Sen. Carper Responds to Report Detailing Potentially Duplicative Government Programs and Wasteful Spending

WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, released the following statement in response to the release of the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) report identifying potentially duplicative government programs and ways the federal government could cut costs and save money for taxpayers:

“Unfortunately, I’m all too familiar with many of the examples of duplicative and wasteful spending laid out by the Government Accountability Office today. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, I’ve heard countless times about the ways in which federal programs are not performing as well and as effectively as they could, and consequently wasting scarce taxpayers’ dollars. Whether it is badly managed information technology projects, property and buildings that aren’t efficient or necessary, too many federal data centers, or not doing a good enough job rooting out fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid, there’s a lot we could be doing better. Given our mind boggling budget deficit, we need to be looking into every corner of our federal budget to find ways to save. In addition to savings, today’s report outlines in great detail the enormous opportunities we have to raise revenue by narrowing our nation’s significant tax gap and collecting on money that’s owed to us by people who game the system.

“Finally, President Obama has promised a fundamental reorganization of the federal government and the potentially duplicative programs identified in this report give us a small peek at what this might mean for the business of government. ‘Double your pleasure, double your fun’ might work for chewing gum – but not for government programs paid for by American taxpayers. That’s why I sponsored the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010, signed by President Obama earlier this year, which demands better performance for less money from government programs. Programs that work should be applauded, and programs that don’t work either need to be quickly fixed or perhaps we don’t need them. It’s my hope that the law will help serve as a roadmap for the tough decisions that lie ahead, and I look forward to working with President Obama and Congress on the proposed reorganization.”