Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Acting Vice President, Policy and Government Affairs, Project On Government Oversight — Testimony

Summary

Written testimony of Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, acting vice president of policy and government affairs at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), addressed to Chair Ernst, Ranking Member Markey and Members of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship at a hearing on waste and fraud in the federal government. The testimony cites GAO estimates that the government lost between $233 and $521 billion to fraud each year and that $2.8 trillion in improper payments have been issued since 2003. It recommends strengthening inspectors general and the Government Accountability Office, improving federal spending tracking tools, and stronger ethics and conflict of interest rules for contracting. It compares the SBA's budgetary resources of a little more than $17 billion with the Department of Defense and discusses the 8(a) contracting program, with $41.8 billion in fiscal year 2024 awards.

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Full text

Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette
Acting Vice President, Policy and Government Affairs
Project On Government Oversight


Chair Ernst, Ranking Member Markey, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the
opportunity to testify today about waste and fraud in the federal government.

I am Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, acting vice president of policy and government affairs at the
Project On Government Oversight (POGO). POGO is a nonpartisan, independent watchdog that
investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, and when the government fails to
serve the public or silences those who report wrongdoing. We champion reforms to achieve a
more effective, ethical, and accountable federal government that safeguards constitutional
principles.

For more than 40 years, POGO has advocated for more effective, transparent, and accountable
federal spending. We began as a primarily Department of Defense-focused watchdog but have
since expanded our scope to encompass the entire federal government. Whether we have been
exposing exorbitant expenditures at the Pentagon, price gouging by government contractors, or
widespread problems in the context of emergency spending situations, we have long called for
reforms and solutions to address waste and fraud.1

As a government watchdog organization, we know the value of rigorous oversight. This is why
we have also been longtime champions and supporters of internal government watchdogs such as
inspectors general (IGs) and entities like the Government Accountability Office (GAO).2 These
watchdogs exist to root out waste, fraud, and abuse and to crack down on corruption through
investigations, audits, and the issuance of recommendations. If we are to effectively address
waste and fraud in the federal government, watchdogs and oversight practitioners like IGs and
the GAO — and Congress itself — must be sufficiently resourced, adequately funded,
consistently supported, and proactively insulated from undue political influence.

As such, it has been extremely disheartening to see the current administration systematically
undermine and dismantle government oversight, from the opening days of its term through the
present day. Unlawfully firing IGs, attacking the GAO, and appointing manifestly unqualified


1
  Wasteful Spending and Inefficiencies: Examining DoD Platform Performance and Costs: Hearing Before the
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign
Affairs, 118th Cong. (July 24, 2024) (testimony of Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Director of Government Affairs, Project
On Government Oversight), https://www.pogo.org/testimonies/pogos-testimony-on-wasteful-inefficient-pentagon-
spending; Mandy Smithberger, “Spare Parts Contractor Profits from Broken System,” Project On Government
Oversight, January 12, 2022, https://www.pogo.org/analysis/spare-parts-contractor-profits-from-broken-system;
Nick Schwellenbach, Neil Gordon, Sean Moulton, Leslie Garvey. “The Great Pandemic Swindle: Feds Botch
Review of Billions in Suspect PPP Loans,” Project On Government Oversight, October 6, 2022,
https://www.pogo.org/investigations/the-great-pandemic-swindle-feds-botched-review-of-billions-in-suspect-ppp-
loans.
2
  POGO Staff, “Inspectors General: Many Lack Essential Tools for Independence,” Project On Government
Oversight, February 26, 2008, https://www.pogo.org/reports/inspectors-general-many-lack-essential-tools-for-
independence; Janice Luong, “Congress Must Protect the GAO from Executive Overreach,” Project On Government
Oversight, July 9, 2025, https://www.pogo.org/analysis/congress-must-protect-the-gao-from-executive-overreach.
individuals to key oversight positions (just to name a few examples) are not the actions of an
administration that takes oversight and accountability and the integrity of government seriously.3
In fact, they are the opposite. The recent public disregard for oversight from the executive branch
only makes the role of congressional oversight more important. That’s why we at POGO are glad
you’re holding this hearing today.

