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By David Clarke, CQ Staff
Feb. 15, 2008
Feb. 15, 2008
David M. Walker, the U.S. comptroller general and head of the Government Accountability Office, announced Friday that he will resign in March to lead a new foundation focused on long-term public policy challenges.
GAO serves as Congress’ chief investigative and audit arm, probing waste and fraud in government programs and detailing the long-term budget problems facing the government. Walker has headed the agency, which has more than 3,100 employees and a budget of nearly $500 million, since November 1998. His 15 year-term was not set to end until 2013.
Walker, 56, has repeatedly warned that the government faces a long-term fiscal crisis as the baby-boom generation retires, driving up spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
He will continue to raise the alarm as president and chief executive of the newly established Peter G. Peterson Foundation, set up by the co-founder and senior chairman of The Blackstone Group, who served as Commerce secretary in the Nixon administration. Peterson has pledged to contribute at least $1 billion to the foundation.
“I have been around a very long time, and I have never seen so many simultaneous challenges that I would describe as undeniable, unsustainable and virtually untouchable politically,” Peterson, 81, said in a release announcing the foundation.
Walker said in a news release that he could better address the long-range public policy issues that deeply concern him in his new role than as head of GAO.
“As Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO, there are real limitations on what I can do and say in connection with key public policy issues, especially issues that directly relate to GAO’s client — the Congress,” Walker said. “My new position will provide me with the ability and resources to more aggressively address a range of current and emerging challenges facing our country, including advocating specific policy solutions and courses of action.”
The foundation will focus on budget issues such as the growing cost of major entitlement programs, health care, energy and education, as well as the proliferation of “nuclear warfare materials,” according to the group’s release.
As GAO chief, Walker has warned that the government is ignoring threats to the nation’s long-term fiscal security.
“We’re headed for unprecedented rough seas that could swamp the ship of state if we don’t get serious soon,” he told the Senate Budget Committee on Jan. 29.
Walker has been praised by lawmakers from both parties for his efforts to bring attention to the issue of long-term fiscal woes.
“David Walker has proven that one person can make a difference,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad , D-N.D., said in a release. “As Comptroller General for the last decade, he has been a tireless and effective advocate for the need to make our nation’s long-term fiscal situation a priority.”
Walker has been a regular on “The Fiscal Wake-Up Tour,” organized by budget watchdog groups, which travels across the country in an attempt to bring attention to the government’s budget woes.
The Concord Coalition will receive one of the foundation’s first two grants for helping organize the tour. The other grant will go to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, founded by former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga. (1972-97), which works to prevent the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
Walker also is set to make his big-screen debut.
Patrick Creadon, who was behind “Wordplay,” the popular documentary on a crossword puzzle competition, has completed work on a documentary — titled I.O.U.S.A. — on debt and the government’s long-term fiscal problems. Walker and the tour are featured in the documentary, which was screened last month at the Sundance Film Festival.
Walker is an accountant by training and was an executive at Arthur Andersen LLP before coming to GAO.
Confirmation Process
Until a replacement is found for Walker, Gene Dodaro, GAO’s chief operating officer, will head the agency.
The position of comptroller general, Walker’s formal title, is subject to Senate confirmation. The selection process is somewhat unusual.
A commission made up of congressional leaders presents the president with at least three candidates for the job. The commission is made up of: the Speaker of the Houses, president pro tempore of the Senate, the Senate majority and minority leaders, the House majority and minority leaders, and the chairmen and ranking minority members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Oversight and Government Reform committees.
The president chooses one of the three candidates for the job. His nominee must be approved by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs panel and then confirmed by the Senate.
Walker’s confirmation process for the GAO post was not easy. In 1998, the commission recommended him and two others for the position but that March President Clinton rejected the choices and asked the GOP-controlled Congress to send him more names.
Democrats claimed at the time that Republicans did not allow for a bipartisan selection process. Walker, for instance, had served as assistant secretary of Labor in the Reagan administration. Republicans rejected this assertion, noting they followed the process outlined by the law. The standoff ended that fall, allowing Walker to take over the agency in November 1998.
