Oversight
New GAO Report Shows Feds Spend $1.5 Billion Annually on PR Activities
WASHINGTON D.C. - The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the non-partisan government watchdog agency, today released a report, requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY), showing that the federal government spends $1.5 billion annually on public relations activities. The report details how federal agencies spend about $1 billion annually on public relations/advertising contracts and the approximately 5,000 federal public relations employees collectively receive nea… Continue Reading
03.09.16
Consumer Bureau Response to Broken Retirement Tool “Inadequate and Unresponsive”
WASHINGTON D.C. - Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, called a response from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) "inadequate and unresponsive" after the agency acknowledged problems with its online Social Security retirement calculator, but failed to fully address the problems or adequately fix them. The Chairmen note the agency's retirement cal… Continue Reading
02.16.16
Enzi Asks GAO to Investigate Spending by Feds on Public Relations Activities
WASHINGTON D.C. - GAO will initiate a study to identify and quantify the total amount of federal resources dedicated to agency public relations activities, in response to a formal request from Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Enzi cited the increasing pressures on limited federal resources combined with the need for fiscal oversight on spending by the federal government on public relations activities. Enzi issued this GAO request four months after sending a simi… Continue Reading
01.04.16
New CFPB Retirement Calculator Produces Flawed Results
WASHINGTON D.C. - Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today blasted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for carelessly spending government resources on a duplicative and wasteful retirement calculator that produces flawed results for Americans looking for clear and accurate information before making important financial decisions. "While the plann… Continue Reading
10.08.15
Enzi Pushes OMB Director to Disclose Spending by Feds on Outside Public Relations Activities
WASHINGTON D.C. - Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, in a letter today to Shaun Donovan, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), voiced concerns about spending by Executive Branch entities on "messaging" activities. Enzi noted that according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service, oversight on agency spending on advertising, public relations and media relations is largely unknown because it is hard to tell how much is spent an… Continue Reading
06.19.15
Enzi Asks GAO For Cost Estimates on Dept. of Education's Income-Driven Repayment Plans
WASHINGTON D.C. - Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, in a letter today to Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), asked the agency to help determine the true cost of the Department of Education's income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, which now comprise 28 percent of the Direct Loan balance in repayment. The Chairman said he was concerned because "the ultimate cost of IDR remains uncertain." Chairman Enzi's full letter… Continue Reading