Senate Committee Passes Dr. Rand Paul's Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act

Press Release

Today, the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) passed U.S. Senator Rand Paul's bipartisan Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act (S. 2618) by voice vote during a business meeting.

Currently, federal law allows an agency's Inspector General to pay bonuses of up to $10,000 of savings realized when a federal employee identifies waste, fraud, or mismanagement of funds. Dr. Paul's legislation would expand these categories to include identifying surplus or unneeded funds.

"I am pleased to see the committee act quickly to pass this reform, and I urge the full Senate to follow its example by taking up the Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act as soon as possible. Passing this legislation would show concerned Americans that the Senate is serious about getting spending under control and returning to fiscal sanity," said Dr. Paul.

Bonuses for Cost-Cutters would also ensure 90% of the savings are automatically directed toward deficit reduction, with agencies free to apply any remainder toward other agency priorities, subject to current law.

Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Mike Lee (R-UT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Rob Portman (R-OH), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Mike Enzi (R-WY), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) have cosponsored the legislation.

Dr. Paul's Bonuses for Cost-Cutters proposal also passed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in the 114th Congress, and a DHS-specific version passed the committee in March 2018 as an amendment to H.R. 2825, the Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act.