay dearly for it. what do you make of that? >> i think both parties deserve some blame, they really do. but organizationally, if we do nothing, both parties should be, should be thrown out, but guess what? you're not throwing the bureaucrats out. you're not throwing people out who perpetuate this. if you want to make a change, you don't worry about replacing the president or replacing congress. demand that we have a hoover commission. demand

the gao looked on criteria of 33 past courthouses, in fact, over ten years that have. cost overruns run rampant, and they believe the estimates will be $3 billion. again, we got -- >> sorry, as i understand, a federal judge, was it a federal judge appearing before you and said, look, i need this space? we, the federal judiciary, we need more courthouses. we need -- he made the case, didn't he, that we need this stuff. >> no, he didn't make the case. he did not make the case. when you rook at this, look across the system in the federal courthouses, the average time usage on a federal courtroom is about two hours a day. what we've been and what i've been pushing for the last several years is courtroom sharing, that two or three judges use one courtroom because they're underutilized. in my committee, there's a full committee and six subcommittees with one major room that we share. we work it out. the same can be done at the federal judiciary, but at this point, they started to look at it, but they have been unwilling to do it in a sights way to save the taxpayer dollars.

secretary hale on that gao report would you give us any differences that you have. not now but in the record with that gao report in addition to requests by senator inhofe? >> may i say quickly we don't intend to keep the 2005 round. it's very different than what we would do and 25th team. >> if you could give us your criticisms are disagreements. senator reid. >> thank you very much. the secretary mentioned his comments that we are facing a lot of short-run constraints, sequestration and other issues but longer-term there are issues that have to be dealt with regardless of the present dilemma with sequestration in the budget control act. one of the growing personnel force and particularly the health care force and i know you face proposals in the budget in that regard and i want to direct a question to general dempsey. it would seem to me in order to effectively carry out any reform there has to be an ongoing dialogue with active personnel and reserve personnel and that dialogue is conducted by uniformed military who shares the service and the sacrifice of these mo

as to whether the gao was correct. as i indicated, by the time a gao is written sometimes you do not have the most current information. under these budget times, we have no interest in wasting any taxpayer dollars. f i can find a redundancy or something that can be done efficiently, that is what our efficiency review process is all about. we are going to do that. >> when you see an area that needs our help, you guys got is doing three different things in three different areas that lead to the same results. here is a recommendation. why don't you guys change this? i would like that you be forward with us when you look at all that that the gao has put out and say congress, you have to change this for us if you expect us to be efficient and save money. >> fair enough. >> senator mccaskill talked about the science and technology directory and the duplication there. it's big in terms of what gao says. i notice you have a significant increase in funding from 2012. can you talk about that? >> almost all of the increase in fun

the gao identifying 162 areas of duplication in federal programs by the government, starting with thetalking about today, three programs that inspect catfish. one at the department of agriculture that costs 14 million bucks a year. the food and drug administration, national marine fishery service. the gao also goes after the pentagon for wasting money on producing uniforms for the military, for soldiers and storing them. $82 million a year could be saved with changes there. on renewable energy, there are 80 different wind programs run by 35 offices at eight agencies costing $5 billion according to the gao. well the chairman of the government reform committee says, acknowledges all these kinds of programs have been approved by democrats and republicans in washington over the years. so it is not a traditionally partisan problem. take a listen. >> it's partisan only in the sense it is the bureaucracy against the american people. it is fiefdoms within government against any kind of real reform. remember, for each of these grants there's a recipient. for each of these programs, there's a b

the cut that out of the bell and replaced it with a steady for the gao to study whether or not there really is a problem. well, the report, a gao report finally came out that shows that there is, indeed, a problem because they could not even identify who these political intelligence consultants are or how big it is. and as a result, we're going to see a new effort in congress led by senator charles grassley. gerri: of former aide is right at the center of this, right? >> and, yes. it highlights a lot of things, including the fact that lobbying firms don't like it when the lobbyists go ahead and use their lobbying information to sell to these political intelligence firms. for me what it highlights is, this is what happens when government is regulating in subsidizing everybody so much. increasingly the placement of a, in legislation, the decision of a committee chairman, the decision of a bureaucrat, the timing of a rule, that step is worth millions and becomes worth more and more as government increases the act of subsidizing and regulating industry. gerri: i want to give you a quick