In addition to our broad focus on oversight and accountability, POGO has also worked toward
promoting small business participation in the federal contracting ecosystem as a means toward
spurring competition, bringing down costs to taxpayers, and breaking the corrosive stranglehold
that a handful of large companies have on the federal contracting system. 4

The Small Business Administration (SBA) stimulates the small business sector, supporting small
business receipt of federal awards. For this, it should be applauded. But the SBA has also
experienced its share of oversight lapses and instances of waste and fraud, including but not
limited to problems during the COVID-19 pandemic relief era.5 Given the size and scope of the
federal budget and the sheer quantity of discrete programs, projects, and activities that budget
facilitates in a given fiscal year, federal agencies must always remain vigilant in overseeing and
managing the activities within their purview, and Congress must routinely engage in rigorous
oversight to ensure compliance and efficacy. The SBA is no different than any other agency in
this regard.6



3
  POGO Staff, “POGO and Partners: The Senate Must Demand Answers on IGs,” Project On Government
Oversight, February 11, 2025, https://www.pogo.org/policy-letters/pogo-and-partners-the-senate-must-demand-
answers-on-igs; Faith Williams, “The Administration’s Latest Attack on Oversight,” Project On Government
Oversight, October 2, 2025, https://www.pogo.org/analysis/the-administrations-latest-attack-on-oversight; Sean
Michael Newhouse, “Whistleblower Organizations Applaud Withdrawal of Trump’s ‘Unfit’ Nominee to Lead
Oversight Office,” Government Executive, October 22, 2025,
https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2025/10/whistleblower-organizations-applaud-withdrawal-trumps-unfit-
nominee-lead-oversight-office/408981/; April Rubin, “OMB Director Says Government Accountability Office
‘Shouldn’t Exist,’” Axios, September 3, 2025, https://www.axios.com/2025/09/03/russell-vought-government-
accountability-office.
4
  Neil Gordon, “Federal Small Business Contracting: Fact or Fiction?”, Project On Government Oversight, July 7,
2015, https://www.pogo.org/analysis/federal-small-business-contracting-fact-or-fiction; Nick Schwellenbach,
“Sidelining Small Businesses,” Project On Government Oversight, June 24, 2022,
https://www.pogo.org/investigations/sidelining-small-businesses; Jack Scher, “Government Errors Hurt Small
Businesses,” Project On Government Oversight, June 14, 2013, https://www.pogo.org/analysis/government-errors-
hurt-small-businesses.
5
  Nick Schwellenbach and Ryan Summers, “Red Flags: The First Year of COVID-19 Loan Fraud Cases,” Project On
Government Oversight, April 15, 2021, https://www.pogo.org/investigations/red-flags-the-first-year-of-covid-19-
loan-fraud-cases; “Pandemic Spending Failings Show the Need for Stronger Oversight Protections:” Hearing
before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, 118th Cong. (February 8, 2023) (testimony of Sean
Moulton, Senior Policy Analyst, Project On Government Oversight),
https://docs.pogo.org/testimony/2023/POGO_Pandemic_Spending_Failings_Show_the_Need_for_Stronger_Oversig
ht_Protections.pdf.
6
  “Small Business Administration: A Primer on Programs and Funding,” Congressional Research Service, April 27,
2022, https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/RL33243; “The Federal Budget in Fiscal Year 2024: An Infographic,”
Congressional Budget Office, March 20, 2025, https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61181.
The title of this hearing centers the need to run the federal government like a small business, by
cutting waste and stamping out fraud. Setting aside the question of whether government —
which does not operate in the pursuit of profit or maximized shareholder returns — can or should
be run like a business, the issue of how to address waste and fraud is an important one.

The GAO estimates that, according to fiscal data from 2018 to 2022, the government lost
between $233 and $521 billion to fraud each year, and it calculates that $2.8 trillion in improper
payments have been issued by the federal government since 2003. 7

Waste is a more subjective category, but POGO has a long track record of documenting and
exposing wasteful spending, such as the nearly $2 trillion (and counting) projected to be spent on
the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, despite routine failures of basic performance assessments
in operational testing environments.8 Another example of wasteful spending that POGO has
highlighted is the increasing reliance on service contracts by the federal government, which data
shows actually costs more than in-housing those activities.9 Anticipating another likely exercise
in wasteful spending, we’re watching the recently commenced Golden Dome missile defense
project, a prime candidate for increased scrutiny and oversight.10

Commonsense Reforms for Addressing Waste and Fraud

In our decades of serving as a government watchdog, we’ve identified several pragmatic,
commonsense solutions to the twin diseases of waste and fraud that plague the federal
government. I lay some of those reforms out below.

Preserve, strengthen, and insulate inspectors general.