GAO serves as Congress’ chief investigative and audit arm, probing waste and fraud in government programs and detailing the long-term budget problems facing the government. Walker has headed the agency, which has more than 3,100 employees and a budget of nearly $500 million, since November 1998. His 15 year-term was not set to end until 2013.
Walker, 56, has repeatedly warned that the government faces a long-term fiscal crisis as the baby-boom generation retires, driving up spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
He will continue to raise the alarm as president and chief executive of the newly established Peter G. Peterson Foundation, set up by the co-founder and senior chairman of The Blackstone Group, who served as Commerce secretary in the Nixon administration. Peterson has pledged to contribute at least $1 billion to the foundation.
“I have been around a very long time, and I have never seen so many simultaneous challenges that I would describe as undeniable, unsustainable and virtually untouchable politically,” Peterson, 81, said in a release announcing the foundation.
Walker said in a news release that he could better address the long-range public policy issues that deeply concern him in his new role than as head of GAO.
“As Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO, there are real limitations on what I can do and say in connection with key public policy issues, especially issues that directly relate to GAO’s client — the Congress,” Walker said. “My new position will provide me with the ability and resources to more aggressively address a range of current and emerging challenges facing our country, including advocating specific policy solutions and courses of action.”
The foundation will focus on budget issues such as the growing cost of major entitlement programs, health care, energy and education, as well as the proliferation of “nuclear warfare materials,” according to the group’s release.
As GAO chief, Walker has warned that the government is ignoring threats to the nation’s long-term fiscal security.
“We’re headed for unprecedented rough seas that could swamp the ship of state if we don’t get serious soon,” he told the Senate Budget Committee on Jan. 29.
Walker has been praised by lawmakers from both parties for his efforts to bring attention to the issue of long-term fiscal woes.
“David Walker has proven that one person can make a difference,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad , D-N.D., said in a release. “As Comptroller General for the last decade, he has been a tireless and effective advocate for the need to make our nation’s long-term fiscal situation a priority.”
Walker has been a regular on “The Fiscal Wake-Up Tour,” organized by budget watchdog groups, which travels across the country in an attempt to bring attention to the government’s budget woes.
The Concord Coalition will receive one of the foundation’s first two grants for helping organize the tour. The other grant will go to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, founded by former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga. (1972-97), which works to prevent the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
Walker also is set to make his big-screen debut.
Patrick Creadon, who was behind “Wordplay,” the popular documentary on a crossword puzzle competition, has completed work on a documentary — titled I.O.U.S.A. — on debt and the government’s long-term fiscal problems. Walker and the tour are featured in the documentary, which was screened last month at the Sundance Film Festival.
Walker is an accountant by training and was an executive at Arthur Andersen LLP before coming to GAO.
Confirmation Process
Until a replacement is found for Walker, Gene Dodaro, GAO’s chief operating officer, will head the agency.
The position of comptroller general, Walker’s formal title, is subject to Senate confirmation. The selection process is somewhat unusual.
A commission made up of congressional leaders presents the president with at least three candidates for the job. The commission is made up of: the Speaker of the Houses, president pro tempore of the Senate, the Senate majority and minority leaders, the House majority and minority leaders, and the chairmen and ranking minority members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Oversight and Government Reform committees.
The president chooses one of the three candidates for the job. His nominee must be approved by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs panel and then confirmed by the Senate.
Walker’s confirmation process for the GAO post was not easy. In 1998, the commission recommended him and two others for the position but that March President Clinton rejected the choices and asked the GOP-controlled Congress to send him more names.
Democrats claimed at the time that Republicans did not allow for a bipartisan selection process. Walker, for instance, had served as assistant secretary of Labor in the Reagan administration. Republicans rejected this assertion, noting they followed the process outlined by the law. The standoff ended that fall, allowing Walker to take over the agency in November 1998.