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Government Accountability Office (GAO)

In 2004, the General Accounting Office became the Government Accountability Office. "The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an agency that works for Congress and the American people. Congress asks GAO to study the programs and expenditures of the federal government. GAO, commonly called the investigative arm of Congress or the congressional watchdog, is independent and nonpartisan. It studies how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. GAO advises Congress and the heads of executive agencies (such as Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Department of Defense, DOD, and Health and Human Services, HHS) about ways to make government more effective and responsive. GAO evaluates federal programs, audits federal expenditures, and issues legal opinions. When GAO reports its findings to Congress, it recommends actions. Its work leads to laws and acts that improve government operations, and save billions of dollars."

Government Accountability Office provides information about its activities and electronic versions of its reports, testimony, and publications. The site includes special collections on topics such as homeland security, terrorism, and airport security. The site also includes a search feature for older GAO reports and testimony. When available, the search feature provides a link to electronic versions of older reports and an order feature for reports not available online. Government Publications collects GAO reports in microform. Use the search feature to identify report numbers. Most are also cataloged in Chinook. Ask for microforms at the Government Publications Reference Desk.
General Accounting Office Reports via GPO Access includes all reports from 1995-present, plus limited reports from 1993 and 1994.



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