As noted above, IGs play a critical role in promoting integrity in the federal government by
investigating and exposing waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption. IGs should therefore be funded
and resourced sufficiently so as to maximize their effectiveness. Congress should update the
Inspector General Act of 1978 to further protect and insulate IGs from political meddling and
interference so they can perform their vital duties without fear or favor, as we have previously



7
  “Fraud & Improper Payments,” U.S. Government Accountability Office, accessed December 5, 2025,
https://www.gao.gov/fraud-improper-payments.
8
  Greg Williams, “F-35 Testing Report Reveals Problems with Production Decisions,” Project On Government
Oversight, November 21, 2024, https://www.pogo.org/analysis/f-35-testing-report-reveals-problems-with-
production-decisions; Dan Grazier, “F-35: The Part-Time Fighter Jet,” Project On Government Oversight, February
26, 2024, https://www.pogo.org/analysis/f-35-the-part-time-fighter-jet.
9
  Paul Chassy and Scott Amey, “Bad Business: Billions of Taxpayer Dollars Wasted on Hiring Contractors,” Project
On Government Oversight, September 13, 2011, https://www.pogo.org/reports/bad-business-billions-of-taxpayer-
dollars-wasted-on-hiring-contractors; Omar Tabuni, “Fact Sheet: The Right-to-Repair for the United States
Military,” Project On Government Oversight, February 13, 2025, https://www.pogo.org/fact-sheets/fact-sheet-the-
right-to-repair-for-the-united-states-military.
10
   Charles Tiefer, “Trump’s Golden Dome: Costly and Wasteful, Tied to Billionaire Thiel,” Forbes, September 26,
2025, https://www.forbes.com/sites/charlestiefer/2025/09/26/trumps-golden-dome-costly-and-wasteful--tied-to-
billionaire-thiel/.
recommended.11 Moreover, the Senate must take its advise and consent role more seriously when
it comes to confirming IG nominees: No unqualified or politically compromised nominee should
ever be confirmed.

Protect and strengthen the Government Accountability Office.

The GAO is an indispensable congressional resource when it comes to investigating and
analyzing what the federal government is doing with public funds. To safeguard this crucial
institution so it is able to do its job effectively, Congress should ensure that it has the necessary
funding and resources, while also enacting reforms to further enhance the GAO’s capacity and
efficacy. Specifically, Congress should pass the GAO reforms contained in the Congressional
Power of the Purse Act.12 Relatedly, Congress should also reform the process for appointing the
Comptroller General in such a way so as to prevent the president from undermining the GAO
from within by appointing an unfit or otherwise adversarial individual who does not believe in
the core mission of the GAO. In the substantive arena, Congress should more regularly act on
GAO recommendations and reports, including those set forth in the annual report on duplicative
programs.13

Reform existing systems and tools for tracking and analyzing federal funding.

A key component of ensuring integrity and mitigating waste and fraud in federal spending is
having strong and effective tools and mechanisms for monitoring dollars after they are spent.
Currently, resources like USASpending.gov are too weak, and reporting requirements are either
inadequate or ignored by agencies. There are numerous ways to improve how we track federal
dollars and provide tools for spotting and heading off leakages in the spending chain, including
shoring up subaward recipient reporting, requiring better and more consistent award descriptions
and other information, and expanding the quality and types of data collected.14




11
   The War on Waste: Stamping out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud: Hearing before the House
Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, 119th Cong.
(February 12, 2025)(testimony of Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Director of Government Affairs, Project On Government
Oversight), https://www.pogo.org/testimonies/pogo-calls-for-focus-on-real-reforms-to-improve-federal-spending-
accountability-and-transparency; Inspector General Act of 1978, 5 U.S.C. §1-13,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2011-title5/html/USCODE-2011-title5-app-inspector.htm.
12
   Congressional Power of the Purse Act, H.R. 5220, 119th Cong., (2025), https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-
congress/house-bill/5220.
13
   U.S. Government Accountability Office, “GAO Recommendations Have Led to $725 billion in Financial Benefits
– New Duplication and Cost Savings Report Shows Potential for Another $100 billion or More,” Press Release,
May 13, 2025, https://www.gao.gov/press-release/gao-recommendations-led-725-billion-financial-benefits-new-
duplication-cost-savings-report-shows-potential-100-billion.
14
   Sean Moulton. “Blueprint to Fix Reporting of Federal Spending,” Project On Government Oversight, August 2,
2021, https://www.pogo.org/analysis/blueprint-to-fix-reporting-of-federal-spending.
Enact stronger ethics and conflict of interest rules to safeguard the federal contracting
process.

