The General Accounting Office: Just the Facts

down in the trenches and barter for access to taxpayer dollars. Figuring out which agency programs deserve these scarce resources is in many ways the government's chief responsibility. It's a tough job made even more so by all the political maneuvering that goes on in the nation's capital. To help make fair decisions, the government needs an unbiased watchdog, free of political affiliations, to guard the public's money and make sure that it's well spent. That watchdog exists in the form of the General Accounting Office (GAO), an independent, nonpartisan