Time for Action, Not More Talk

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) applauds any attempt to identify wasteful government spending.  In fact, TPA’s sole existence is to highlight questionable and wasteful spending so that government can work more efficiently and taxpayers won’t have to be burdened with excessive government spending.  That is why when we read that Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Rep. Cheri Bustos, (D-Ill.) introduced the “Government Transformation Act” to get rid of wasteful spending TPA was intrigued and excited.  According to an op-ed by Rep. Bustos, “Every year, think tanks, auditors, investigators, and even Uncle Sam’s own Government Accountability Office crank out report after report concluding the same thing — too many federal government programs are inefficient, costly, ineffective or all of the above.  And yet, every year, these conclusions are largely ignored. As a consequence, the federal government unnecessarily wastes billions of dollars a year while many government programs continue to operate without concrete goals or standards for success.”  TPA agrees, but the problem isn’t identifying waste, it is the lack of congressional courage to actually pass legislation to cut spending in an intelligent manner.

Defense Spending

Many organizations (including TPA) have been highlighting wasteful spending at the Pentagon.  For the last two years TPA has been trying to halt production of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), which has rightly earned the moniker the “Missile to Nowhere.” According to a December 4, 2012 Politico article, “Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin said today he feels strongly that the Medium Extended Air Defense System is a ‘waste of money,…’”  Because of the prohibitive cost ($2 billion over budget), schedule delays (10 years behind schedule) and the system’s poor performance, the U.S. Army has said it doesn’t want MEADS and that it would never use the missiles. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) introduced legislation this year to prevent DoD from spending CR funding on MEADS development and design.  Unfortunately, that amendment never saw the light of day.  Sen. Ayotte opined on her distaste for the wasteful program in a press release when she said, “[t]axpayers shouldn’t have to keep paying for a failed weapons program that our troops will never use . . . with nearly $17 trillion in debt, we can’t afford business as usual spending. There is near unanimous support in the Senate for cutting funding for the ‘missile to nowhere,’ and the legislation I’m introducing will better support our troops.”  There wasn’t even a vote.  Rep. Shuster (R-Pa.) criticized the funding of MEADS in an April 11, 2013 press release which stated, “Rep. Bill Shuster told Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today it would be irresponsible to fund the Medium Extended Air Defense System because it’s failing. ‘It’s foolish for us to be spending almost $400 million on a system that nobody’s going to procure, no one’s going to buy,’ the Republican congressman from Pennsylvania said of the controversial missile defense system, long a target of cost-cutters. ”

In early June of this year, the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) and the R Street Institute released a joint report entitled “Defending America, Defending Taxpayers: How Pentagon Spending Can Better Reflect Conservative Values.” The report focuses on the number of ways that the Pentagon’s massive budget can be cut, saving nearly $1.9 trillion dollars with 100 specific cuts to reflect smart defense policy, while at the same time being beneficial to taxpayers. Savings in the report include: $878.5 billion through 30 recommendations by overhauling deficient processes and management structures, including a reduction in DoD printing costs, consolidation of foreign language contracts, combining support services at joint bases, and a full audit of Pentagon finances; $618.6 billion through 20 recommendations with personnel, compensation, and benefit reforms ranging from less spending on military bands to capping the troop presence in Europe; from health care benefit restructuring to adjusting the “high-three” retirement formula; and $385.8 billion through 50 recommendations by eliminating wasteful, unnecessary, or low-priority weapons systems, such as the SM-3 Block II-B missile (eliminated in favor of less expensive options), the F-35 fighter (replaced with other jets), refurbishment of M-1 tanks (delayed), and the Virginia class submarine (reduced in procurement).

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

The GAO has been a great source of recommendations to reduce wasteful spending.

Every two years, the GAO releases its so-called high-risk list.  This is the list of areas of federal spending that are vulnerable to waste, fraud and abuse.   And, this year, just 48 hours after the President’s State of the Union address, GAO released their update for 2013.  Titled, “High-Risk Series: An Update,” which details 30 high-risk areas of the federal government.

