Senator Lankford Applauds Launch of Oversight.gov

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today applauded the launch of Oversight.gov, by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), to provide a single online tool for the thousands of reports and recommendations made by Inspectors General across government. 

“This website is an important step forward to ensure transparency and accountability in our government,” said Lankford, “I applaud the Council for their commitment to developing this website that will make it easier for the American people to monitor whether federal agencies are operating in an open and efficient manner.”

Inspectors General (IGs) serve as watchdogs within federal agencies to fight waste, fraud, and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. According to CIGIE, every year “IGs identify billions of dollars in potential taxpayer savings, conduct investigations that promote government accountability, and make thousands of recommendations to improve government operations. Visitors to Oversight.gov will see that, for the third consecutive year, the IG community identified over $20 billion in potential savings of federal tax dollars as part of their comprehensive efforts to eliminate waste in federal programs.”

In December 2015, Senator Lankford chaired a Subcommittee hearing on implementing open recommendations by Inspectors General and the Government Accountability Office to save taxpayers billions of wasted or mismanaged dollars. The idea for this website was discussed in that hearing and Senator Lankford has been working closely with Ranking Member Heidi Heitkamp and CIGIE over the past year to develop Oversight.gov. Lankford has long been a proponent of identifying government waste. He is the author of the annual government waste and solutions report entitled, “Federal Fumbles: 100 ways the government dropped the ball.”

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