Federal employees are constantly being warned not to violate the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA). They’re being told “don’t do it” and “you’ll go to jail” nearly every day. Since my new job seems to have a lot of potential for jail time if done wrong, I recently reviewed the Anti-Deficiency Act to figure out what the deal is and why they would put me in jail for violating this specific law.
Simply put, the Anti-Deficiency Act states that no agent acting on behalf of the federal government may obligate the federal government without the authority to do so. It’s a little bit more detailed than that, but that’s the gist of it.
So, I’m not allowed to spend money I’m not allowed to spend? I can do that. Then again, I’ll do anything to stay out of jail.
But after thinking about the Anti-Deficiency Act for a while, I started wondering “exactly how many people have gone to jail because of Anti-Deficiency Act violations?” That’s when I came across the public Anti-Deficiency Act report database hosted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The information is accessible via the GAO’s public website and is full of violation data that has been self-reported by federal agencies.
According to the data for fiscal year 2011, there have been 142 self-reported violations since the Act’s inception in 2004. The violations were things like misappropriation of funds and spending without approval.
Okay, so as an American citizen, I’m really glad these violations are being caught and all those evil violators are going to jail. Thank you for saving my tax dollars!
I mean, those violators are going to jail, right?
Not so fast.
In fiscal year 2011, there were 22 Anti-Deficiency Act violations reported, totaling over $483 million in tax dollars. Of the estimated 43 people involved, the reports indicate that only 21 received any kind of punishment, with most of the punishments being equivalent to a dirty look or a slap on the wrist.
This includes a $183 million violation at the Department of the Navy in which two violators received “letters of caution” and another was “verbally admonished.” The number also includes a total of 16 employees who either resigned or retired before discovery of their violation(s), causing the federal agencies to dismiss the issue.
Are you telling me that we, the United States of America, do not have the ability to pursue violators of the law because they are hiding deep in the darkest recesses of retirement homes and new jobs? One of them was even found to be “grossly negligent” of a $843,000 violation, but no action was taken because he had retired. Incredible.
Now back to where this whole thing started.
How many people went to jail last year for Anti-Deficiency Act violations? Not a single one.
And how much of the money lost to violations was recovered from the violators? Zilch.
Now, as a concerned taxpayer, I simply have to ask, what exactly is the purpose of the Anti-Deficiency Act if it’s not to punish violators and recover tax dollars? How many tax dollars did we spend on drafting it, approving it, and now continuously tracking and reporting violations?
While I like that the Act helps shed light on unscrupulous practices in the federal government, I think it kind of misses the mark. I firmly believe that most federal agencies already identify and handle these serious spending issues internally, without needing another law telling them to do so. If we really want to save tax dollars, I say we should repeal the Act and reduce the administrative overhead required to manage compliance with the Act.
If nothing else, let’s advise federal employees that while it’s not a good idea to commit a violation, it won’t be the end of their career. From what I’ve seen, we’ve got a lot of employees scared out of their minds about a law that doesn’t seem to really have any teeth.
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Sources
GAO Anti-Deficiency Reports
Cornell University Law Database