Ask any senator or representative in Congress whether he or she supports the elimination of duplicative or overlapping federal programs and the response is all but guaranteed to be 100 percent in favor. Speculation is not needed here, however, because two years ago during consideration of the February debt ceiling vote, the Senate unanimously adopted an amendment introduced by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, that directed its watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to “annually identify federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives with duplicative goals and activities, to estimate the cost of such duplication, and to make recommendations to Congress for consolidation and elimination of such duplication.” The House agreed and GAO went to work.
But hand those same senators and representatives an authoritative list of specific wasteful programs that unnecessarily spend billions of tax dollars to achieve the same purposes and a bunch of the same lawmakers suddenly start singing different tunes. That is exactly what happened this year when GAO gave those lists to Congress was given such lists by (GAO).
Recommended Stories
Last year, GAO reported back to Congress for the first time, identifying multiple duplicative programs and tax expenditures, and recommending reforms estimated to save at least $100 billion. A few weeks ago, GAO submitted its 2012 report, which identified “tens of billions” worth of duplicative programs and recommended changes that would save more hundreds of billions of tax dollars. Combined, GAO recommendations from last year and this year would produce savings that exceed $300 billion, according to Coburn aides.
That seems like a reasonable estimate considering just a few of the examples GAO pointed out to Congress:
• There are 209 federal Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education programs, administered by 13 different federal agencies, costing taxpayers more than $3 billion annually.
• Congress has spent $30 billion on more than 200 duplicative Department of Justice (DOJ) grants and programs meant to help crime prevention and assist victims of crime.
• In 2010, the government spent roughly $170 billion on 160 housing programs aimed at helping homebuyers, homeowners and rental property owners.
• A total of 53 programs at the Departments of Agriculture, Housing and Commerce, plus the Small Business Administration, provide similar assistance to aspiring entrepreneurs — costing a combined $2.6 billion.
When the Senate voted last year on a Coburn amendment in favor of implementing GAO’s recommendations, 64 senators voted aye. But the legislation containing the Coburn amendment didn’t make it out of a conference committee with the House due to unrelated issues. So Coburn came back this year, offering a similar amendment March 8, for which 52 senators voted aye. But this time around, 60 votes were required for approval, so the amendment failed.
The Coburn amendment failed because 12 senators who voted in favor in 2011 changed their vote in 2012. The dozen senators, all Democrats, include: Mark Begich of Alaska, Michael Bennett of Colorado, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Tom Carper of Delaware, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, John Kerry of Massachusetts, Bill Nelson of Florida, John Warner of Virginia, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Mark Udall of Colorado. Voters and journalists in those states might want to ask these senators what changed their minds from supporting to opposing the elimination of duplicative federal spending.
