GAO Audit Hits Agencies for Uncoordinated, Inefficient Programs

[The Northerner]

Despite U.S. EPA and six other federal agencies spending more than $1.4 billion to provide clean drinking water in the U.S.-Mexico border region, the effort remains ineffective.

That is just one finding in a new report today from the Government Accountability Office, which released the first of what will be an annual list of duplicative government programs.

The report (pdf), which GAO said is not meant to be a comprehensive list, identifies 34 areas where federal agencies have overlapping objectives or provide similar services to the same populations. It identifies another 47 areas beyond those directly related to overlap where agencies and Congress could reduce the cost of operations or enhance revenue collection.

GAO did not put a price tag on all the savings it identified in the new report, but Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) -- who included language in last year's debt limit measure requiring GAO to conduct the study -- estimated that at least $100 billion in savings has been identified.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/03/01/01greenwire-gao-audit-hits-agencies-for-uncoordinated-ineff-2671.html

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Mention "defense" in passing and then get an ethanol hard-on.

"5 whole billion?"

"I'm getting the Vapors!"


:argh: