A House committee has voted in favor of a spending measure that cuts the Government Accounting Office's 2017 fiscal budget by $200 million, compared to the agency's allocation for the previous fiscal year and that is $248 million below the office's request. 

The office is an independent federal agency that functions as a congressional watchdog investigating how federal funds are spent. It audits federal agencies and analyzes policies to improve government efficiency and save taxpayer dollars. 

The proposed cut is part of a larger bill the GOP-led chamber's Appropriations Committee advanced last week – along party lines – for the next fiscal year that proposes to allocate $7.3 billion for legislative branch activities, roughly $1.2 billion below requests and $42.5 million over the previous fiscal year's budget. 

The Appropriation committee's top Democrat, Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, says the cuts would result in 1,000 GAO layoffs, diminish the agency's ability to hold federal agencies accountable and reduce oversight of the Trump administration, according to The Federal News Network.

Another Democrat committee member, Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, said: “GAO is the specific agency charged with the responsibility of getting rid of waste, fraud and abuse, and you cut it 25%. I don’t get that.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought has criticized the GAO, saying last year that the administration is "not big fans of GAO. They are a quasi-legislative independent entity. Again, something that shouldn’t exist.”