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:

“The examples of duplicative and wasteful spending laid out by the Government Accountability Office today are disappointing, but not surprising. 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, programs like Medicare and Medicaid that are not doing a good enough job rooting out fraud and waste, or programs that are inconsistent with or duplicate work done elsewhere, we need to do 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 – an initiative that mirrors legislation I introduced last year.

“While there is more work to be done to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the federal government, we must not overlook the important steps taken over the past year by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as well as the Obama Administration to address many of these problems. For instance, the President recently proposed to streamline the federal government and reduce operating costs by merging several trade and commerce offices. The President has also implemented reforms to reduce redundancy within the federal government, including those outlined in my bill, the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010, which was signed into law last year. This law requires agencies to set government-wide goals to align programs from different agencies to work together to reduce overlap and duplication. It also requires OMB to seek majority and minority views from Congress on those goals. These reforms, coupled with other actions, like the President’s Campaign to Cut Waste, will help put us on the path to a more effective – and efficient – government. It is important to remember that the Administration cannot do this alone – we in Congress must do more work on our part to achieve success. I look forward to working together with my colleagues and the Administration on these effort and other cost-saving measures soon.”

You can find a copy of the report here: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-342SP.

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