Budget:: Would freeze discretionary spending for all but essential military and veterans programs until the administration performed top-to-bottom reviews and eliminated poor performers. This would happen as quickly as possible (six to nine months) so Congress could get "back to the business of passing appropriations bills in regular order," his top economic policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, told Government Executive. McCain has said he will not tolerate congressional earmarks for pet projects and will veto bills containing them.
Competitive Sourcing:: Has not said yet whether he would continue the Bush administration initiative. Has voted against broad attempts to unravel the Office of Management and Budget's competitive sourcing rules and against efforts to protect specific government jobs from outsourcing.
Contracting:: Has pledged to address poorly defined and ever-changing requirements, delays in delivery, scheduling and cost overruns, and a lack of accountability for recurring failures. Favors expanded use of controversial fixed-price contracts to "enforce discipline in the procurement process and ensure that clearly defined requirements are fulfilled, realistic schedules are kept and costs don’t exceed the promised price." McCain also has vowed to limit sole-source contracting, and has fought Buy American provisions.
Defense:: Would dedicate $15 billion annually to bolster the Army and Marines to about 900,000 service members; modernize weapons systems; develop missile defenses against attacks on the United States and troops overseas; reshape the military forces, including civil affairs, special operations and highly mobile units; and ensure that defense spending falls within the regular appropriations process rather than emergency supplemental bills.
Ethics:: Supports public disclosure of lobbying activities and transparency in government (see Transparency entry). All administration officials would have their interactions with lobbyists "fully disclosed to public view." All inspectors general would have direct access to agency chiefs, who would be held responsible for taking action on investigative findings. Bills with earmarks -- which McCain views as "an insult to taxpayers, a waste of public resources, and an abdication of our leaders' responsibility to be good and honorable stewards of the public treasury" -- would be vetoed.
Homeland Security:: Wants to improve coordination between the public and private sectors, and would supplement government emergency response efforts with equipment and personnel from industry. The government should take the lead on emergency response, but should not duplicate efforts of the private sector or other outside organizations, McCain said at a Sept. 11 Columbia University forum on public service. Has vowed to make sure that experienced people are in leadership positions at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and to encourage the agency to adopt the technology and business processes of the best-run companies. Also would secure the border through physical and virtual barriers and would ensure adequate funding for resources on the ground and at training facilities, support staff and technology. McCain would deploy unmanned aerial vehicles and other aircraft where needed on the U.S. borders, and continue the US-VISIT entry and exit tracking program.
Unions:: Wants to stem power of unions. Voted against a March 2007 security bill amendment that would have granted Transportation Security Administration airport screeners full collective bargaining rights, and for an alternative, Republican-backed amendment that would have granted more limited collective bargaining rights. Neither measure made it into the final bill.

Green Government:: Pledged during a Santa Barbara, Calif., speech in June to "put the purchasing power of the United States government on the side of green technology" by ensuring that the more than 60,000 vehicles civilian agencies buy annually are flex-fuel capable, plug-in hybrids or fueled by clean, natural gas. Also said federal office buildings should be retrofitted to be more energy efficient, where possible, and new buildings leased or purchased should be held to higher energy efficiency standards, though he did not specify what those standards should be.
Pay and Benefits:: Has signaled that he supports pay for performance, stating in a May 2007 speech to the Oklahoma legislature: "The civil service has strayed from its reformist roots and has mutated into a no-accountability zone, where employment is treated as an entitlement, good performance as an option, and accountability as someone else's problem." The system, he said, is "not fair to the many good workers who must pick up the slack of those who aren't doing their jobs." Would make government pay scales more competitive with the private sector to keep quality federal employees while at the same time streamlining the workforce.

McCain would consider additional incentives to help with military recruitment; make benefits for deployed Reservists and National Guard members comparable to those active-duty military forces receive and ensure military retirees and veterans receive health care and benefits on par with those of other retired government workers.
Technology:: Would use technology to make government more transparent. Was a co-sponsor of the 2002 E-Government Act (S. 803), which encouraged agencies to use the Internet to give citizens better access to government information and services, and established an Office of Management and Budget unit to promote that practice. Has proposed establishing a new national broadband network to help first responders communicate.
Transparency:: Wants to make government transactions more transparent. "Information on every step of contracts and grants will be posted on the Internet in plain and simple English," he said in his 2007 Oklahoma speech. "We're not going to hide anything behind accounting tricks and bureaucratic doubletalk that a linguist with a Ph.D. in accounting couldn't decipher." Co-sponsored the 2006 Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act to create a Google-like search engine for all federal grants and contracts worth more than $25,000, and the follow-up bill (S. 3077) that would add information on contractors' tax compliance, past performance and any criminal, civil or administrative proceedings against them to the database. Co-sponsored S. 3077 with presidential rival Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
Workforce:: Views the projected retirement of 40 percent of the federal workforce in the next decade as an opportunity to reshape the civil service and make government smaller. This would include rethinking pay scales and necessary skill sets, and outfitting federal employees with newer technology. Also wants to make it easier to fire federal employees. "If a federal employee is removed the decision should be reviewed swiftly by an independent board to be sure that it's not motivated by political or personal animus, but it should not trigger an endless process of appeal that mocks justice and accountability," he said in a May 2007 speech in Oklahoma. McCain wants to inspire more public service by restoring faith in government, but also wants to make clear that there are a variety of ways to serve. "Let's not in any way stifle what already is going on and is very, very successful in America. And that's organizations that have no dependence whatsoever on our federal government and do such a great job for our citizens," he said during the Columbia University public service forum. He also noted during the forum that he would sign legislation to triple the size of AmeriCorps and "put the strength of the federal government behind national service," but emphasized that he believes "government can't do it all."

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