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Obama asks rank and file feds for cost-cutting tips

By Amelia Gruber agruber@govexec.com April 25, 2009

Capping off a week that began with discussions of fiscal responsibility, President Obama on Saturday devoted his weekly radio address to government reform, calling for an "all-hands-on-deck approach" to making federal operations more efficient.

The administration would like to hear from employees at all levels, Obama said. "We'll look for ideas from the bottom up," he said. "After all, Americans across the country know that the best ideas often come from workers -- not just management."

The president pledged to meet with employees who come up with the best suggestions later this year.

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In addition, Obama said he will provide incentives for agencies to eliminate wasteful spending by allowing them to reinvest a portion of the savings in programs that work.

The president also called on Congress to pass legislation introduced by Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., that would enforce the principle of "pay go," in which any new entitlement program or tax cut must be offset by other spending cuts or revenue increases.

"We cannot meet the challenges of today with old habits and stale thinking," Obama said. "So much of our government was built to deal with different challenges from a different era. Too often, the result is wasteful spending, bloated programs, and inefficient results."

The measures announced on Saturday would supplement efforts already under way to comb through the budget line-by-line in search of programs that don't work or are duplicative. During an April 20 Cabinet meeting, Obama told agency chiefs they must identify a combined $100 million they could eliminate from their administrative budgets during the next three months.

Critics have noted $100 million is trivial compared to the deficit, which by some projections will reach $1.8 trillion for fiscal 2009. But in his address on Saturday, Obama signaled that those cost cuts are just the beginning, noting the line-by-line review is ongoing and that the administration will identify more than 100 programs to cut or eliminate in the coming days and weeks.

Lawmakers might hold Obama to his promises with language in the fiscal 2010 budget blueprint. The Senate version of that legislation, which is in conference negotiations, contains an amendment that would require agencies to report wasteful or outdated programs to Congress and would compel every Senate committee to hold at least one hearing to identify such programs annually. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., on Thursday secured passage of a motion to instruct negotiators to include that language in the final bill.

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COMMENTS

  • We use the GovTrip system to book work related travel. This is a wasteful and timely way to book travel and it should be trashed immediatley. Evryone books travel for more than double the price on Expedia or Hotwire. My understanding is the ticket prices are so high because we have a requirement that our flights must be refundable. However, if you call the GovTrip Help Desk they can always find you a better deal. The catch is they charge $25 a call for this service. Then the Gov't Credit cards do not travel with you when you transfer to a new position. This means I have to reapply, wasting government tax dollars and my time (not to mention decresing my credit score). Please get rid of GovTrip and allow us to book reasonable travel. Michelle Da Pra Posted November 12, 2009 10:31 AM
  • Stop federal employee abuse of sick leave. Offer incentives for consistent attendance. Write up employees who use sick leave as soon as they get it, one day at a time, typically Monday or Friday. Gail Posted October 14, 2009 6:27 PM
  • I would ask someone to investigate and if needed stop the duplication of positions across two commands (IMCOM and FORSCOM) in the US Army. A couple of years ago there was the creation of an entity called the Mission Support Element (MSE). The reason the MSE was created (which still boggles my mind) to assume G staffs on installations when a Division deploys in whole and not part. If the majority of Divisions will not deploy as a whole in the immediate future (and even if they did), then what does the MSE personnel really do? It is my guess the personnel they have will continue to sit around, performing menial tasks, and take taxpayer dollars (including my own) for doing less of a job that I do in IMCOM. As an example, my position ($58K) performed the same functions as four positions in the MSE; on average, if each of the four positions in the MSE makes $55K, times four equals $220K annually, then multiply that across the entire MSE spectrum (G1 through G8) and someone will see there is massive waste and abuse between these two MACOMS. Considering Army Divisions will not deploy in whole (justification for creating the MSE) unless there is a major conflict, they will only deploy slices (brigade-sized elements) from their commands to support current overseas contingency operations. Currently, IMCOM has the same staff on every installation (as the MSE) in the US Army that has been providing support operations for every unit whether they are IMCOM, TRADOC, FORSCOM, etc., on their installations for over 10 years. Eliminating the recently created FORSCOM MSE G1 through G8’s which perform the same tasks as IMCOM Directorates, but not as robust because they are not staffed to do so, and never will be, would save the taxpayer 10’s of millions of dollars each year. Eliminating the duplicating MSE TDA and establishing IMCOM as the support mechanism for every installation whether the major command is TRADOC or FORSCOM would continue the high quality support Soldiers and commands have come accustomed to receiving. Don Colyer Posted September 25, 2009 3:50 PM
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