On Dec. 29 the 15-year term of Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro will end, leaving the Government Accountability Office without a Senate-confirmed leader. The Trump administration has made no secret of its hostility toward GAO, and this creates a dangerous opening for the executive branch to undermine or even capture the agency that exists for one purpose: to help Congress do its job.

The current president and his allies in Congress have publicly targeted GAO, recognizing that a weakened watchdog means weakened oversight of executive action.

GAO support to Congress that extends beyond any single administration. If GAO is captured or hollowed out, the damage will outlast the current presidency. Rebuilding independent investigative capacity takes decades. Losing it takes a moment of inatt

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