Sens. Young and Manchin Propose Increased Accountability Measures for Department of Education

Washington D.C. – Today, Senators Todd Young (R-IN) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) introduced legislation to increase accountability at the Department of Education. Up to this point, the Department of Education has not implemented dozens of open recommendations crafted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

If this legislation is signed into law, the Department of Education would be required to provide either a timeline for implementation on any outstanding GAO recommendations, or provide justification for not implementing the recommendations. The Department would also be required to submit a report to the Congressional committees of jurisdiction on the status of all outstanding recommendations.

“Congress has a responsibility to conduct robust oversight of federal agencies,” said Young. “This new set of oversight measures would hold the Department accountable for inaction on streamlining and improving key areas of its operations. Ultimately, the federal government is accountable to the American people and has a duty to constantly seek improvements for its own operations.”

“I have always said that government agencies need to be more transparent and efficient and I’m proud to join my colleague Senator Young in bipartisan legislation to do just that,” Senator Manchin said. “The Department of Education has a responsibility to make improvements to better serve the taxpayers, and our legislation will require them to move forward on 12 important recommendations from the GAO. Our future depends on educating our children, and I will do everything in my power to hold the Department of Education accountable to ensure their success.”  

Additional background

• The scope of outstanding recommendations is limited to the past ten years as some GAO reports might reference legislation that is no longer relevant.
• This piece of legislation is similar in scope to legislation also introduced by Senator Young that prescribes similar accountability measures to the Department of State.