over the next three years. That could be done by eliminating waste and inefficiency.
Obama might actually support this idea as he has already implemented a Executive Order on the subject.
For Immediate Release
June 13, 2011
Executive Order--Delivering an Efficient, Effective, and Accountable GovernmentEXECUTIVE ORDER
DELIVERING AN EFFICIENT, EFFECTIVE, AND ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to cut waste, streamline Government operations, and reinforce the performance and management reform gains my Administration has achieved, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. My Administration is committed to ensuring that the Federal Government serves the American people with the utmost effectiveness and efficiency. Over the last 2 years, we have made good progress and have saved taxpayer dollars by cutting waste and increasing the efficiency of Government operations by curbing uncontrolled growth in contract spending, terminating poorly performing information technology projects, deploying state of the art fraud detection tools to crack down on waste, focusing agency leaders on achieving ambitious improvements in high priority areas, and opening Government up to the public to increase accountability and accelerate innovation.
The American people must be able to trust that their Government is doing everything in its power to stop wasteful practices and earn a high return on every tax dollar that is spent. To strengthen that trust and deliver a smarter and leaner Government, my Administration will reinforce the performance and management reform gains achieved thus far; systematically identify additional reforms necessary to eliminate wasteful, duplicative, or otherwise inefficient programs; and publicize these reforms so that they may serve as a model across the Federal Government.
***snip***
Sec 3. Government Accountability and Transparency Board. (a) There is hereby established a Government Accountability and Transparency Board (Board) to provide strategic direction for enhancing the transparency of Federal spending and advance efforts to detect and remediate fraud, waste, and abuse in Federal programs. The Board shall be composed of 11 members designated by the President from among agency Inspectors General, agency Chief Financial Officers or Deputy Secretaries, a senior official of OMB, and such other members as the President shall designate. The President shall designate a Chair from among the members. Building on the lessons learned from the successful implementation of the Recovery Act, the Board shall work with the RATB to apply the approaches developed by the RATB across Government spending.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/06/13/executive-order-delivering-efficient-effective-and-accountable-governmenForming committees and producing reports on waste is a good start but the most effective way to reduce costs is simply to reduce the budgets of the departments and let them figure out what they can cut.
I worked for a major corporation for 37 years and that's how we became more cost efficient. Such a measure does not always mean slashing jobs. It often means simple ideas such as where you purchase your office supplies or if office workers share a printer rather than each employee having his/her own. My company also did a lot to reduce the cost of electricity by computer controlling times when the lights were on in an office and installing more efficient overhead lighting. An employee suggestion program saved bundles of money while rewarding those who thought of the ideas.
At one time our breakfast meetings were catered. One day the corporation ruled that this practice would end. If we wanted coffee and donuts, we had to provide our own. There was some muttering, but we rapidly adapted. The department manager usually bought the donuts out of his own pocket and picked them up on his way to work. I was just watching a news report about how the Justice Department shelled out for muffins that cost $16 dollars each. That type of waste adds up.
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