text: Op-Ed: The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released its annual report to Congress identifying ways that can increase efficiency and save tens of billions of dollars annually in federal spending.  GAO found 31 new opportunities to provide significant savings that Congress should act on immediately.  GAO also found that 12 percent of the 131 areas GAO identified in its past two reports were addressed, while 66 percent were partially addressed and nearly 21 percent were not addressed.  Clearly, progress is needed in reducing unnecessary spending and duplication.  With a soaring national debt, federal program overlap must be part of common-sense spending reductions.