Oklahoma Congressman Steve Russell’s bill to force federal agencies to share software, a move he says could save more than $4 billion a year, won unanimous approval this week in the U.S. House.
The Making Electronic Government Accountable by Yielding Tangible Efficiencies Act of 2016 or H.R. 4904 passed on a voice vote. He called it the MEGABYTE Act that reforms the way federal agencies buy and share software. As the agencies currently handle such purchases, they buy software licenses in block and many go unused.
But Rep. Russell says by sharing the licenses, scrutinizing unused portions and accounting for their distribution, the government could save $181 million tax dollars per agency and an annual total of more than $4 billion.
“Since coming to Washington, it has been my goal to get back to spending within our means,” said Rep. Russell, who is also author of Waste Watch. “I am proud to work with my colleagues in a bipartisan fashion in my quest to fight waste one agency at a time.”
He said it’s the only solution rather than staging a massive fight over a single bill that has yet to protect the American taxpayer from deficit spending.
“We will win it one battle at a time and $4 billion a year is a good start,” added Russell.
