12 Feb 2025
1:47
On Wednesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” David Walker, who served as head of the Government Accountability Office from 1998 to 2008, said that he believes the best other areas for the Department of Government Efficiency to look at would be health care, taxes, and contracting and said that there are many “problems with regard to certain payments, in particular, with regard to our COVID payments that were made. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a trillion dollars of, frankly, fraud and abuse with regard to that item.”
Co-host Amna Nawaz asked, “Where else would you want to see them point their efforts? In your experience, where are some of those big-ticket items when it comes to waste and fraud?”
Walker answered, “Health care is number one. There [are] also a lot of problems with regard to certain payments, in particular, with regard to our COVID payments that were made. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a trillion dollars of, frankly, fraud and abuse with regard to that item. Taxes, we have a lot of situations where there’s a lot of improper activity that goes on with regard to our tax system, and also, contracting activities. So, those are some of the areas that I think are the most fruitful.”
Nawaz followed up, “Contracting, you mean specific to, like, the Department of Defense, for example?”
Walker responded, “Well, that would be one of the big contracting agencies. There are a lot of agencies that engage in contracting, but Defense is one of the biggest, for sure.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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