Posted on 02/01/2007 7:21:27 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - A White House management official said Thursday there is "very little real accountability" in the federal government, and he welcomed the tougher oversight the Democrats have promised now that they control Congress.
"There cannot be enough accountability in the federal government," said Clay Johnson, deputy director of the Office and Management and Budget, which supervises executive branch agencies. "There is very little today. Very little real accountability."
Yet Johnson challenged Democratic lawmakers to help solve problems — not just hold hearings about them.
Democrats now control Congress for the first time in Bush's presidency, and they are promising more investigation into matters of fraud and abuse. Key examples include spending on Iraq, homeland security and efforts to help the Gulf Coast recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Johnson, previewing Bush's management agenda for 2007, said Democrats can expect candor and cooperation. He said his agency's intention is not, as one reporter asked him, to step up its internal reviews to keep Congress at bay.
"Keeping Congress at bay suggests, 'Let's make them think that everything is just fantastic here.' They know better, and we'd be crazy to suggest that," Johnson said. "We want things to work better and it begins with an honest, candid, transparent assessment of what we know now. And out of that comes the fact that a lot of really good things are going on here."
He added that Democrats who run congressional hearings should do more than just draw public attention to problems. "Let's focus on things that aren't working like we want them to, but let's make sure we're focused on fixing them — not just identifying them," he said.
On that front, so far so good, Johnson said.
He said he has had cooperative meetings with Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record), I-Conn., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The White House under Bush has taken steps to become more accountable to the public. One of them is a Web site, http://www.expectmore.gov, which singles out government programs that work well and ones that don't.
Bush has an ongoing management agenda that grades Cabinet departments on their performance in areas such as financial practices, implementing electronic government plans and competitive sourcing. Overall, scores are on the way up, Johnson said Thursday.
"The average agency today has more management capability than the best agency did five years ago," he said.
Yet this week, federal programs involving food safety, transportation spending and technology security were added to a congressional "high risk" list. That means their inefficiencies leave them vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse.
Among those, the Homeland Security Department was criticized for not doing enough since its post 9/11 creation to coordinate work and share information among its different components. Johnson said there was no higher federal priority than improving that department.
And who will oversee the overseers?
http://www.expectmore.gov
Interesting. Bookmarked and will be checking that site out. Thanks
I've always said that one of the republican's big failures was the failure to perform their appropriate oversight duties. Oversight isn't a party thing, it's a checks and balances thing, and the congress should have been questioning the executive branch.
It would have made the executive branch think things through and develop solid answers, and made congress accountable for what our government was doing, AND provided an outlet for democrats to ask questions that could be answered in a structured setting, diffusing a lot of the complaints about secrecy and aloofness.
Check it out.
Thank you for the ping. I will read this soon.
Sounds like "a bring it on" :0)
I am glad they are saying this..but none of these hearings are for any other reason than to find any and all ways to hang Prs. Bush.
Right you are. It seems to me that Nancy P. has said as much by telling her party's "Impeach Bush" folk that Congress would open up investigations of the current administration.
God?
Seriesly, though, the sort of total government that us moderns seem to think will guarantee all this fairness and everything can only work if God is in charge. It's why our founding fathers gave us (our long lost) limited government. At least that's the way I see it.
The White House under Bush has taken steps to become more accountable to the public. One of them is a Web site, http://www.expectmore.gov, which singles out government programs that work well and ones that don't.
Bush has an ongoing management agenda that grades Cabinet departments on their performance in areas such as financial practices, implementing electronic government plans and competitive sourcing. Overall, scores are on the way up, Johnson said Thursday.
Did I misread this? I was thinking this was a good thing.
Nope...you did not misread it....and yes, it is a good thing..and I applaud the White House for doing it.
The only reason I was snarky was because I know the dems are not worried about oversight as much as scoring political points.
Thank for posting that link,...I bookmarked it.
Understood.
Another reason I respect and admire President Bush, scoring political points is not as important as doing the right thing.
That said. I would love to see him come out swinging against those democrat bastards.
Broke the links down for easier reading.
Ineffective programs: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/ineffective.html
Effective: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/effective.html
Adequate:http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/adequate.html
You are VERY good, thank you!
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