One of the key drivers of government corruption, including waste and fraud, is a perversion of
the federal contracting process through which contracts are awarded. Large, well connected
companies peddle influence and leverage connections to rig the system in their favor.15 Congress
should enact strong conflict of interest rules to ensure that federal contracts are awarded through
a rigorous and objective process of merit and in accordance with programmatic guidelines and
public interest needs, not on the basis of cronyism and as a result of corporate capture. Included
among these reforms should be stronger revolving door rules and more transparency in federal
contractor lobbying and political activities.16

Waste, Fraud, and Where to Find It

To level-set today’s discussion, I want to begin by contextualizing the scale and scope of waste
and fraud in small business programming context relative to other areas of the federal
government. As I noted above, GAO’s estimates of waste and improper payments extend into
hundreds of billions — even into trillions of dollars, when aggregated over time.

The Small Business Administration had a little more than $17 billion available to it in budgetary
resources last fiscal year. This makes SBA one of the smaller agencies in the federal government.
By way of contrast, the Department of Defense had more than $2 trillion in budgetary resources
available to it last year, making it the largest discretionary budget in the entire federal portfolio. 17

The Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship has a specific jurisdiction that includes
oversight of SBA and not the Department of Defense, so it naturally tracks that this committee
and this hearing will accordingly focus on issues related to its jurisdictional remit. However, we
should all agree that, when deciding how to allocate finite oversight resources and bandwidth to
address waste and fraud, our government should focus on the agencies that receive and spend the
most money. Logically, we will find the most waste and fraud with the least effort if we focus on
the biggest agencies and expenditures.


15
   Project on Government Oversight, “Top Federal Contractors Spend Millions on Influence, Get Billions in
Contracts,” Press Release, August 31, 2017, https://www.pogo.org/post/top-federal-contractors-spend-millions-on-
influence-get-billions-in-contracts; Public Citizen, “Corporate Donors to Trump’s White House Ballroom Beset by
Conflicts, Receive $279 billion in Government Contracts,” Press Release, November 23, 2025,
https://www.citizen.org/news/corporate-donors-to-trumps-white-house-ballroom-beset-by-conflicts-received-279-
billion-in-government-contracts-in-the-past-five-years/.
16
   Mandy Smithberger, “Three Steps to Help Stop the Pentagon’s Revolving Door,” Project On Government
Oversight, November 22, 2021, https://www.pogo.org/fact-sheets/three-steps-to-help-stop-the-pentagons-revolving-
door; Scott Amey, “Groups Seek to Ban Secret Election Support by Contractors,” Project On Government
Oversight, March 2, 2015, https://www.pogo.org/analysis/groups-seek-to-ban-secret-election-support-by-
contractors.
17
   “Department of Defense (DOD) Agency Profile,” USASpending, accessed on December 5, 2025,
https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-defense?fy=2025; “Federal Budget in Fiscal Year 2024,” CBO,
[See note 6].
Unfortunately, when it comes to finding waste and fraud, this administration has appeared to
focus its attention on agencies, programs, projects, and activities that fit into political and
ideological categories with which it disagrees, rather than focusing on the most egregious
instances of corruption.18

The SBA has been no exception. One program that has received attention recently is the 8(a)
contracting program, designed to provide socially and economically disadvantaged small
businesses resources and access to the federal contracting ecosystem.19 In June of this year, SBA
Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced an audit of the program in response to what she called
“rampant fraud.”20 While it is imperative to conduct robust oversight of all contracting programs,
in fiscal year 2024, $41.8 billion was awarded through 8(a) contracts, representing just about
5.4% of the total $755 billion in federal contract awards.21

To add more detail and data to this picture, and to be more specific in naming examples that
should have drawn far more attention and focus from those invested in addressing cozy dealings
and ethics concerns, here are a few cases POGO has investigated in 2025 alone.

Last week, POGO and Mother Jones reported on a number of former clients of White House
Border Czar Tom Homan that have recently won lucrative border and immigration-related
contracts. Partly given Homan’s former consulting for these companies last year, ethics experts
say there is at least an appearance of corruption.22

Earlier in November, we highlighted a disturbing pattern of contract awards at the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) through which the agency appears to be circumventing its own




