1. United States
2. Conn.
3. Letter

The GAO appropriation is a tough nut to crack. Your counterparts on the right won’t be sold on traditional arguments for funding the agency. They don’t care if GAO can’t help them anymore. And they don’t care if GAO’s recs can save money and root out waste and abuse. Cutting GAO’s budget to this level is purely an act of retribution. It’s the end of a tantrum over the California EPA rules and the start of a new one about Impoundment Control Act enforcement. The disappointing result of the House Appropriations Committee markup makes it clear that nobody on the right is listening to reason anymore. This bill is full of a thousand little paper cuts to Congress’s Article 1 powers. It’s also sawing off Congress’s investigative arm. And they’re probably going to pass it, untouched, to the floor. I’m not sure what the right messaging is here. But the Republicans are captured and the Executive is driving this ship right into the ground. We needed impeachment on day 2–but we’ll take it whenever you can get it for us. In the meantime, GAO is going to continue protecting the congressional power of the purse unless and until it’s underfunded out of existence. Please do what you can to ensure that doesn’t happen. The republic is on the line.