On April 9, the GAO released, “Actions Needed to Reduce Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication and Achieve Other Financial Benefits,” that, “identifies 31 areas where agencies may be able to achieve greater efficiency or effectiveness.”  All told, more than $95 billion in savings could be achieved from following GAO’s recommendations. the GAO report included the following egregious examples of duplication: 679 renewable energy initiatives at 23 federal agencies and their 130 sub-agencies cost taxpayers $15 billion in FY 2010; 76 programs to prevent or treat drug abuse are spread across 15 agencies, costing $4.5 billion in FY 2012; and 159 contracting organizations in 10 different Defense Department components provide defense foreign language support. GAO estimates $50 to $200 million in potential savings by eliminating this duplication.

Inspector General

There are 57 Office’s of Inspector Generals and each one strives to “provide Congress, federal departments and agencies with objective and independent reviews of the efficiency and effectiveness of executive branch operations and activities.  TPA highlighted that the Air Force in June when the Inspector General at the Pentagon stated that the Boeing Co. had overcharged the federal government to the tune of $13.7 million for nearly 1,500 orders of parts. The reason for this slight oversight: a failure to negotiate “fair and reasonable prices.”

Fiscal Commission circa 2010

On December 1, 2010, President Obama released the findings of The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform which was led by former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles and former Republican Senate Whip Alan Simpson (R-Wy.). The report contained potential spending cuts that would eclipse $2 trillion from 2012 to 2020.  Recommendations included:  selling excess federal real property; repealing The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act which was created in Obamacare; and reducing net spending on mandatory agriculture programs. The report was very candid when it stated that, “Our country has tough choices to make. We need to be willing to tell Americans the truth: We cannot afford to continue spending more than we take in, and we cannot continue to make promises we know full well we cannot keep.”  Instead of being used to cut spending, the report has been more useful as a virtual paperweight (I am not even sure of any copies were actually printed up).

Sen. Tom Coburn

Instead of forming a new commission, Sen. Kirk and Rep. Bustos should just call Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) for his list of wasteful spending.

In October 2012, Sen. Coburn released his Wastebook 2012, which highlighted $18 billion of some of the most egregious examples of cockamamie federal spending.  Included among the 100 wasteful projects was a $325,000 grant awarded to San Diego State University (SDSU) and the University of California, Davis to develop a “RoboSquirrel.”  If you’re not familiar with the concept of a “RoboSquirrel,” you’re not alone.  According to the Daily Caller, the purpose of this project is to observe and learn from the interactions of squirrels and rattlesnakes in the wilderness.  A reasonable person may likely think this objective could be accomplished by watching the animals interact on their own, but that’s just a silly idea. In order to get a real sense of the interactions, $325,000 in taxpayer money to build a RoboSquirrel is what’s absolutely necessary to simulate and “…mimic the way squirrels fend off snake attacks by rapidly wagging their tails.”…or so the researchers tell us.

In November last year Sen. Coburn released a report entitled, “Department of Everything,” in which Sen. Coburn reveals just how much our Department of Defense is is doing. . . that has absolutely nothing to do with protecting our country.  In the midst of the heated discussion and policy debates regarding sequestration, Senator Coburn’s report is particularly useful information.  And, the amount is mind boggling, $68 billion for what Coburn says is “’non-defense’ defense spending – spending that DOD can cut without cutting vital defense priorities.” Among the wasteful programs identified in “Department of Everything,” is a reality cooking show called Grill it Safe (p. 8); Pentagon-run microbreweries (p. 8); a smart phone app to alert users when to take a coffee break (p. 20); and research that observed the social interaction between babies and a metallic robot.( p.33).

With a $17 trillion debt the country is passed the time of talking just talking about commissions and spending cuts because we know where the money is being wasted.  Congress needs to walk the walk and finally have the courage to cut spending and put the country back on a path of fiscal solvency.