this new gao report, says regulation of political intelligence is murky and complicated.monday, when a report from the political intelligence firm here in washington, height securities sent health care stocks soaring about half an hour before the release of a important government medicare decision that this kind of information can move markets. congress has been looking into whether political intelligence requires more regulation and asked the gao to study the issue. the gao found quote, there are no laws or ethics rules that specifically govern the sale of information by a political intelligence firm. however, there are laws and -pethics rules that may govern the purchase and sale of material, nonpublic information. and ethics rules that govern nonpublic information. among other things, the gao also says, it is hard to quantify the prevalence of political intelligence and hard to categorize information as material and nonpublic sources. height securities told its clients that the obama administration would reverse occurs on proposed cuts to medicare advantage program. th

nicole clowers is our guest with gao. here is it tweet coming in from moscow -- coming into us from rich. is there any exchange in terms of the research? guest: we are frequently in contact with members of congress. the report is addressed to a number of congressional committees and also addressed to -- we talked to them about the issues that we are studying. i keep them -- host: let us hear from tom from eastlake, ohio. good morning. theer: i am a veteran from end of world war two but have not had to use the va until maybe 10 years ago. from what i see in the cleveland area -- they have improved their system. ism worried this directive improved in a certain area. i have one further comment that the fact that we are in so many wars that our veterans and this system is so much more compromised than peace time. there are people like you who are trying to improve upon our fine system and are making strides and heading in the right direction. i appreciate c-span and very much. i watch it all the time. guest: we certainly appr

fox has obtained the results of a new gao report duplication or wasteful spending adding almost $100lion a year on top of a larger amount from two previous reports. renewable energy programs topped them all with 679 overlapping programs. senator tom coburn says the federal government could save $2.2 trillion with a t over 10 years if congress and the administration worked at it. >> less than 10 or 11% of the stuff that's been identified beforehand has been addressed. so 90%, 88% has not been address dollars. -- addressed. none of the big savings has been addressed. >> bret: the president is working a full-court press on capitol hill this week. pushing hard on three major agenda items. chief white house correspondent ed henry tells us where we are on each one. >> one day before he unveils his new budget with cuts to social security. president obama faced more anger from his liberal allies. [chanting] >> no chained cpi. >> protest over chained cpi cuts to government benefits sparked protests outside the white house led by liberal groups including now and moveon.org. >> real democrats d

gao does a nice job of giving us help. i think whether we would swap out of work is an interesting question. we have increased, in the last five years, the number of correspondents examinations we do. they are very efficient in the number of them that occur. they are not necessarily as weighty in terms of the amount of revenue they bring in. you have to maintain coverage for the field. it is a different sort of coverage. you need both. could we swap them out? absolutely, and i will look at that study and come back to you. >> continuing on efficiency being an absolute necessity, where are you and how you analyze the need for modernizing our brand software and how that has helped? we have done really well. i think we rolled out a new system last year. we have had a great deal of success in our modernized electronic filing. electronic filing is now at 89% for individuals. that will come down as the year continues, but that is as high as we have seen it, and that is wonderful. our systems are working quite well. we are nowhere

i read the gao, i read the testimony and i agree with everything in net. i'm not quite following the question and i apologize for not understanding. >> maybe i'm not reading it clearly. the report stated that the 2006 postal reform wall did not require usps to fund 75 years of retirement benefits over a ten year period. >> perhaps the gao -- >> powerpoint is it was only 50 years, not 75. >> either one to put one last to rest, the same report also stated contrary to some claims there is no liability held more contributions made for any future employees who have yet to be hired or yet to be born. do you agree with that? >> mr. chairman, representative i would like to know if i could the board believes they might consider the prospect that all future hires would go to a defined contribution plan. it wouldn't affect current employees in any way but the future that is a better way of looking at retirement plans. >> we also in the same regard would like to have more flexibility during our own health plan. they have a better plan, a more affordable plan for emplo

the gao has provided some useful recommendations for how we should continue working with the few servicers that were not part of the recent settlement and we will take those recommendations. >> if i could translate that e,to journal ease -- journalez if you knew then what you knew now, you would have done it differently. >> absolutely. >> what would you have done differently, do you think? i am not eating to trap you. -- meaning to trap you. promised i would be polite. >> perhaps we would have taken an approach of a similar -- simple or categorization. and sending payments more rapidly, getting involved in detailed reviews. >> or money, less process. >> right. the money that had been agreed on was being eaten up i very costly reviews and spending money for consultants. ,hese turned out to be commonly a file might be 2000 pages or more. 10 or 20 orld take 50 hours of a single file. that turned out not to be a workable approach. >> ok. let it go. are there any other questions, good luck. one thing, before i go on, your definition of inflation, the fed's, is not the same as the definition we

