GAO Lists Priorities for the Next President

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued its post-presidential election transition report. Operating under the purview of Congress, the GAO is a non-partisan agency that audits, analyzes, investigates and reports on programs, policies and operations of the federal government that involve spending taxpayer's dollars.

The 2009 transition report identifies 13 issues that it considers urgent:

• oversight of financial institutions and markets
• U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan
• protecting the homeland
• undisciplined defense spending
• improving the U.S. image abroad
• finalizing plans for the 2010 Census
• caring for service members
• preparing for public health emergencies
• revamping oversight of food safety
• restructuring the approach to surface transportation
• retirement of the Space Shuttle
• ensuring an effective transition to digital TV
• rebuilding military readiness

Because it is the federal government's independent auditor, the GAO's long term fiscal outlook should be of particular interest. From the report:

Over the next few decades, the nation's fiscal outlook will be shaped largely by demographics and health care costs. As the baby boom generation retires, federal spending on retirement and health programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will grow dramatically. A range of other federal fiscal commitments, some explicit and some representing implicit public expectations, also bind the nation's fiscal future. Absent policy change, a growing imbalance between expected federal spending and tax revenues will mean escalating and ultimately unsustainable federal deficits and debt.

That's not exactly news, but it does point to how important reform is. Medicare and Medicaid are likely to be the real revenue drainers. The entire GAO transition report is here.