18
   The White House, “Historic Pocket Rescission Package Eliminates Woke, Weaponized, and Wasteful Spending,”
August 29, 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/08/historic-pocket-rescission-package-
eliminates-woke-weaponized-and-wasteful-spending/; Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert, “DOGE’s Anti-DEI Drive
Flagged These Programs. Only They Weren’t DEI,” Business Insider, March 11, 2025,
https://www.businessinsider.com/doge-wrongly-flagged-jobs-programs-dei-equity-2025-3; John Parkinson, Justin
Gomez, Allison Pecorin, Sarah Beth Hensley, “Trump Says Some ‘Democrat Programs’ to be Cut During
Shutdown,” ABC News, October 14, 2025, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/strategy-speaker-johnson-backs-gops-
clean-cr-shutdown/story?id=126511106.
19
   Corinne R. Blackford, Congressional Research Service, “SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program: Structure
and Current Issues,” September 19, 2024. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48190.
20
   “Small Business Administration, “Administrator Loeffler Orders Full-Scale Audit of 8(a) Contracting Program,”
Press Release, June 27, 2025, https://www.sba.gov/article/2025/06/27/administrator-loeffler-orders-full-scale-audit-
8a-contracting-program.
21
   “Scorecard Details: Small Business Procurement Scorecard,” the U.S. Small Business Administration, last
updated July 14, 2025, Scorecard details | U.S. Small Business Administration. “A Snapshot: Government-Wide
Contracting: A 2024 Update,” U.S. Government Accountability Office, last modified June 2025,
https://files.gao.gov/multimedia/Federal_Government_Contracting-FY2024/index.html; “SBA Scorecard Data
Explorer,” U.S. Small Business Administration, accessed December 8, 2025, https://datahub.certify.sba.gov/.
22
   Dan Friedman, Russ Choma, Nick Schwellenbach. “Border Czar’s Former Clients Cash In on Trump’s
Immigration Crackdown,” Mother Jones and the Project On Government Oversight, December 5, 2025,
https://www.pogo.org/investigations/border-czars-former-clients-cash-in-on-trumps-immigration-crackdown.
leadership’s oversight by issuing a series of contracts for $99,999, just below the $100,000
threshold at which the secretary has decided to weigh in with sign-off. 23

In October, POGO co-published an investigation with Mother Jones detailing how a DHS
contract worth almost a billion dollars was awarded to a firm with “no track record” as a federal
contractor through a “rushed” process that involved a DHS official with ties to the firm’s
founder.24

In September, POGO and Mother Jones co-published an investigation that showed how Trump-
tied lobbying firm Ballard Partners helped a surveillance and biometric company called BI² land
a no-bid ICE contract worth millions of dollars. Prior to hiring Ballard, BI² had for years
struggled to break into federal contracting.25

In August, POGO released an investigation uncovering past financial and employment ties
between senior Trump Administration officials at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
and the Pentagon with tech contractors vying for a piece of the administration’s “Golden Dome”
project.26

In March, we published an investigation exposing the political ties of the ICE contractor CSI
Aviation. The firm, whose owner hosted a Trump campaign rally in the fall of 2024, could make
billions of dollars running deportation flights, despite its involvement in numerous high-profile
controversies.27

In February and March, we published two investigations digging into the ongoing business and
financial ties between Elon Musk, the owner of several companies with federal contracts, top
political appointees at OPM, and staffers on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)
team at the Treasury Department who were granted access to highly sensitive databases.28


23
   Nick Schwellenbach, “$99,999 Contracts Balloon Under Kristi Noem’s Directive,” Project On Government
Oversight, November 21, 2025, https://www.pogo.org/investigations/99-999-dhs-contracts-balloon-under-kristi-
noems-directive.
24
   Dan Friedman and Nick Schwellenbach, “Massive DHS ‘Self-Deportation’ Contract Challenged as Secretive and
‘Unlawful,’” Project On Government Oversight, October 10, 2025, https://www.pogo.org/investigations/massive-
dhs-self-deportation-contract-challenged-as-secretive-and-unlawful.
25
   Nick Schwellenbach and Russ Choma, “Trump-Tied Lobbyists’ Clients Keep Winning No-Bid ICE Contracts,”
Project On Government Oversight, September 25, 2025, https://www.pogo.org/investigations/trump-tied-lobbyists-
clients-keep-winning-no-bid-ice-contract.
26
   Nick Schwellenbach and Neil Gordon, “Gold Rush: Top Trump Officials’ Silicon Valley Ties,” Project On
Government Oversight, August 25, 2025, https://www.pogo.org/investigations/gold-rush-top-trump-officials-silicon-
valley-ties.
27
   Nick Schwellenbach, “Meet the ICE Contractor Running Deportation Flights,” Project On Government Oversight,
March 20, 2025, https://www.pogo.org/investigations/meet-the-ice-contractor-running-deportation-flights.
28
   Nick Schwellenbach, “Elon Musk’s DOGE Teams Raise Vetting, Ethics Concerns,” Project On Government
Oversight, February 6, 2025, https://www.pogo.org/investigations/elon-musks-doge-teams-raise-vetting-ethics-
concerns; Nick Schwellenbach, “Musk’s Deep Financial Ties to Top Feds Revealed,” Project On Government
Oversight, March 7, 2025, https://www.pogo.org/investigations/musks-deep-financial-ties-to-top-feds-revealed.
In January, we released a new investigation into the revolving door between private prison giant
GEO Group and the Department of Homeland Security, revealing that ICE’s former top detention
official, Daniel Bible, had recently accepted a job with one of the agency’s largest contractors.29

