Lame-duck Congress expedites search for next GAO leader

A lame-duck Congress is suddenly hastening the process to find a new long-term leader of a governmentwide watchdog agency that has drawn the ire of the Trump administration.

House and Senate Republicans faced calls over the past two years to start the bipartisan process of interviewing candidates to lead the Government Accountability Office.

Under the current process, the selection of the GAO comptroller general begins with a commission of 10 senior House and Senate lawmakers from both parties that recommends individuals for the position to the president.

Whoever the president selects is subject to Senate confirmation for one nonrenewable 15-year term. The last time lawmakers vetted candidates for GAO’s top job in 2010, the congressional commission spent more than a year on its search.

This time around, members of the commission are being given a single day to come up with candidate recommendations, after receiving notice on Veterans Day....

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