GAO Report: Eliminating Program Duplication Could Save 'billions'

National Journal ^ | March 1, 2011 | Dan Friedman

[katiedidit1]

A Government Accountability Office report to be released on Tuesday concludes the federal government "could potentially save billions of taxpayer dollars annually" by "reducing or eliminating duplication, overlap, or fragmentation" in federal government programs.

The report was mandated by a provision included by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., in a bill passed last year raising the federal debt ceiling. And Coburn said on Monday evening that the findings bolster his long-standing attempts to consolidate or eliminate duplicative programs.

"It makes us all look like jackasses," Coburn told reporters, arguing both the legislative and executive branches can barely track federal programs. "Anybody that says that we don't look like fools up here hasn't read the report," he said.

[dragnet2]

My point is this is like the fox auditing the hen house...

Unless I am mistaken and this was put out by a non-government agency...??

[meowmeow]

Unless I am mistaken and this was put out by a non-government agency...??

The GAO is part of Congress.

[unixfox]

So...82 programs and we STILL don't have quality teachers?

That should say something right there!

[Lucky9teen]

To GOA:

[MichaelCorleone]

Can we get some leadership here please?

[copaliscrossing]

"It makes us all look like jackasses,"

The fools are Americans that keep electing the jackwagons who keep screwing us.

AND I think an apology is owed to a lot of male donkeys.

[Reagan Man]

Conservatives have been saying for decades that there is 5%-10% of pure waste, fraud and abuse in the federal budget.

Start cutting now, start saving billions of dollars.

[PapaBear3625]

For example “82 programs to improve teacher quality; 56 programs to bolster financial literacy; and more than 24 presidentially appointed individuals in several agencies with some responsibility for bio-defense.” Are our congressmen and women insane or do they not spend enough time reading legislation and checking for duplicity?

You omit the third possibility: that they WANT it to be a confused, jumbled mess of duplicated programs, in order to maximize opportunities for featherbedding, giving grants to cronies, and general embezzling.

Remember, government jobs and programs mainly benefit Democrat constituencies.

[Skeez]

What will happen to the economy if all these federal jobs are lost?

</sarc>

[Arrowhead1952]

The military had to get rid of all their TMP motor pool vehicles and go to a GSA contract in 1992, so these should be done the same way, chop one or the other.

[newzjunkey]

If you read the full piece, they suggest jobs aren't at risk because of cuts they'd just repurpose the same employees I guess.

We should thank Sen. Tom Coburn for getting his provision through so we have this report detailing the scale of duplication.

[Republican Wildcat]