Reducing duplication among government agencies could save billions, Gene Dodaro wrote. GOP latches onto spending report

A report out Tuesday identifying billions of dollars spent on duplicative federal programs has handed fresh ammunition to Republicans fighting for deeper budget cuts.

“It’s a big deal,” said Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) “It provides a lot to work with, a lot of new areas to reduce spending.”


The 345-page General Accountability Office report pinpointed 34 areas – from defense and job training to social services – where federal agencies, offices or programs have redundant objectives or are fragmented across several departments, something McConnell described as the government’s “virtual incompetence.”

For example, there are 15 agencies that deal with the nation’s food-safety system, which the GAO said has led to inconsistent oversight and an inefficient use of resources. There are 80 programs across multiple agencies that focus on economic development.

“Reducing or eliminating duplication, overlap, or fragmentation could potentially save billions of tax dollars annually and help agencies provide more efficient and effective services,” wrote Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro, who heads the GAO, known as the watchdog arm of Congress.

Senior Republicans said the report is a wake-up call, with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) suggesting to reporters Monday night that the staggering amount of waste and duplication – which he estimated at up to $200 billion – “makes us all look like jackasses.” Coburn had demanded that the report be required annually when Congress passed an increase to the debt ceiling last year.

“None of us would run our families this way. None of us would run our businesses this way,” he said.

Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who’s long crusaded against wasteful spending, feigned surprise at the findings of the report.

“I’m shocked – shocked – to hear there is duplication of effort in our government bureaucracy,” McCain told POLITICO. “The size government has doubled since 1999 so naturally you’re going to have these results, but I’m glad they will give us a lot of opportunity to try to eliminate a lot of this waste and duplication.”

Across the Capitol, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) suggested to reporters that little had changed in the past decade: He held up a 2001 report that found there was $200 billion in waste in the federal government.

“Now again, we have said enough is enough. Our Congress is about delivering results. We are going to continue to try and get our fiscal house in order,” Cantor said. He added that House Republicans this week will pass a short-term resolution with spending cuts to keep the government running, then tackle a longer-term agreement “to deal with the pressing issues of regulatory waste in our agencies.”

Meanwhile, freshman Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) said he would roll out legislation this week that would require congressional committees to hold hearings on duplicate programs identified in the annual GAO report.

Dodaro notes in the GAO report that a broad restructuring of the Defense Department’s military health care system could result in as much as $460 million in savings. And addressing duplicative policies aimed at bosting domestic ethanol production could save the government as much as $5.7 billion.

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, wasted little time after the full report was posted, blasting a news release titled: “The Spending Binge Continues: GAO Exposes Billions in Waste, Duplication.”

“Families across the country are trimming their budgets, but Washington continues its spending binge,” his office said in the release. “Economists already warn that our crushing debt is stifling economic growth—now is the time to reduce the size of government, not add more unnecessary programs.”

One Democrat, however, said the report just proves what she’s been arguing all along: “We must eliminate outdated and unnecessary programs.”

“This is a chance to make smart cuts, instead of reckless cuts,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said in a statement. “Today’s GAO report shows us a path forward to responsibly, effectively reduce the deficit without slashing investment in our economy, cutting private sector job growth, or endangering the most vulnerable members of our society.”