Rand Paul proposes federal worker bonuses for identifying wasteful spending

Senator Rand Paul has introduced the Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act, a legislative proposal designed to reduce the national debt by incentivizing federal employees to identify wasteful spending. Under the proposed plan, agencies could retain up to 10% of identified savings to provide cash awards to the employees responsible for finding the waste, while the remaining funds would be sent to the Treasury for deficit reduction.

Despite the bill's intent, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated it has “no basis for estimating” how much the legislation would actually save. While the CBO noted that administrative costs for the program would be insignificant, it could not provide a specific fiscal impact regarding total spending reductions.

Senator Paul has introduced versions of this bill in every Congress since 2013. A House companion bill, sponsored by Representative Chuck Fleischmann, passed the House in June and proposes doubling the maximum award to $20,000. Paul's office maintains that the program is designed to pay for itself by encouraging employees to push back against the pressure to exhaust budgets before the end of the fiscal year.