Sen. Carper Praises Department of Energy for Cutting Website Costs

WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, commended the U.S. Department of Energy on its recent action to save taxpayer dollars by condensing its online portfolio, including the elimination of duplicative and outdated agency websites like EnergyEmpowers.gov. Earlier this month, the Department of Energy relaunched its web site, Energy.gov, and announced that the new, interactive web platform would save taxpayers more than $10 million annually. The Energy.gov reform initiative is part of the Obama Administration’s Campaign to Cut Waste, a dedicated effort across the federal government to streamline operations, end unnecessary spending and save taxpayers money.

“Earlier this summer, the White House called on federal agencies to get rid of thousands of government web sites that are outdated and that we don’t need. It appears some have heeded the call,” said Sen. Carper. “I’d like to thank the Department of Energy for taking an important first step toward making our government more nimble and efficient. Not only has the Department of Energy begun closing down and consolidating web sites, it’s also started tallying how much money these efforts will save taxpayers. The budget challenges we face demand that we bring the American people better results for less money. Being able to offer specific evidence of those efforts in dollars and cents is critical to ensuring that we’re on the right path. I thank the Department of Energy for its efforts and expect to see much more of this from other agencies in the days and weeks to come.”

Earlier this year, Senator Carper wrote to then Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra asking how the federal government could consolidate federal web sites to bring better value for the American people. In June of this year, Federal Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients instructed agencies to begin identifying and eliminating duplicative and outdated federal web sites.

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