colleagues, i want to thank the gao committee for their recommendation of this item and appreciate your consideration. three years ago i was happy to work with mayor newsome to pass our city's first open data ordinance and at that point we were a national leader in the open data movement. unfortunately we have fallen a bit behind. at this time we have about 500 city maintained data sets, but there are literally thousands of data sets that we could put out to the public. we have known in recent years that the release of government data and improved partnership between government and citizens has led to many successes at improving government. we know this is good for open government. this is to help provide more information to the press, to the public, and really ensure that as we analyze our government data, this is leading to innovations throughout our communities. i want to just take a moment because some of our colleagues have asked me, what type of data are we talking about? let me give three examples of things that i think we could really move forward on. first has to do with rec an

. ~ what's going on also, i would like to mention why doesn't gao committee on thursday have on its schedulen about mr. henry alvarez? and i think the mayor should donate his retirement check to the people that live in the projects. thank you. >> thanks. next speaker. >>> mr. president, board of supervisors, my name is [speaker not understood], i live in the north of market. i just heard on the conservative radio that the blue angels were canceled. i know this body some years ago had a pretty significant discussion about the safety issues involving the blue angels, and it occurred to me that over and above that, if we're in a government that is not being sufficiently funded and people are cutting corners, you know, safety could be an issue in a program where safety is really critical. and i know it's potentially a big hit to our city particularly the marin a district, but, you know, if you're cutting corners and you can't account for safety, then there's other kind of programs that actually should get cut. thank you. ~ marina >> thank you very much. are there any other members of the public

. >> just in time for tax day, we have a brand new gao report that is out right this minute. let me bring in a couple other quick headline findings here starting with this number, 61. today there are 80 corporate tax expenditures. it cost the taxpayer $181 billion a year. the biggest loophole here is the axccelerated depreshuation of machinery and equipment. what does this tell you about the state of american taxation? >> this report showing that tax loopholes actually exceed the amount of tax revenue paid by american corporations is really consistent with other recent reports, one of which showed that 30 of america's largest corporations spent more money lobbying this congress. >> you call these loopholes and a lot of people will say they put these carve-outs in the law to incentivize certain behavior. why shouldn't companies take advantage of this? >> my concern is that overall at a time when corporate revenues are at historic high is that we cannot extend all of these tax preferences indefinitely. appreciation was done as part of an economic recovery act. we have recovered

>> avenue where she gets her information the gao said only 6 percent of the borders have full controly 20% under operational control that is less than half with a failing grade and as far as the triggers is a hope and wish if not done within five years there is another commission so it is amnesty for stand border security later, if ever. lou: in sure the temperature you have taken. is it likely? you have your own gang of 8. you are working on this issue but the first words are they love what the gang of 8 has done. will we watch this get rubber-stamp? >> not all. i do not think the senate immigration bill as it now stands will pass the senate. as far as what is going on they have not made pants -- plans public. we will pass the guest worker plan and a bill for more immigrants to need the skills they need to get jobs and take care of their families. to pass that you verify bill to make sure workers who hire those here illegally and we will do it right on the house judiciary committee that is a direction you'll see congress go. lou: always good to talk with you. good to be here. make yo

gao is certai one the comptroller of the currency, you know, whoever the president happens to be, you know, those numbers are will. are there. the u.s. budget is online, i think, through numerous sites from the white house. and i suppose being a conspiracy theorist, you'd think they're manipulating the budget. those reports are very voluminous. >> host: you really have to kind of of of learn to -- >> guest: you have to look at, you have to look at. it takes time. there's no shortcuts. it's not exciting work. and people are always saying, asking us have you ever been threatened? we've never been threatened sitting at a library table looking at this kind of data. but that's what the heart of the work is. it just takes a long time to systematically go through that. but it's open in a way that was much more difficult a few years ago. of. >> host: you're actually, with your questions, putting your finger on what is a really critical problem that goes unmentioned. and that's the news media. and especially now when the news media's really under such pressure, and it's never going to be the s

