Markup Wrap Up: Oversight Committee Passes Legislation to Strengthen Federal Agency Performance and Ensure Robust Oversight

WASHINGTON—Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a markup and advanced legislation that supports the Committee’s mission to strengthen oversight and ensure federal agencies deliver results for the American people.

“Working alongside President Trump, the House Oversight Committee is successfully rooting out fraud and ensuring federal agencies are delivering for hardworking American taxpayers. The bills passed today demonstrate that this Committee is carrying out its responsibilities and taking decisive action to advance meaningful reforms,” said Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.).The following bills were reported favorably by the House Oversight Committee:

H.R. 8096, Duplication Scoring Act of 2026: Introduced by Representative Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Representative Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), the bill establishes reporting requirements for duplicative federal programs by amending title 31 of the U.S. Code to require the Comptroller General of the U.S. to analyze certain legislation reported by Congressional Committees to prevent duplication of and overlap with existing federal programs, offices, and initiatives. It also requires the Comptroller General to share its findings with the Committee of jurisdiction and the public through GAO’s website.

“Our Committee has investigated waste, fraud, and abuse of federal government spending extensively and we’ve seen that our government will continue to grow unless we act. We need more proactive tools to prevent duplicative and overlapping spending to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely. Since 2010, GAO has done an excellent job reporting on duplication, fragmentation, and overlapping programs in the federal government. H.R. 8096 makes GAO’s role proactive by requiring them to identify and report on duplicative and overlapping programs before legislation becomes law,” said Chairman Comer.

“This is a bipartisan common-sense piece of legislation. Our country’s deficits continue to spiral and have reached $39 trillion in debt. It’s more important than ever to focus on preventing unnecessary spending. There’s no place better to start than duplicative programs. GAO released annual reports and recommended more than 2,000 specific actions for Congress and federal agencies to take to address inefficiencies caused by overlapping and fragmenting programs. This bill would prevent more unnecessary government spending by requiring that the GAO review bills reported by committees for potential duplication of existing federal programs. I want to thank the National Taxpayers Union and all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that are supporting this legislation,” said Rep. Burchett.

H.R. 8801, DC Rejecting Oppressive Automotive Driving Surcharges (DC ROADS) Act: Introduced by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), the bill amends the D.C. Home Rule Act to prohibit the D.C. Council from enacting, and the D.C. Mayor from enforcing, a congestion traffic toll in the District of Columbia. This would include any congestion toll for entry into or passing through congestion tolling zones (e.g., D.C. roads, bridges, tunnels). Such a policy would harm economic growth in D.C. and hamper the ability of workers to work in our nation’s capital, including many federal employees who commute into the district from surrounding lower cost-of-living localities with better public safety and schools.

“The District has long leveraged traffic issues as a rationale for restrictive and punitive revenue measures—the establishment of a congestion toll would simply continue this pattern. Even Mayor Muriel Bowser opposes this disastrous policy, arguing that the study relies on ‘deeply flawed foundational assumptions’ and is ‘the wrong policy at the wrong time.’ However, members of the ultra-progressive D.C. Council have stated that they would seek to implement a congestion toll. Congress must prevent the D.C. Council from implementing a congestion toll which disadvantages hardworking Americans,” said Chairman Comer.

“Americans want to come to their nation’s capital and not be fleeced. Most importantly it is absolutely unacceptable to place a driver tax on Americans who are just trying to make ends meet. This is an unconstitutional tax. This tax push is narrow minded and shortsighted,” said Rep. Perry.

H.R. 8844, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Retirement Technical Corrections Act: Introduced by Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Representative Jared Golden (D-Maine), the bill ensures that a small group of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, who had planned their retirement and careers around Congressionally authorized benefits, are able to realize the retirement benefits that had been promised to them by CBP prior to the Office of Personnel Management issuing a differing interpretive decision years after the fact.

“Since this small group of officers have planned their retirements and their lives and careers around incorrect guidance given to them by CBP, this bill corrects the misunderstanding by providing the enhanced benefits to this small group in the same way as existing officers. This bill also requires a Government Accountability Office report to ensure proper management of this benefit at CBP to prevent any similar mistakes from occurring. I am pleased this bill provides an opportunity to right a wrong for Customs and Border Protection officers while providing accountability measures to protect against similar mistakes from happening again,” said Chairman Comer.

H.R. 3087, Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Reauthorization Act: Introduced by Representative Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), the bill extends the Civil Rights Cold Case Review Board through January 8, 2030, and grants the Board additional and modified authorities. Specifically, the bill directs states and local governments to transmit cold case records to the Archivist and authorizes the Board to reimburse states and local governments for digitizing, photocopying, or mailing a record to transmit these records to the Archivist. Additionally, the bill allows personnel and medical files to be publicly released if the records are related to a cold case record created on or before January 1, 1990.

“In 2019, Congress created the Civil Rights Cold Case Review Board, which was charged with establishing and maintaining a collection of publicly accessible records. These crucial documents are important and bring life to cases that may have otherwise been forgotten. I support the bipartisan bill before us today, which would allow the Board to continue and expand its important work. Their efforts revive public attention to civil rights cold cases and the enduring memory of the victims. I want to thank Senator Cruz for leading this effort and passing the identical text out of the Senate,” said Chairman Comer.

Several postal naming measures