Sen. Carper Applauds Progress on President Obama’s Government Reorganization and Modernization Initiative

WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, released the following statement in response to the Presidential Memorandum on Government Reform for Competitiveness and Innovation:  

“This is an important step forward in the President’s effort to update and streamline the federal government so it can effectively meet the needs of the American people in the 21^st Century. Modernizing the organization of our federal agencies to make them more efficient and effective for the American people is something I’ve been saying we need to do for some time now. This initiative dovetails nicely with Congress and the Administration’s broader effort to curb our massive federal deficit and frankly, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Just last week, the Government Accountability Office released a report detailing just a few of the duplicative and wasteful programs in the federal government. It was another stark reminder that at a time when every penny counts we’re potentially wasting billions of taxpayer dollars because the government isn’t as efficient as it should be. Whether it is badly managed information technology projects, property and buildings that aren’t efficient or necessary, too many federal data centers or not doing a good enough job rooting out fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid, there’s a lot we could be doing better. 

“The good news is that that we’re already starting to make some progress to modernize our federal agencies. Earlier this week the Comptroller General said my legislation, the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010, which was  signed into law by the President earlier this year, would play an important role in helping figure out where unnecessary duplication and waste  might exist in the federal government. That’s a good start but clearly not the end of this effort. Given our mind boggling budget deficit, we need to be looking into every nook and cranny of our federal budget to find ways to save. I look forward to the findings of the President’s team and welcome the opportunity to work with them to implement changes that will make our government work better so we can ensure that we’re getting the most bang for the taxpayers’ buck.”