What these examples showcase is the pervasiveness of cronyism and a potentially biased award
process on display in less than one year under this administration. It is these kinds of
malfeasance and misconduct in federal contracting and lobbying that should be the focus of
congressional oversight and legislative reform efforts.

Conclusion: What Oversight Is — and What It Is Not

Oversight is essential to ensuring integrity and effectiveness in the federal government. Without
robust and consistent oversight, the public cannot trust that resources, including hard-earned tax
dollars, are being used appropriately and efficaciously. We cannot be sure that government
officials are acting in good faith and in the public interest, in accordance with both the norms and
rules of ethical conduct, without strong and persistent oversight of official conduct.

All of this said, not all oversight is created equal, and not all activity labeled oversight are
appropriate or legitimate. Targeting perceived political enemies with spurious claims of
misconduct or illegality, for example, is not oversight. Threatening to go after nonprofit groups
and philanthropic foundations on the basis of ideological or political disagreements is not
oversight.30 Indiscriminately firing large numbers of federal employees and unlawfully
withholding duly enacted funding is not a legitimate exercise in oversight.31 Congress burying its
head in the sand and allowing all of this is not oversight. True oversight is what IGs do every
day, work that leads them to identify tens of billions of dollars in potential savings to taxpayers
each year.32 Oversight is the auditing and investigating and myriad substantive recommendations
made by the GAO every year.33 Oversight is the serious work done by congressional committees



29
   Nick Schwellenbach and René Kladzyk, “Private Prison Giant Hired ICE Detention Chief,” Project On
Government Oversight, January 17, 2025, https://www.pogo.org/investigations/private-prison-giant-hired-ice-
detention-chief.
30
   Vittoria Elliott, “The Trump Administration Is Coming for Nonprofits. They’re Getting Ready,” Wired, October 2,
2025, https://www.wired.com/story/the-trump-administration-is-coming-for-nonprofits-theyre-getting-ready/.
31
   U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Department of Homeland Security — Application of the Impoundment
Control Act to Federal Emergency Management Agency Prior Year Federal Assistance Appropriations,” B-337204.2
(September 29, 2025), https://www.gao.gov/products/b-337204.2; Eric Katz, “Trump’s mass probationary firings
were illegal, judge concludes, but he won’t order re-hirings,” Government Executive, September 15, 2025,
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/09/trumps-mass-probationary-firings-were-illegal-judge-concludes-he-
wont-order-re-hirings/408111/.
32
   U. S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Office of Ranking Member Gary
Peters, “Peters Unveils New Investigative Report Finding Fired Inspectors General Identified More Savings than
DOGE,” May 21, 2025, https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/dems/peters-unveils-new-investigative-report-finding-
fired-inspectors-general-identified-more-savings-than-doge/.
33
   U.S. Government Accountability Office, High-Risk Series: Heightened Attention Could Save Billions More and
Improve Government Efficiency and Effectiveness, GAO-25-107743 (February 25, 2025),
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-107743.
in holding hearings like this one, engaging in inquiry and fact-finding, and issuing investigative
reports that form the evidentiary basis for future legislative reforms.

Common threads across the serious and legitimate kind of oversight conducted by numerous
stakeholders, inside and outside of government, are things like objectivity, a focus on provable
facts, a reliance on solid data, and the willingness to speak truth to power, regardless of who
holds power or the political or ideological affiliation of those involved.

I will conclude here by urging this committee and Congress as an institution to focus on
conducting real oversight and prioritizing the worst and most harmful occurrences of misconduct
and malfeasance, not just the politically advantageous and convenient ones.

I urge the Senators on this committee to consider the specific and actionable reforms suggested
above and to look into the instances of corruption we have highlighted this year. We stand ready,
willing, and able to partner with you in these efforts.


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Hedtler-Gaudette_Testimony_Updated.pdf

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