Sen. Carper’s Reaction to President Obama’s Call to Modernize and Reorganize the Federal Government

WASHINGTON – Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, released the following statement reacting to President Obama’s call in tonight’s State of the Union Address to modernize and reorganize the federal government:

“The President’s desire to work with Congress on modernizing and reorganizing government in a transformative way is music to my ears, and frankly, something I’ve said we need to be thinking about for some time now. Particularly as we struggle with massive federal deficits, we have to ensure that we are getting the biggest bang for the taxpayers’ buck when it comes to running the federal government. That’s why I, working with my colleagues in the House and Senate, authored the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act (GPRMA) of 2010, which was signed into law by President Obama earlier this month. With this program, government agencies will have to start reporting through an open and transparent process how their programs are performing and perhaps more importantly – how they are not performing.

“Because of this new law, Congress and the American people will have the information they need to judge what’s working, what needs fixing and what programs we simply do not need. This will allow us to make the tough decisions about how to better use our scarce resources to make sure taxpayers are receiving the government they paid for and expect.

“These reforms would help make better use of performance information and make it easier to fix or even eliminate parts of the government that don’t work or that are no longer needed. I have faith that Congress will carry on the wave of productivity we rode in the final weeks of the 111th Congress and work with the President to accomplish this important initiative.”