host: has the gao given the irs recommendations in terms of it out reach with tax payers?hen they audit someone, how to best handle that and how to deal with someone who may be in over their heads when getting audited. guest: we have made a host of recommendations on how to improve their service to taxpayers. you have a lot of people who are come choose -- who are confused and looking for answers to questions. if they can get the correct answers, that will prevent errors and tax returns. the second issue is the compliance and enforcement program. we have made recommendations. information reporting is affect assuring --d and effective in assuring compliance. information compliance on sales of assets. if you realize the capital gain is the deck to tax, read to taxnd -- the subject , we recommend that this is reported to a brokerage forirm. host: what happens when you and recommendations? how does congress at? guest: our reports are issued to congress. they contain recommendations to irs. the congress holds hearings. through those hearings, they hold irs accountable. irs the

the gao thinks that could be maybe slim down too one cat fish inspection program.e careful. number three, military uniforms. >> that's right. gao says the pentagon is wasting at least 82 million because all the different services are producing all of their different uniforms, and there's not very much coordination. also, just in storing them, they waste money. it's recommended changes in that area as well. stuart: but if we just cut the budget 2% with the sequester ergs oh, man, catastrophe and armageddon. let's reek armageddon on cat fish. i know it's sarcasm and low form of whit, but couldn't resist. peter, thank you. >> thank you, sir. stuart: glad he didn't respond to that, he's good. the tax man watching facebook and twitter. if there's a red flag on the tax return, turns out, your social media profiles are fair game. they look at them and check. all rise, you know who is next, the judge. stuart: interesting announcement from ford, focus was thee best selling car, more than o million sold, beating out the toyota second year in a row. stocks at the $12 mark. 60

in response to gao have invested a significant amount in ensuring that we have appropriate controller involved in training, and it has resulted in great benefit in these procedures and these nextgen investments being used by the aviation industry. we've had to cause that while we do with the immediate operational challenges to mitigate the impact associated with furloughing our employees. >> i see that sequestration seems to be edge of the day but what barriers do you perceive out of the sequestration? >> as we look to implement nextgen down the road, this represents significant technological transformation. and it moves us from a system of air traffic control to a system of air traffic management. those are all good things. and that is something needs to be done collaboratively with the aviation industry and with all of our stakeholders and whether workforce. it is, some have likened it to buying the latest technology and turning it on. i think of it as a significant transformation in how we operate. that means that we have to work as a shared responsibility to maintain safety and op

. >>> in washington news, the gao is expected to release its report in political intelligence on that industry today. the front page story in the "wall street journal" says the political intelligence agency drove the jump in health insurance stocks on monday. height securities predicted that the obama administration would eliminate planned cuts in payments to insurers running medicare plans. now, that policy change was announced 35 minutes later pap height executive tells the journal that the firm didn't do anything wrong, but simply followed up on a rumor about plans for centers to medicare and medicaid services had put out there. the expected report from the gao is said to suggest it's hard to figure out how traders get their information. but senator chuck grassley says there is a chance that what political intelligence firms are doing is unfair to everyday investors. the current rules clearly profit some behavior to get inside information from the government. other strategies appear to be legal. the question is, which these were. you can imagine there will be follow-up. >>> in an u

the gao audits look at our operations. you all are free to look at them. we want to be an open book, and if there are concerns, then we want to try to address them. >> well, thank you. my time is, obviously, up. and so i can't continue with this here, but i would like to continue this with you, and i'd like to ask you to take seriously the request that i make that there be an internal legal analysis that is shared with us about all the details of how in the project is operating -- how this project is operating or this operation is being undertaken and how it fits with the requirements of dodd-frank. >> you tell us what you want, sir, and we'll get it to you. >> thank you. >> yep. >> senator -- [inaudible] >> thank you, mr. chairman. and, director cordray, as i said at the beginning of the hearing, it's always a pleasure to see you, and i feel like we see you quite a bit. thank you for the job you're doing. i want to associate myself with chairman johnson's question about the rural definition. and i've also heard questions and concerns about this definition

. >> how many are familiar with what the gao has done of the past four years? we're looking at duplication and much of. >> the have not finished the government. each of your agencies are in there. is where we agree with them. here's where we disagree. here are the things we think they have made better positive. here are the things we do not think are a waste of our time. not a good expenditure. if you would do this for me, that put a check for me back on gao. the are not always right. i learn, i think this would prove very beneficial. job is to help you. it is not just to be critical. effectively are we doing this? can we make any difference on this committee in terms of streamlining back, making the more efficient that i will submit some questions for the records. thank you. ask you raiseo your hand or night. do you think the border is far more secure than it was half a year ago? how many think we can do a whole lot more to improve? how many think we can do a good deal more? it is different than a whole lot. a whole lot is a whole lot. senator cobra and i were