Making a Change

Press Release

U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., joined Senators Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mark Warner, D-Va., today in introducing the Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act of 2015. This bipartisan legislation would empower those on the front lines of federal spending to find efficiencies and improve productivity to return value to the taxpayer in the form of deficit reduction and less government borrowing. Building on the current federal law, the Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act would allow a U.S. government agency's inspector general to pay a bonus of up to $10,000 when a federal employee identifies surplus or unneeded funds.

"It's the people holding the shovel who really know how to solve problems," said Enzi. "The folks responsible for administering individual programs know where the money is, what is needed and what is being wasted. I believe that if we pass this bill into law it's really going to pay off, literally. I appreciate Senators Paul and Warner's introduction of this bill."

"Under the current law, federal employees have a perverse incentive to spend all of their agency's annual budget before the end of the year, and subsequently, bonuses will reverse the incentive to the benefit of the employee and the taxpayer," said Paul. "The Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act will reduce the federal deficit and reverse the trend toward agency bloat, by combating inefficiency and mismanagement of funds in the government."

"This bipartisan proposal encourages federal agencies to return unused funds instead of rushing to spend-down their appropriations at the end of every fiscal year. When we empower federal employees to identify surplus funds instead of encouraging the "use it or lose it' mentality, we are better stewards of taxpayers' dollars," Warner said.

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